[SOLVED] Slackware 14.1 won't boot on thinkpad t61

insectiod · 12-14-2013, 06:07 AM

I installed 14.1 from dvd over a fresh windows 7 installation. I used one partition for boot and one for root. The installation went fine. lilo works fine and can boot windows without problem. But when I try to boot slackware I get what I assume is a kernel crash. I get a message like:
[4.1233] ret from kernel thread
end trace

I have had slackware 14 on the same computer without problems. The only thing I changed is replacing the harddrive.

I logged in via dvd, mounted root and looked at the logs in /var/log but they were all empty.

How do I figure out whats wrong?

Didier Spaier · 12-14-2013, 06:28 AM

Looks strange. I have a T61 too and no issue booting a freshly installed Slackware64-14.1 (alongside Windows7 and Slackware-14.0).

I don't use a separate partition for /boot though (by the way, what is the need for that?), only one partition for /.

To investigate further, please launch the installer again, and once logged in as root don't run 'setup' but please type "fdisk -l" and "cat /proc/partitions" and report the results here. Also, you can mount your Linux / partition as /mnt and post output of "cat /mnt/etc/fstab". Output of "cat /mnt/etc/lilo.conf" could be useful as well. You could save all results on a mounted USB stick, for instance.

kikinovak · 12-14-2013, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by insectiod

I installed 14.1 from dvd over a fresh windows 7 installation. I used one partition for boot and one for root. The installation went fine. lilo works fine and can boot windows without problem. But when I try to boot slackware I get what I assume is a kernel crash. I get a message like:
[4.1233] ret from kernel thread
end trace

I have had slackware 14 on the same computer without problems. The only thing I changed is replacing the harddrive.

I logged in via dvd, mounted root and looked at the logs in /var/log but they were all empty.

How do I figure out whats wrong?

Long shot, but here goes anyway. On some of my computers, Slackware won't boot using the stock HUGE kernel. I have to chroot into my newly installed environment before the initial reboot and configure the GENERIC kernel to be able to boot.

kikinovak · 12-14-2013, 07:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didier Spaier

I don't use a separate partition for /boot though (by the way, what is the need for that?), only one partition for /.

A small partition for /boot (I usually define 100 MB) can be formatted using a non-journaled filesystem (ext2). A Linux guru friend of mine once explained to me the benefits for doing so. I admit I'm unable to actively reproduce his explanation. So I just follow his advice.

Niki

insectiod · 12-14-2013, 07:31 AM

Ok, here is the requested info. I usually boot from a separate partition so that I have the option to totally wipe the root partition when upgrading without affecting other os:es.

Edit: I installed 32 bit slackware.

Code:

fdisk -l (sdb is just my usb stick)

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xdc85d0c9

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1              63      192779       96358+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda2   *      192780      385559       96390   83  Linux
Partition 2 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda3   *      385560   391006034   195310237+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4       391006035   976773167   292883566+   5  Extended
Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda5       391006098   398813624     3903763+  82  Linux swap
Partition 5 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda6       398813688   781626509   191406411   83  Linux
/dev/sda7       781626573   976773167    97573297+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
Partition 7 does not start on physical sector boundary.

Disk /dev/sdb: 512 MB, 512483328 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 993 cylinders, total 1000944 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00428864

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1            2048     1000943      499448   83  Linux

Code:

cat /proc/partitions:

major minor  #blocks  name

   8        0  488386584 sda
   8        1      96358 sda1
   8        2      96390 sda2
   8        3  195310237 sda3
   8        4          1 sda4
   8        5    3903763 sda5
   8        6  191406411 sda6
   8        7   97573297 sda7
  11        0    2426880 sr0
   8       16     500472 sdb
   8       17     499448 sdb1

Code:

cat /mnt/etc/fstab:

/dev/sda5        swap             swap        defaults         0   0
/dev/sda6        /                ext4        defaults         1   1
/dev/sda2        /boot            ext2        defaults         1   2
/dev/sda7        /mnt/share       ntfs-3g     fmask=111,dmask=000 1   0
#/dev/cdrom      /mnt/cdrom       auto        noauto,owner,ro,comment=x-gvfs-show 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

Code:

cat /mnt/etc/lilo.conf:

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
boot = /dev/sda

#compact        # faster, but won't work on all systems.

# 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

# Append any additional kernel parameters:
append=" vt.default_utf8=0"
prompt
timeout = 300
# Normal VGA console
vga = normal
# Ask for video mode at boot (time out to normal in 30s)
#vga = ask
# 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
# ramdisk = 0     # paranoia setting
# End LILO global section
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/sda2
  label = slack14.1
  read-only  # Partitions should be mounted read-only for checking
# Linux bootable partition config ends
# Windows bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/sda3
  label = win7
  table = /dev/sda
# Windows bootable partition config ends

Didier Spaier · 12-14-2013, 08:22 AM

Not sure of my answer (I never used such a setting), but I do find a few things questionable in you settings.

In lilo.conf you have "boot = /dev/sda", but /dev/sda2 is bootable. Is that consistent?
If you don't want to put the boot sector on the MBR, IIRC you should put it in the superblock of /, not /boot
IIRC that's /, not /boot that should be given the value "1" in the sixth field of /etc/fstab/ (fs_passno).

insectiod · 12-14-2013, 08:36 AM

I do want to put bootsector on MBR. But I want /boot on a separate partition. So mbr points to /boot partition which in turns boots and mounts root.

The boot= parameter in lilo.conf specifies where to install MBR.
According to lilo.conf manual:
boot=<boot-device>
Sets the name of the device (e.g. a hard disk partition) that contains the boot sector.

I think that the root= should point to the boot partition but I'm not sure. Where should it point when root and boot are separated?

TobiSGD · 12-14-2013, 10:09 AM

When /boot and / are separated the root= parameter has to point to the /-partition. At the point the variable is evaluated the kernel is already loaded and the /boot-partition is not needed anymore. This parameter tells the kernel where to find the /-partition. Since the kernel can't find init in your /boot partition it panics. Set that to sda6 instead.
Regarding the boot= parameter, it doesn't matter at all if it points to the /boot or /-partition.

Different topic, but also relevant: You use a disk with physical sector size of 4KB, but your partition layout is not aligned to that (as fdisk tells you with its "Partition X does not start on physical sector boundary.". This can have serious impacts on performance, especially write performance. This misaligned partition layout usually happens when older versions of fdisk are used (for example that from Windows XP or older Linux distributions), or if you have used cfdisk on modern Linux distributions. I recommend to always use modern versions of fdisk or (g)parted instead to partition the disk, they align the layout by default.

insectiod · 12-15-2013, 06:43 AM

I followed TobiSGD's advice and changed the root= partition to the actual root, and it worked!

Regarding partitioning I have another question here, but I think it's better to ask it in a separate thread.