Slack on laptop--VFS: Cannot open root dev "303"

kadvar · 05-31-2007, 03:27 PM

hi,
I recently bought an Acer Aspire 5570Z laptop and I decided to dual boot Slackware along with WindowsXP on it. The slackware install went fine and I installed it to /dev/hda3. I used the huge26.s kernel from the installation disc and used ReiserFS for my fs. Now when i boot into slackware through lilo on the bootscreen, the boot process goes by for a while and then I get this message:

Code:

VFS: Cannot open root dev "303" or unknown block(3,3).
Please append the correct "root=" boot option
Kernel Panic - not syncing 'VFS'
Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(3,3)

I have used google and one suggestion that was given was to modify lilo.conf to point root to /dev/sda3 instead of hda3 as sata hard drives get recognized as sda under linux. This has not worked. Instead when I make changes to lilo.conf, recompile lilo and reboot, I get:

Code:

***********************************************************************************
Failed to open device '/dev/hda3'. no such device or address.
***********************************************************************************
An error has occured with the root filesystem check
You will now be given a chance to log into the system in single user mode and fix the problem.
************************************************************************************

###output of "fdisk -l" (after booting from boot cd)######

Code:

/dev/hda1   *	HPFS/NTFS	(my windows partition)
/dev/hda2  	Linux Swap
/dev/hda3	Linux		(my slackware installation)

*************
my lilo.conf
************

Code:

boot = /dev/hda


other=/dev/hda1
label=Windows
table=/dev/hda


 image = /boot/vmlinuz
 root = /dev/hda3
 label = Linux
 read-only

*************

Most of the other posts online with this problem are by people that have recompiled or upgraded their kernels. I have only used the stock 2.6 kernel provided in the slackware cd. it works wonderfully on my desktop.

gnashley · 05-31-2007, 03:37 PM

Post your fstab, please.

samac · 05-31-2007, 04:51 PM

Hi

You are booting hda3 as reiserfs, did you read about needing to make an initrd, on the boot cd. It looks as if lilo cannot find the filesystem because it has not loaded the reiserfs module.

Samac

kadvar · 06-01-2007, 03:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gnashley

Post your fstab, please.

Here's my fstab.

Code:

/dev/hda2       swap          swap         defaults    0    0
/dev/hda3       /             reiserfs     defaults     1    1
/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

kadvar · 06-01-2007, 03:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by samac

Hi

You are booting hda3 as reiserfs, did you read about needing to make an initrd, on the boot cd. It looks as if lilo cannot find the filesystem because it has not loaded the reiserfs module.

Samac

hi,
but I cant even get the system to boot fully so that I can run the mkinitrd command. I have also not been able to install the kernel modules package provided on the cd because I cant get the system to boot. It just hangs with the kernel panic error i mentioned above. for the mkinitrd, I know i have to run

Code:

mkinitrd -c -k 2.16.13 -m reiserfs

but where do I type and execute this when the system does'nt even boot?

I suppose u need to make an initrd only if you are upgrading to a 2.6 kernel from an older kernel. I am directly selecting the huge26.s kernel from the slackware install cd itself so do i still need to make an initrd manually or does slackware do this for me automagically?

bioe007 · 06-01-2007, 10:59 AM

iirc reiserfs support is included in the huge26.s kernel, so that is not the correct problem.

is your laptop HD SATA?

if so then your fstab and lilo.conf need to be changed to reflect this.

did you install with huge26.s (i.e. select if from the boot prompt of slackware install media) or just install huge26.s for your kernel during the install process.

kadvar · 06-01-2007, 01:32 PM

ok problem solved but now another one in it's place

i simply changed all the entries in fstab from hda to sda and rebooted and the system booted into the huge26.s kernel Fine and i could log in and everything. i then installed the kernel-modules package for the 2.6.17.13 kernel from the slackware disc and then again rebooted and.... i get this:

Code:

hda_codec: Unknown model for ALC882,trying autoprobe from BIOS
firmware_class: exports duplicate symbol release_firmware (owned by kernel)
CS: IO port probe 0xc00-0xcff:excludes 0xcf8-0xcff
CS:IO port probe  0x820-0x8ff:clean
CS:IO port probe  0x800-0x80f:_

and it stops at that.. i googled around a bit and the hda_codec for ALC882 is a known problem on alsa for realtek soundcards on Acer laptops. i tried doing a removepkg on the alsa_drivers package so that i could atleast get the system to boot but that has'nt helped.

could anyone please provide me a few pointers on how i should go about trying to solve this?

bioe007 · 06-01-2007, 02:31 PM

you might try:

Code:

#chmod -x /etc/rc.d/rc.alsa

but perhaps better would be (in lilo.conf)

append="noalsa"

which I think will prevent the alsa drivers from being loaded. hopefully that works..

if not another alternative is to upgrade the kernel, because it seems this might be fixed in newer kernels --> http://lwn.net/Articles/190305/, http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermai...05.2/1423.html

iirc huge26 is 2.6.17 ?

kadvar · 06-02-2007, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bioe007

you might try:

Code:

#chmod -x /etc/rc.d/rc.alsa

but perhaps better would be (in lilo.conf)

append="noalsa"

which I think will prevent the alsa drivers from being loaded. hopefully that works..

if not another alternative is to upgrade the kernel, because it seems this might be fixed in newer kernels --> http://lwn.net/Articles/190305/, http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermai...05.2/1423.html

iirc huge26 is 2.6.17 ?

yep i think i'll go compile myself a new kernel, I did the noalsa thing but then up popped another error. I think i've some hardware in the laptop that just does'nt want to play nice with the present kernel.

and yes huge26.s is 2.6.17.13

Thanks for the help