Installation of openSuse 11.3 failed

zorro_kwh · 11-25-2010, 11:14 AM

Hi,

I used a openSuse 11.0 on a pretty old AMD K6/2 machine with 512MB RAM and 20GB of IDE disc. But the maintanance has been stopped and I decided to upgrade to 11.3 which was distributed with the computer magazine ct.

Although it was slow, everything seems to go well until I came to repartitioning and mounting of the IDE drives. I always got the error that the root volume wasn't mounted successfully and the installation aborted. The disk was used before and formated with swap and ext3 filesystems from opensuse 11.0. After the error all was gone of course. The error code was -1008 reported by the yast2 installation GUI.

Even the partitioning with fdisk from another console (ALT+GR F2) and the creation of the ext3 or ext4 filesystem "by hand" failed. No matter what file system I used I cannot create a file system using 11.3.

Finally I give up because I thought I crashed my old IDE disk. But as a last chance I took my old 11.0 installation DVD and started the installation of the old 11.0 system. This was successfull!! Creation of partitions, filesystems succeded as expected. Installation finished without errors of the old OS after some hours. But I cannot get any updates anymore for this old linux.

I have several questions:
1.) Does the 11.3 kernel has stopped supporting old IDE systems?
2.) Is there a way to upgrade to 11.3 from 11.0 without a new installation?
3.) Why can't I partitoning the IDE disk with 11.3 fdisk althouh I have created an printed the partition table and guit fdisk WITH writing the changes?
4.) mk2efs.ext3 seemed to create a file system, but I couldnt mount /dev/sda2 because the device file wasn't created? (The log output of mk2efs.ext3 was as expected, but the device /dev/sda2 wasn't there).
5.) What does -1008 means?

Has anyboby succeded installing openSuse 11.3 or newer on pretty old IDE hardware?

BTW, I tried it with a Ubuntu 10.04 LTS DVD too and failed at the same point (partitioning, creating and mounting of file systems). It looks to me that the current linux systems has no longer support of old IDE systems.

salasi · 11-25-2010, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zorro_kwh

...everything seems to go well until I came to repartitioning and mounting of the IDE drives. I always got the error that the root volume wasn't mounted successfully and the installation aborted.

how much space did you have allocated to '/'? It could be that, either, partitions got swapped about, or that what was enough space under an earlier version is no longer enough.

Quote:

The disk was used before and formated with swap and ext3 filesystems from opensuse 11.0.

The default is now ext4, and that should be offered to you as an upgrade (or something) if the partition is not being preserved, as /home probably would be, from one install to the next.

Quote:

1.) Does the 11.3 kernel has stopped supporting old IDE systems?

Not that I know of, and if this had been the case directly, I think that there would have been a fuss about it and that everyone would know.

Quote:

2.) Is there a way to upgrade to 11.3 from 11.0 without a new installation?

Probably: you could do an upgrade from 11.0 to 11.1 and then from 11.1 to 11.2 and then from 11.2 to 11.3. Don't expect that to be anything like trouble free, though.

Quote:

BTW, I tried it with a Ubuntu 10.04 LTS DVD too and failed at the same point (partitioning, creating and mounting of file systems). It looks to me that the current linux systems has no longer support of old IDE systems.

I'll be surprised if that is the case, but then I have been surprised before. OTOH, some of the old K6 chipsets were of questionable quality, and it may be that the older kernel had a workaround for some chipset bug (probably with the bit of the chipset that supports the IDE ports) that the newer kernel has lost, and you are pretty much on the minimal memory requirement for an install (for OS): have you tried an alternate/command line install? I'm guessing something other than 'no IDE works any more'.

zorro_kwh · 12-04-2010, 08:38 AM

I used almost the whole disk for /. I only let 700mb for swap remain.

Anyway. I have installed the 11.1 Suse successfully. I have then run several commands:

lspci
lsmod
cat /var/log/boot.msg
gpartd -v /dev/sda

on both systems (11.1) and the rescue system of the 11.2 dvd.

First the 11.1 results
lspci

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: ALi Corporation M1541 (rev 04)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ALi Corporation M1541 PCI to AGP Controller (rev 04)
00:02.0 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03)
00:07.0 ISA bridge: ALi Corporation M1533/M1535/M1543 PCI to ISA Bridge [Aladdin IV/V/V+] (rev c3)
00:08.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905 100BaseTX [Boomerang]
00:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 04)
00:09.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Live! Game Port (rev 01)
00:0a.0 SCSI storage controller: Adaptec AHA-2940U/UW/D / AIC-7881U
00:0f.0 IDE interface: ALi Corporation M5229 IDE (rev c1)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] (rev a1)

lsmod

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by
nls_iso8859_1           3768  1 
nls_cp437               5432  1 
vfat                    9656  1 
fat                    45800  1 vfat
binfmt_misc             7740  1 
snd_pcm_oss            43136  0 
snd_mixer_oss          14288  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_midi            7036  0 
snd_emu10k1_synth       6876  0 
snd_emux_synth         34672  1 snd_emu10k1_synth
snd_seq_virmidi         5336  1 snd_emux_synth
snd_seq_midi_event      6676  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_virmidi
snd_seq_midi_emul       5824  1 snd_emux_synth
snd_seq                51920  5 snd_seq_midi,snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_midi_emul
ipv6                  242484  24 
af_packet              16356  0 
fuse                   50676  1 
loop                   14112  0 
dm_mod                 62596  0 
ppdev                   6876  0 
rtc_cmos               10744  0 
rtc_core               17384  1 rtc_cmos
rtc_lib                 2816  1 rtc_core
snd_emu10k1           136592  1 snd_emu10k1_synth
pcspkr                  2344  0 
snd_rawmidi            21312  3 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_emu10k1
snd_ac97_codec         99756  1 snd_emu10k1
parport_pc             34632  0 
ac97_bus                1584  1 snd_ac97_codec
parport                33196  2 ppdev,parport_pc
snd_pcm                76740  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_emu10k1,snd_ac97_codec
snd_seq_device          7168  6 snd_seq_midi,snd_emu10k1_synth,snd_emux_synth,snd_seq,snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi
snd_timer              20204  3 snd_seq,snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc          8048  2 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm
snd_util_mem            4436  2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1
button                  6568  0 
snd_hwdep               7160  2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1
floppy                 52876  0 
sr_mod                 13344  0 
cdrom                  32288  1 sr_mod
sg                     29164  0 
snd                    56800  16 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_emu10k1_synth,snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi_emul,snd_seq,snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_seq_device,snd_timer,snd_util_mem,snd_hwdep
emu10k1_gp              2560  0 
ali_agp                 5236  1 
shpchp                 28228  0 
3c59x                  37420  0 
usb_storage            90344  1 
gameport               10800  2 emu10k1_gp
soundcore               6660  1 snd
mii                     4968  1 3c59x
pci_hotplug            27392  1 shpchp
agpgart                32148  1 ali_agp
sd_mod                 31600  6 
crc_t10dif              1704  1 sd_mod
ohci_hcd               31268  0 
ehci_hcd               47844  0 
usbcore               165668  4 usb_storage,ohci_hcd,ehci_hcd
edd                     8620  0 
ext3                  124076  2 
mbcache                 7592  1 ext3
jbd                    52808  1 ext3
fan                     4720  0 
ide_pci_generic         3428  0 
alim15x3                5872  0 
ide_core               97108  2 ide_pci_generic,alim15x3
ata_generic             4484  0 
pata_ali                8016  3 
libata                161292  2 ata_generic,pata_ali
dock                   11844  1 libata
aic7xxx               133100  0 
scsi_transport_spi     21720  1 aic7xxx
scsi_mod              149856  7 sr_mod,sg,usb_storage,sd_mod,libata,aic7xxx,scsi_transport_spi
thermal                19976  0 
processor              43500  2 thermal
thermal_sys            11376  3 fan,thermal,processor
hwmon                   2916  1 thermal_sys

boot.msg is attached.
gpartd -v /dev/sda

Code:

dev(/dev/sda) mss(512) chs(2434/255/63)(LBA) #s(39102210) size(19092mb)
Primary partition(1)
   type: 130(0x82)(Linux swap or Solaris/x86)
   size: 753mb #s(1542177) s(63-1542239)
   chs:  (0/1/1)-(95/254/63)d (0/1/1)-(95/254/63)r
   hex:  00 01 01 00 82 FE 3F 5F 3F 00 00 00 21 88 17 00

Primary partition(2)
   type: 131(0x83)(Linux ext2 filesystem) (BOOT)
   size: 18339mb #s(37559970) s(1542240-39102209)
   chs:  (96/0/1)-(1023/254/63)d (96/0/1)-(2433/254/63)r
   hex:  80 00 01 60 83 FE FF FF 60 88 17 00 A2 1E 3D 02

Primary partition(3)
   type: 000(0x00)(unused)
   size: 0mb #s(0) s(0-0)
   chs:  (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)d (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)r
   hex:  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Primary partition(4)
   type: 000(0x00)(unused)
   size: 0mb #s(0) s(0-0)
   chs:  (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)d (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)r
   hex:  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00


Begin scan...
Possible partition(Linux swap), size(753mb), offset(0mb)
   type: 130(0x82)(Linux swap or Solaris/x86)
   size: 753mb #s(1542176) s(63-1542238)
   chs:  (0/1/1)-(95/254/62)d (0/1/1)-(95/254/62)r
   hex:  00 01 01 00 82 FE 3E 5F 3F 00 00 00 20 88 17 00

Possible partition(Linux ext2), size(18339mb), offset(753mb)
   type: 131(0x83)(Linux ext2 filesystem)
   size: 18339mb #s(37559968) s(1542240-39102207)
   chs:  (96/0/1)-(1023/254/63)d (96/0/1)-(2433/254/61)r
   hex:  00 00 01 60 83 FE FF FF 60 88 17 00 A0 1E 3D 02

End scan.

Checking partitions...
Partition(Linux swap or Solaris/x86): primary 
Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): primary 
Ok.

Guessed primary partition table:
Primary partition(1)
   type: 130(0x82)(Linux swap or Solaris/x86)
   size: 753mb #s(1542176) s(63-1542238)
   chs:  (0/1/1)-(95/254/62)d (0/1/1)-(95/254/62)r
   hex:  00 01 01 00 82 FE 3E 5F 3F 00 00 00 20 88 17 00

Primary partition(2)
   type: 131(0x83)(Linux ext2 filesystem)
   size: 18339mb #s(37559968) s(1542240-39102207)
   chs:  (96/0/1)-(1023/254/63)d (96/0/1)-(2433/254/61)r
   hex:  00 00 01 60 83 FE FF FF 60 88 17 00 A0 1E 3D 02

Primary partition(3)
   type: 000(0x00)(unused)
   size: 0mb #s(0) s(0-0)
   chs:  (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)d (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)r
   hex:  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Primary partition(4)
   type: 000(0x00)(unused)
   size: 0mb #s(0) s(0-0)
   chs:  (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)d (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)r
   hex:  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Now the 11.2 system
lspci

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: ALi Corporation M1541 (rev 04)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ALi Corporation M1541 PCI to AGP Controller (rev 04)
00:02.0 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03)
00:07.0 ISA bridge: ALi Corporation M1533/M1535/M1543 PCI to ISA Bridge [Aladdin IV/V/V+] (rev c3)
00:08.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905 100BaseTX [Boomerang]
00:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 04)
00:09.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Live! Game Port (rev 01)
00:0a.0 SCSI storage controller: Adaptec AHA-2940U/UW/D / AIC-7881U
00:0f.0 IDE interface: ALi Corporation M5229 IDE (rev c1)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] (rev a1)

lsmod

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by
vfat                   12320  1 
fat                    59264  1 vfat
dm_mod                 84740  0 
nls_utf8                1856  0 
usb_storage            57568  1 
usbhid                 51968  0 
hid                    46848  1 usbhid
ppa                    12236  0 
cryptomgr              95216  0 
aead                    8640  1 cryptomgr
pcompress               2752  1 cryptomgr
crypto_hash            14464  1 cryptomgr
arc4                    1952  0 
ecb                     3264  0 
crypto_blkcipher       14884  2 cryptomgr,ecb
crypto_algapi          21220  7 cryptomgr,aead,pcompress,crypto_hash,arc4,ecb,crypto_blkcipher
fan                     5028  0 
nfs                   345360  0 
nfs_acl                 3264  1 nfs
lockd                  81484  1 nfs
fscache                46552  1 nfs
auth_rpcgss            43360  1 nfs
sunrpc                225536  4 nfs,nfs_acl,lockd,auth_rpcgss
nls_iso8859_1           4000  1 
nls_cp437               5664  1 
ipv6                  306036  16 
af_packet              23648  0 
st                     40156  0 
ide_gd_mod             30948  0 
ide_cd_mod             30276  0 
ide_pci_generic         4036  0 
alim15x3                8236  0 
sg                     32660  0 
ide_core              124108  4 ide_gd_mod,ide_cd_mod,ide_pci_generic,alim15x3
ata_generic             4868  0 
sr_mod                 17316  0 
cdrom                  40448  2 ide_cd_mod,sr_mod
pata_ali               10696  0 
ohci_hcd               37104  0 
rtc_cmos               15280  0 
aic7xxx               138104  0 
parport_pc             40004  0 
ehci_hcd               56432  0 
libata                200748  2 ata_generic,pata_ali
scsi_transport_spi     27456  1 aic7xxx
rtc_core               22908  1 rtc_cmos
3c59x                  50568  0 
processor              50352  1 
ali_agp                 5952  1 
rtc_lib                 3168  1 rtc_core
floppy                 61540  0 
parport                40236  2 ppa,parport_pc
thermal                21020  0 
thermal_sys            18120  3 fan,processor,thermal
button                  6544  0 
hwmon                   3676  1 thermal_sys
edd                    10376  0 
squashfs               42756  4 
loop                   17324  8

gpartd -v /dev/sda

Code:

dev(/dev/sda) mss(512)
Primary partition(1)
   type: 000(0x00)(unused)
   size: 0mb #s(0) s(0-0)
   chs:  (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)d (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)r
   hex:  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Primary partition(2)
   type: 000(0x00)(unused)
   size: 0mb #s(0) s(0-0)
   chs:  (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)d (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)r
   hex:  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Primary partition(3)
   type: 000(0x00)(unused)
   size: 0mb #s(0) s(0-0)
   chs:  (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)d (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)r
   hex:  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Primary partition(4)
   type: 000(0x00)(unused)
   size: 0mb #s(0) s(0-0)
   chs:  (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)d (0/0/0)-(0/0/0)r
   hex:  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00


Begin scan...

boot.msg is attached.

I have attached the larger boot.msg files to this post where you can find the "unknown partition type" error.

Can anybody see why 11.2 is not finding the partitions?

Do I nned to load some additional modules?