Problem on initialization

msrpower · 09-14-2008, 10:24 AM

Hi, i`ve succesfully installed Slackware 12.1 on a external USB hard drive. It is located at /dev/sdb1. But when I try to boot it cannot find the correct partition.

Have you ever had such a problem ? what should be the solution for it ?

At the boot time it changes the partition name or it needs more time to recognize the the sdb1 partition ?

Here are the boot prompt and my lilo.conf :

Code:

VFS : Cannot open root device "811" or unknown block(8,17)
Please append a correct "root=" boot otion : here are the available partitions:
0300	4194302	   hda driver : ide-cdrom
0800	117220824  sda driver : sd
0801    117218304  sda1
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown block(8,17)

Code:

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
# Append any additional kernel parameters:
append=" vt.default_utf8=0"
boot = /dev/sdb1

# Boot BMP Image.
# Bitmap in BMP format: 640x480x8
  bitmap = /boot/slack.bmp
# Menu colors (foreground, background, shadow, highlighted
# foreground, highlighted background, highlighted shadow):
  bmp-colors = 255,0,255,0,255,0
# Location of the option table: location x, location y, number of
# columns, lines per column (max 15), "spill" (this is how many
# entries must be in the first column before the next begins to
# be used.  We don't specify it here, as there's just one column.
  bmp-table = 60,6,1,16
# Timer location x, timer location y, foreground color,
# background color, shadow color.
  bmp-timer = 65,27,0,255

# Standard menu.
# Or, you can comment out the bitmap menu above and 
# use a boot message with the standard menu:
#message = /boot/boot_message.txt

# Wait until the timeout to boot (if commented out, boot the
# first entry immediately):
prompt
# Timeout before the first entry boots.
# This is given in tenths of a second, so 600 for every minute:
timeout = 1200
# Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table:
change-rules
  reset
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
vga = 773
# Normal VGA console
# vga = normal
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
# vga=791
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x32k
# vga=790
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
# vga=773
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x64k
# vga=788
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x32k
# vga=787
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x256
# vga=771
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x64k
# vga=785
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x32k
# vga=784
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x256
# vga=769
# End LILO global section
# Windows bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/sda1
  label = Windows
  table = /dev/sda
# Windows bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/sdb1
  label = Linux
  read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends

Thanks in advance.

keefaz · 09-14-2008, 10:37 AM

You may need to recompile the kernel with usb support built-in or use an initrd with the usb modules into it
For now you can boot to your Slackware system with the install CD

You need: USB Mass Storage support and EHCI HCD (USB 2.0) support, as built in or in a initrd
(assuming external HD is connected on USB 2.0 port) The SCSI config seems ok as the kernel 'sees' sda1

gnashley · 09-14-2008, 11:57 AM

I think you need to use rootdelay in your boot options -looks like the usb driver is not ahving enough time to initialize since sdb1 is not seen.

msrpower · 09-27-2008, 03:00 PM

Simple adding rootdelay in lilo.conf the problem remains.

If I understood it right, the solution is to add "sleep" in linuxrc (at initrd), but as you can see, my lilo doesn`t call initrd and I have no initrd.gz at /boot.

gnashley · 09-28-2008, 01:08 AM

Putting a sleep in the linuxrc is the old way of solving that part of the problem. The rrotdelay option lets you do that without an initrd. How many seconds are you using there?
And which kernel are you using? Is it a custom-compiled or which Slackware kernel are you trying?

msrpower · 09-28-2008, 09:45 AM

I have already tried rootdelay=10 and rootdelay=100, both didn`t work.
the Kernel i`m using is vmlinuz-huge-smp-2.6.24.5-smp

gnashley · 09-28-2008, 12:15 PM

Ok, what does your fstab look like for that drive?

msrpower · 09-28-2008, 04:04 PM

The fstab have a entry for sdb1.

Code:

/dev/sdb1        /                ext2        defaults         1   1
/dev/sda1        /fat-c           ntfs-3g     umask=077        1   0
#/dev/cdrom      /mnt/cdrom       auto        noauto,owner,ro  0   0
/dev/fd0         /mnt/floppy      auto        noauto,owner     0   0
devpts           /dev/pts         devpts      gid=5,mode=620   0   0
proc             /proc            proc        defaults         0   0
tmpfs            /dev/shm         tmpfs       defaults         0   0

msrpower · 09-30-2008, 10:40 AM

Does anyone have idea how to solve this problem ?

Is this possible to boot Slackware from an External USB Hard Drive ?

gnashley · 09-30-2008, 11:25 AM

On which partition is your kernel located?

msrpower · 09-30-2008, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gnashley

On which partition is your kernel located?

is is located in /dev/sdb1

keefaz · 09-30-2008, 04:57 PM

I know this may be not really usefull but just in case,
did you try add ' append = rootwait ' option
instead of ' append = rootdelay=100 ' ?
Also you run lilo after editing lilo.conf, right ?
How do you do that, you boot from live CD, edit /mnt/etc/lilo.conf and run lilo /dev/sda ?

samac · 10-01-2008, 04:03 AM

Shouldn't the boot line of /etc/lilo.conf read

boot=/dev/sdb

samac

uppman · 10-01-2008, 07:45 AM

I have solved this problem by using a more advanced initrd.
The initrd waits and searches for the correct partition before mounting.

See my wiki for details..

http://linuxconfig.dyndns.org:1184/l...vable_USB_disk

keefaz · 10-01-2008, 08:22 AM

Man, thanks for sharing your wiki

There are valuable infos here!
So you use blkid (with libblkid.so.1) in init script to grep LABEL infos from partition device,
there was a thread about this problem some times ago...