Hi all,

I just re-installed slack11 on my P3 box (stats below)

For some reason I can never get a slack11 disk to boot from the cdrom so I start by installing only disk one for slack10.2, then I reboot and mount the slack11 d1, follow the UPGRADE.TXT instructions and usually put my own kernel into /boot and make modules_install, edit lilo.conf, run lilo then reboot and voila

(this is my play around box so i've broken beyond repair many times and have done the above many times)

well this time when I go to reboot with my 'new' kernel (2.6.19.1) I get some strange errors - first /dev/hda2 mounts, replays transactions etc... then at the end of startup, I get a
*worth noting* there appear to be some udev scripts missing:
rc.udev - complaints from the kernel that this is mssing?

this is not exact, because I can't even seem to SSH into the box now - so I'm typing from across the room

anyways, it gives the option to type root password and perform system maintence, so I type root pass and where I'm stuck: there is nothing there.. I try ls and see all the normal / directorys, but they all appear empty?

undaunted I boot again from Slack10.2 disk 1. Them mount and chroot to my /dev/hda2 and:

ls /etc/rc.d

sure enough, rc.udev is right there... ???? i'm now utterly confused... so I cat rc.udev and see that

"its mostly for reference, as udevstart is usually used"

??? huh, OK perhaps my n00b is showing, but I've done this at least 3-4 times the same way.. I don't even change my kernel anymore, I just leave it on hdb2 partion and re-build it everytime. (I'm still not sure about leaving out the mrproper step, so I do it just in case

now normally I'd say, ok, well clearly I should jsut go back to the bare.i kernel and boot that right? wrong... it wont boot eiter! if I boot that one then neither my keyboard or mouse (gpm, in initlevel 3) respond...

please help.. and many thanks!


<edit++ more information>
so I now find that there is a udev package on the slack11 dsk, and I removpkg/installpkg but it doesnt seem to work, th kernel is complaining the files:

/sbin/udevstart
some udev scritp (sorry it keeps rebooting, hard to read

are mising.. methnks the 10.2 rc.udev didna get updated? maybe /sbin/udevstart was moved somewher? i'll try to find this.. if anyone knows i'd appreciate any pointers..

ach.. nevermind I think I found it,

from slack10.2 install i get rc.udev, and /sbin/udevstart

from slack11 I get rc.udev.new, and no /sbin/udevstart (it is in /extra still apparently)

so my solution: do the slack10.2 boot + mount&chroot then just:
all appears well now... sorry for wasting a thread on my own little out-loud debugging session here..

i'll console myself by thinking someday someone else may find this thread useful...

While your problem is solved, did you check to see if the BIOS boots the CD-ROM drive first? I can't imagine why the Slackware cd wouldn't boot unless the BIOS is somehow very old.

yes the BIOS checks the CD drives 1st.

its really an odd problem, because the 10.2 CDs always boot no problem, and the same slack11 CDs boot fine in all my other computers. its only the P3 box that has problems.

and its not that old, by slackware standards (c1999 i think?) amibios.

sorry for the late reply, i had lost track of the thread

That is rather strange. Oh well, some hardware is rather stubborn. I had an old Gateway (1998 era) that behaved like that, where the CD-ROM drive wouldn't mount anything. Yet, if you put that CD-ROM drive in another machine , it suddenly worked.

Glad to see that you're a happy slacker!