Unable to install Slackware 10.1 on AMD64

Basel · 07-22-2005, 03:20 AM

Hi,

I was trying to install Slackware 10.1 before downloading Slamd64 but the installer is not able to find my linux partitions. Neither fdisk nor cfdisk are able to read my partitions on /dev/sda as well. They show an error message saying that "unable to open device". Running the two commands under SuSE 9.3 Prof 64-bit is just fine:

Code:

linux:/home/basel # fdisk -v
fdisk v2.12q
linux:/home/basel # cfdisk -v
cfdisk 2.12q
Copyright (C) 1994-2002 Kevin E. Martin & aeb

I have a Serial ATA hardisk under /dev/sda. Here is the output of fstab under SuSE:

Code:

basel@linux:~> cat /etc/fstab
/dev/sda3            /                    reiserfs   acl,user_xattr        1 1
/dev/sda2            /mnt/Slack           reiserfs   acl,user_xattr        1 2
/dev/sda1            /mnt/data            reiserfs   acl,user_xattr        1 2
/dev/sda4            swap                 swap       pri=42                0 0

Any idea why the installer, fdisk and cfdisk failed to read my device and the partitions?

gbonvehi · 07-22-2005, 03:32 AM

Did you choose the sata.i kernel when installing? The default kernel, bare.i, can't handle them (SATA disks).

Basel · 07-22-2005, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Did you choose the sata.i kernel when installing? The default kernel, bare.i, can't handle them (SATA disks).

I got the following Kernel panic eventhough the installation went smooth with sata.i:

Code:

kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k block-major-8, error = 2
VFS: Cannot open root device "803" or 08:03
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 08:03

gbonvehi · 07-22-2005, 10:00 PM

There's a step in the installation that it asks you which kernel to install to the harddisk, did you choose sata.i too?

Basel · 07-22-2005, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by gbonvehi
There's a step in the installation that it asks you which kernel to install to the harddisk, did you choose sata.i too?

No, I selected the last option, "use the default kernel from in /boot/vmlinuz"

gbonvehi · 07-22-2005, 11:45 PM

Well, then select sata.i because the default is bare.i.

If you don't want to reinstall, boot with the CD, and copy sata.i and the files System.map and config asociated with it.
To do this, mount the harddisk somewhere like /mnt/hd
Then copy the files chroot to it and re-run lilo.

Edit: The commands after booting with sata.i using the CD would be something like:

Code:

# mount -o rw /dev/sda1 /mnt/hd
# cp /kernels/sata.i/bzImage /mnt/hd/boot/vmlinuz
# zcat /kernels/sata.i/System.map.gz > /mnt/hd/boot/System.map
# cp /kernels/sata.i/config /mnt/hd/boot/config
# chroot /mnt/hd
# /sbin/lilo -v

Basel · 07-22-2005, 11:57 PM

Thanks gbonvehi,

I will give it a try later after work.

Basel · 07-23-2005, 11:07 PM

Thanks a lot gbonvehi,

The instructions you gave me just worked fine. There is only one missing step, that is to mount the CD after mounting the HD.