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Slack 10.2 cfdisk does not see HD

boot: test26.s
Slackware 10.2 does not see hard drive when entering cfdisk but see's my cdrom only. Is there a solution for this?
I read that this might work: boot: test26.s root=/dev/hda1 noinitrd ro. I don't understand the noinitrd ro part.
For now Slackware will not install due to it wanting to see my dvd/cdrom instead of my hard drive for partitioning.
Help appreciated. Thanks.

When you boot from the installation CD, the first thing it asks you is which kernel you want to load. There's a bootdisks/README.TXT file on that CD that describes each of the choices. Choose the one that supports your HD and controller, and your problem will go away.

If you have SATA controller, for example, you would choose the kernel with SATA support.

Quote:

Originally Posted by subjazz

Hi,

I will respond to your question for the;

Quote:

boot: test26.s root=/dev/hda1 noinitrd ro

This would be used to boot the test26.s kernel for the root of device hda1 with no init ram disk and mount it read only. You can get information using;

Code:

#man initrd

Dugan gave you some good information concerning the boot.

If want to diagnos the problem. When you boot the OS you could do a;

Code:

#fdisk -l                  #to see disk device recognized

#dmesg |grep hd            #this should show /dev/hd* seen

#lspci -vv                  #show pci device

I suspect as dugan does that you are using SATA for the hard disk storage media.

I had/have this problem too.

My solution: cfdisk /dev/<hd location>

For my compy it's: cfdisk /dev/sda1

My HDDs are SATA drives and when it fist asks you to use a boot kernel I use (I think) sata.i image.

Quote:

My HDDs are SATA drives and when it fist asks you to use a boot kernel I use (I think) sata.i image.

You need to read the kernel image info.

Some of your older controllers work with the sata kernels, most of the new ones will work with the test26 kernel. And yes, I believe cfdisk defaults to using /dev/hda, so if you are one scsi/sata you might need to use "cfdisk /dev/sda"

Soule

New computer using IDE /ATAPI Drives. IDE controller.
Will try finding the device (i.e /dev/hda1) and get back this weekend to post results.
This by the way happens at the begining of the install before going to #setup.

Quote:

Originally Posted by subjazz

I had a similar problem running fdisk and cfdisk on my IBM unit with a scsi HD. Once I booted with a scsi enabled kernel then fdisk /dev/sda worked just fine.

After the kernel decompresses the "dmesg" boot messages give out the /dev for the hard drive. Mine was /dev/hdc.
I did the following after restarting the system again:
boot: test26.s root=/dev/hdc rw
prior to "setup"
#cfdisk /dev/hdc
I now see's my hard drive's partition table rather than my cdrom which was /dev/hda that Slack presumes is the HD by default.