installing VMwareTools-8.6.0-515842.tar.gz on gentoo

Majed17 · 04-12-2012, 07:11 AM

i'm trying to install vmware tools on gentoo according to the the following guide:

http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/VMwar...g_VMware_Tools

i got to the step where i need to create symlinks using ln -s but it didn't work because the folder linux doesn't have any files or folders so i did ln -s linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6/ linux
but i didn't see any sim link created.
then i got to :

Code:

cd /opt/vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl

i go to the step

Code:

The path "/usr/bin/gcc" is not valid path to the gcc binary.
Would you like to change it? [yes] 
The path "/usr/i686-pc-linux-gnu/gcc-bin/4.4.5" is not valid path to the gcc
binary.
Would you like to change it? [yes]

What is the location of the gcc program on your machine? /usr/i686-pc-linux-gnu/bin

and it didn't work.. i tried lots of other directories but it didn't work.
Has anyone installed vmwaretools for esx 5?
any help is appreciated .

Asido · 04-13-2012, 11:51 PM

So what's happening? The output you show has nothing to do with what you said.

Not sure what links are you making. If it's kernel src, you should do it this way:

Quote:

eselect kernel list
eselect kernel set <nr_from_list>

i92guboj · 04-15-2012, 04:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Majed17

i'm trying to install vmware tools on gentoo according to the the following guide:

http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/VMwar...g_VMware_Tools

i got to the step where i need to create symlinks using ln -s but it didn't work because the folder linux doesn't have any files or folders

So, the folder or whatever it is EXISTS but it is empty, right?

Quote:

so i did ln -s linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6/ linux
but i didn't see any sim link created.

Can you share the output for "ls -l /usr/src/" ?

HINT: If "/usr/src/linux" existed already (whatever kind of file it is) then you obviously can't create any new file with the same name.

Majed17 · 05-03-2012, 12:39 AM

well about "eselect kernel list"

Code:

 eselect kernel list
Available kernel symlink targets:
  [1]   linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6 *

so i set it to 1:

Code:

eselect kernel set 1

what relates to

Code:

ls -l /usr/src/

result:

Code:

total 20288
drwxrwxr-x  2 root    root       88 п²п╬я▐  9 04:24 check_snmp_bandwidth-check_snmp_bandwidth
-rw-r--r--  1 root    root     3772 п²п╬я▐  9 08:24 check_snmp_bandwidth.tar.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root    root       22 п°п╟п╧  3 08:28 linux -> linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6
drwxr-xr-x  2 root    root       88 п░п©я─ 10 08:24 linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6
drwxr-xr-x  2 2047328  500      336 п░п©я─ 11 15:58 UUID-0.04
-rw-r--r--  1 root    root     4982 п≤я▌п╩ 23  2009 UUID-0.04.tar.gz
drwxr-xr-x  4 root    root      184 пєп╣п╡ 22 14:29 vmware
drwxr-xr-x 10 root    root      352 п≤я▌пҐ  1  2011 vmware-vsphere-cli-distrib
-rw-r--r--  1 root    root 20740511 п░п©я─ 11 10:50 VMware-vSphere-Perl-SDK-5.0.0-422456.i386.tar.gz

i checked the folder linux but it turns out that it is a simlink to linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6 and it contains the simlink that i created: "linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6"

but i guess this is not why vmware tools are not installing... what about gcc and what is the right path to the gcc binary?
and thanks for your replies

i92guboj · 05-03-2012, 03:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Majed17

well about "eselect kernel list"

Code:

 eselect kernel list
Available kernel symlink targets:
  [1]   linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6 *

so i set it to 1:

Code:

eselect kernel set 1

what relates to

Code:

ls -l /usr/src/

result:

Code:

total 20288
drwxrwxr-x  2 root    root       88 п²п╬я▐  9 04:24 check_snmp_bandwidth-check_snmp_bandwidth
-rw-r--r--  1 root    root     3772 п²п╬я▐  9 08:24 check_snmp_bandwidth.tar.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root    root       22 п°п╟п╧  3 08:28 linux -> linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6
drwxr-xr-x  2 root    root       88 п░п©я─ 10 08:24 linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6
drwxr-xr-x  2 2047328  500      336 п░п©я─ 11 15:58 UUID-0.04
-rw-r--r--  1 root    root     4982 п≤я▌п╩ 23  2009 UUID-0.04.tar.gz
drwxr-xr-x  4 root    root      184 пєп╣п╡ 22 14:29 vmware
drwxr-xr-x 10 root    root      352 п≤я▌пҐ  1  2011 vmware-vsphere-cli-distrib
-rw-r--r--  1 root    root 20740511 п░п©я─ 11 10:50 VMware-vSphere-Perl-SDK-5.0.0-422456.i386.tar.gz

First, that output if highly suspicious, unless the weird characters in there have been crapped during the copy/paste process.

Not only that, but you even have a file whose user:group pair is incorrect (UUID-0.04), that could be anything from a disk failure, file system corruption, or a symptom of having being infected with a virus or a rootkit.

Quote:

i checked the folder linux but it turns out that it is a simlink to linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6 and it contains the simlink that i created: "linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6"

If the directory contains a recursive symlink to itself, then you will obviously need to fix that, and then re-install the kernel sources. You will also need to reconfigure and probably recompile them, and you will also need to make sure that the kernel you are running is that same kernel and not any other version (uname -r).

Anyway, can you paste the output for "ls -l /usr/src/linux/"?

Quote:

but i guess this is not why vmware tools are not installing... what about gcc and what is the right path to the gcc binary?
and thanks for your replies

I couldn't tell that for now, but your source tree seems weird enough for you to care about it. Something strange is going on in there. As far as I remember, vmware needs a configured kernel tree for it to compile, unless in the last times it's been finally fixed to use kernel-headers instead, as it should.

Majed17 · 05-03-2012, 04:27 AM

well the output of:

Code:

ls -l /usr/src/linux/

is

Code:

total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 п░п©я─ 10 08:24 linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6 -> linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6/

which is the symlink as i said, i guess that should be deleted...
i changed the group-owner of the uuid folder and now the output of

Code:

ls -l /usr/src/

is

Code:

total 20288
drwxrwxr-x  2 root root       88 п²п╬я▐  9 04:24 check_snmp_bandwidth-check_snmp_bandwidth
-rw-r--r--  1 root root     3772 п²п╬я▐  9 08:24 check_snmp_bandwidth.tar.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root       22 п°п╟п╧  3 08:28 linux -> linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root       88 п░п©я─ 10 08:24 linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root      336 п░п©я─ 11 15:58 UUID-0.04
-rw-r--r--  1 root root     4982 п≤я▌п╩ 23  2009 UUID-0.04.tar.gz
drwxr-xr-x  4 root root      184 пєп╣п╡ 22 14:29 vmware
drwxr-xr-x 10 root root      352 п≤я▌пҐ  1  2011 vmware-vsphere-cli-distrib
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 20740511 п░п©я─ 11 10:50 VMware-vSphere-Perl-SDK-5.0.0-422456.i386.tar.gz

the weird characters are just like that in the command prompt, i guess these are russian characters but in distorted output for some reason, the system is supposed to support russian language.
by the way

Code:

uname -r

is

Code:

2.6.31-gentoo-r6

so is the next step to delete the symlink and install the kernel sources?
and by the way in comparison to you, i am a noob so bare with me and tell me how to do that

thanks for your help

i92guboj · 05-03-2012, 04:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Majed17

well the output of:

Code:

ls -l /usr/src/linux/

is

Code:

total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 п░п©я─ 10 08:24 linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6 -> linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6/

which is the symlink as i said, i guess that should be deleted...

So you have a recursive symlink in there. Just rm -f it.

Quote:

so is the next step to delete the symlink and install the kernel sources?
and by the way in comparison to you, i am a noob so bare with me and tell me how to do that

thanks for your help

There's a slight problem here, because that concrete version of the kernel is no longer in portage. So, you will need to either update or pick an old ebuild from the gentoo attic and put it into a local overlay. I personally recommend being up to date, unless you have a good reason not to. Otherwise, security and stability concerns might arise.

To get the latest stable (or unstable, if you are in ~arch), just do

Code:

emerge gentoo-sources

You then use eselect as above to list the available kernels and then set the new one active, that will create the /usr/src/symlink.

Then you can copy the current kernel configuration this way:

Code:

zcat /proc/config.gz /usr/src/linux/.config

After that, you go to /usr/src/linux, and use

Code:

make oldconfig

to port the old config you just dumped to the new kernel. You will probably need to ask some questions, and you can always change the configuration afterwards using "make menuconfig", or your preferred method. Then compile and install the kernel as usual, add it to your bootloader, and reboot into your new kernel.

If you need help with that just ask here, but if you installed Gentoo you should be able to compile your own kernel.

If for some reason you prefer to keep your current kernel version then pick the ebuild for 2.6.31-gentoo-r6 from here:

http://sources.gentoo.org/cgi-bin/vi...s/?hideattic=0

Then create a local overlay as described in here:

http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/HOWTO_In..._Party_Ebuilds

Then you can copy the config and proceed with make oldconfig and the rest of the process as I described above for a newer kernel.

Majed17 · 05-04-2012, 06:29 AM

well i have never installed gentoo, it was already present when i started working here, i only manage programs and configurations. anyway i tried updating to the new kernel 3.2.1 using genkernel but now the system won't boot it says:

Code:

determining root device...
block device /dev/sda3 is not a valid root device
could not find the root block device in.

i tried entering the following:

Code:

root block device() :: /dev/ram0

the result was:

Code:

mount: mounting /dev/ram0 on /newroot failed: Invalid argument
could not mount specified root, try again
could not find the root block device in .

i already tried /dev/sda1 /dev/sda2 up to 12, any idea where to go from here?

i92guboj · 05-04-2012, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Majed17

well i have never installed gentoo, it was already present when i started working here, i only manage programs and configurations. anyway i tried updating to the new kernel 3.2.1 using genkernel but now the system won't boot it says:

Code:

determining root device...
block device /dev/sda3 is not a valid root device
could not find the root block device in.

i tried entering the following:

Code:

root block device() :: /dev/ram0

the result was:

Code:

mount: mounting /dev/ram0 on /newroot failed: Invalid argument
could not mount specified root, try again
could not find the root block device in .

i already tried /dev/sda1 /dev/sda2 up to 12, any idea where to go from here?

I assume you use grub (or grub2) as your boot loader. If so, then you should be able to edit the boot command line easily, and that means that you also have all the power of TAB-completion right at your hands. So, edit the boot kernel line, move the cursor to the end of the "root=/dev/sda3" part, delete "da3", and hit TAB twice. If nothing shows up, delete also the "s", write "h" and hit TAB twice (maybe your drive is now using the old pata driver and is named "hda" or the like).

If you still don't get results, then that probably means that you are lacking the right driver for your SATA (or IDE/ATA) chipset. It needs to be included in your kernel, not as a module, unless you are going to use a ramdisk to host it.

So, first, try the grub TAB magic, if that doesn't work, you will need to boot your old kernel and see what ATA chip you have (dmesg and lspci can help you with that).

Then go to your new kernel sources, and use "genkernel --menuconfig". Navigate to Device Drivers, Serial ATA and Parallel ATA drivers, and make sure you have at least these enabled as "*", and NOT AS "m" (that'd be modules).

Code:

<*>   AHCI SATA support          
<*>   Platform AHCI SATA support [*]   ATA SFF support[*]     ATA BMDMA support

IN ADDITION, you might need to select one additional driver from the list below, but not necessarily. It really depends on what disk controller you own. You might also need some PATA driver if you use IDE drives, may them be HDs or CDROM or anything else that's attached to an IDE port. As usual, after changing this compile and reinstall your kernel.

This is one of the reasons why I told you that you should really update. Later kernel updates are not that painful, but the SATA infrastructure has changed a lot since the version you are using, and sooner or later you will have to update anyway.

Well, I tried to sum it all up a bit above, feel free to ask anything that you need.

Majed17 · 05-04-2012, 08:21 AM

thanks for the reply

and yes i did use grub to change the kernel but now from shell i can't mount /boot nor are the vi or nano or pico editors to edit any file. tab twice shows little available commands.. should i use live cd to boot and the change the grub.conf ? and besides i didn't mess with the grub.conf file much; i put the same paramets which the old kernel used and added ext3 as file type maybe it because of this, so what is next to do? i kinda didn't get when you refer using tab twice to complete command in root block device when i type /dev/s and hit tab twice it just makes 2 big spaces.

i92guboj · 05-04-2012, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Majed17

thanks for the reply

and yes i did use grub to change the kernel but now from shell i can't mount /boot nor are the vi or nano or pico editors to edit any file. tab twice shows little available commands.. should i use live cd to boot and the change the grub.conf ? and besides i didn't mess with the grub.conf file much; i put the same paramets which the old kernel used and added ext3 as file type maybe it because of this, so what is next to do? i kinda didn't get when you refer using tab twice to complete command in root block device when i type /dev/s and hit tab twice it just makes 2 big spaces.

I think you are confusing the rescue shell with the grub command line, and a couple more things there...

When you are presented with the grub menu, where you can choose the OS and the kernel you will be booting, you can press 'e' to edit the kernel line. You need to go to the kernel line and follow the instructions about TAB that I gave you above. If my memory serves correctly, when you are done you can press Control+x to boot using the kernel line you just edited.

If you are seeing commands as the results of the TAB'ing, then you are in the wrong place.

And, booting from a livecd won't help you if you don't know what to put into the grub configuration file.

Majed17 · 05-07-2012, 03:25 AM

well indeed i was tabbing in the wrong place. i could not press e to edit the grub line because i had previously set the timeout to 0.
so i booted from the livecd and mounted what needed to be mounted and then i edited grub.conf and made the timeout=10
and saved and umounted and rebooted and then i could press e and tab the command line.
anyway, i did as you said i deleted da3 from /dev/sda3 and pressed tab. but it said:

Code:

error 11: Unrecognized device string

i deleted "s" from /dev/s and typed h so it became /dev/h and pressed tab twice but it also said unrecognized device string. just to make sure i tried /dev/ all the alphabets followed by tab twice but all gave the same error.
so does this mean /dev doesn't contains any drives?

i92guboj · 05-07-2012, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Majed17

well indeed i was tabbing in the wrong place. i could not press e to edit the grub line because i had previously set the timeout to 0.
so i booted from the livecd and mounted what needed to be mounted and then i edited grub.conf and made the timeout=10
and saved and umounted and rebooted and then i could press e and tab the command line.

Next time, remember that, even if you set the timeout to 0, you can still press the arrow keys during the lapse of time when the bootloader takes into scene (just after the Power On Self Test of your BIOS). Once you do that the countdown stops, and you can freely move around the menu, to do whatever you want.

That way you won't need a livecd.

Quote:

anyway, i did as you said i deleted da3 from /dev/sda3 and pressed tab. but it said:

Code:

error 11: Unrecognized device string

i deleted "s" from /dev/s and typed h so it became /dev/h and pressed tab twice but it also said unrecognized device string. just to make sure i tried /dev/ all the alphabets followed by tab twice but all gave the same error.
so does this mean /dev doesn't contains any drives?

Probably, but it can also mean a number of things. It would help to know if you are using grub legacy (0.97 or the like) or grub2. Anyway, you can try another thing. There must be a line like this if you use grub legacy:

Code:

root	 hda(0,1)

or like this if you use grub2:

Code:

set root='hd0.....

Can you try to autocomplete from 'hd' and see what happens? It might help, or not, let's see.

If this doesn't work (it probably will not, so don't worry), please, boot from the livecd, and pick the .config from the last kernel you compiled. It should be in /usr/src/linux/.config, then upload it somewhere and paste a link to it here. We will also need the output from "lspci", and your fstab to get a general overview about your partitioning scheme.

ps. When I say "/usr/src/linux/.config" above, I mean relative to your own system. So, if you are booting from the livecd, you will need to mount your own system somewhere under /mnt/whatever/, and adjust the path and pick the file from /mnt/whatever/usr/src/linux/.config.

Majed17 · 05-08-2012, 07:45 AM

well here is what happened in short. i tried your method of recompiling the oldconfig and it worked and i was able to boot from the new kernel except i had trouble with starting eth0, so according some post in the gentoo forum i recompiled using genkernel and that messed up the kernel and i was unable to boot again..the /dev/sda3 message returned. new attempts to try compiling the old config didn't work... when i execute the command:

Code:

make modules_prepare

i get the following error:

Code:

/usr/src/linux-3.2.1-gentoo-r2/scripts/gcc-version.sh: line 25: ygcc: command not found
/usr/src/linux-3.2.1-gentoo-r2/scripts/gcc-version.sh: line 26: ygcc: command not found
make: ygcc: Command not found
scripts/kconfig/conf --silentoldconfig Kconfig
#
# configuration written to .config
#
/usr/src/linux-3.2.1-gentoo-r2/scripts/gcc-version.sh: line 25: ygcc: command not found
/usr/src/linux-3.2.1-gentoo-r2/scripts/gcc-version.sh: line 26: ygcc: command not found
make: ygcc: Command not found
  CHK     include/linux/version.h
  CHK     include/generated/utsrelease.h
  CC      kernel/bounds.s
/bin/sh: ygcc: command not found
make[1]: *** [kernel/bounds.s] Error 127
make: *** [prepare0] Error 2

must be something with gcc, i will try compiling gcc next.
anyway here is what you asked for:
http://www.fileupyours.com/files/324524/config2.6.old
which is the config of the 2.6 kernel.
executing "lspci"
produces:

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 01)
00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 08)
00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 08)
00:07.7 System peripheral: VMware Virtual Machine Communication Interface (rev 10)
00:0f.0 VGA compatible controller: VMware SVGA II Adapter
00:10.0 SCSI storage controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic 53c1030 PCI-X Fusion-MPT Dual Ultra320 SCSI (rev 01)
00:11.0 PCI bridge: VMware PCI bridge (rev 02)
00:15.0 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:15.1 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:15.2 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:15.3 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:15.4 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:15.5 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:15.6 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:15.7 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:16.0 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:16.1 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:16.2 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:16.3 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:16.4 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:16.5 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:16.6 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:16.7 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:17.0 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:17.1 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:17.2 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:17.3 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:17.4 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:17.5 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:17.6 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:17.7 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:18.0 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:18.1 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:18.2 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:18.3 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:18.4 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:18.5 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:18.6 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
00:18.7 PCI bridge: VMware PCI Express Root Port (rev 01)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] 79c970 [PCnet32 LANCE] (rev 10)

content of /etc/fstab is

Code:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# noatime turns off atimes for increased performance (atimes normally aren't 
# needed; notail increases performance of ReiserFS (at the expense of storage 
# efficiency).  It's safe to drop the noatime options if you want and to 
# switch between notail / tail freely.
#
# The root filesystem should have a pass number of either 0 or 1.
# All other filesystems should have a pass number of 0 or greater than 1.
#
# See the manpage fstab(5) for more information.
#

# <fs>			<mountpoint>	<type>		<opts>		<dump/pass>

# NOTE: If your BOOT partition is ReiserFS, add the notail option to opts.
/dev/sda1		/boot		ext2		noauto,noatime	1 2
/dev/sda3		/		reiserfs		noatime		0 1
/dev/sda2		none		swap		sw		0 0
/dev/cdrom		/mnt/cdrom	auto		noauto,ro	0 0
#/dev/fd0		/mnt/floppy	auto		noauto		0 0

# glibc 2.2 and above expects tmpfs to be mounted at /dev/shm for 
# POSIX shared memory (shm_open, shm_unlink).
# (tmpfs is a dynamically expandable/shrinkable ramdisk, and will
#  use almost no memory if not populated with files)
shm			/dev/shm	tmpfs		nodev,nosuid,noexec	0 0

i think you might also be interested to see the grub.conf file so here it is:

Code:

default 0
timeout 10
#hint.apic.0.disabled=1
#kern.hz="100"



splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r6
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-gentoo-r6 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda3 doscsi vga=0x317 video=vesafb:mtrr:3,ywrap clock=pit nosmp noapic nolapic
initrd /initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-gentoo-r6

title=linux-3.2.1-gentoo-r2
root (hd0,0)
#kernel /kernel-genkernel-x86-3.2.1-gentoo-r2 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda3 doscsi vga=0x317 video=vesafb:mtrr:3,ywrap rootfstype=ext3
kernel /vmlinuz-3.2.1-gentoo-r2 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda3 doscsi vga=0x317 video=vesafb:mtrr:3,ywrap rootfstype=ext3
initrd /initramfs-genkernel-x86-3.2.1-gentoo-r2

thanks you for your help and patience

i92guboj · 05-08-2012, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Majed17

well here is what happened in short. i tried your method of recompiling the oldconfig and it worked and i was able to boot from the new kernel except i had trouble with starting eth0, so according some post in the gentoo forum i recompiled using genkernel and that messed up the kernel and i was unable to boot again..the /dev/sda3 message returned. new attempts to try compiling the old config didn't work... when i execute the command:

Code:

make modules_prepare

i get the following error:

Code:

/usr/src/linux-3.2.1-gentoo-r2/scripts/gcc-version.sh: line 25: ygcc: command not found
/usr/src/linux-3.2.1-gentoo-r2/scripts/gcc-version.sh: line 26: ygcc: command not found
make: ygcc: Command not found
scripts/kconfig/conf --silentoldconfig Kconfig
#
# configuration written to .config
#
/usr/src/linux-3.2.1-gentoo-r2/scripts/gcc-version.sh: line 25: ygcc: command not found
/usr/src/linux-3.2.1-gentoo-r2/scripts/gcc-version.sh: line 26: ygcc: command not found
make: ygcc: Command not found
  CHK     include/linux/version.h
  CHK     include/generated/utsrelease.h
  CC      kernel/bounds.s
/bin/sh: ygcc: command not found
make[1]: *** [kernel/bounds.s] Error 127
make: *** [prepare0] Error 2

I think that your kernel is getting corrupted for some reason, and that this is not the first time this happens.

Are you, by chance, sharing the kernel tree between your real machine and the virtualized one? Or between two machines via NFS? Or between two different VMs? Maybe with different architectures?

Code:

00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] 79c970 [PCnet32 LANCE] (rev 10)

Those are the two devices that you need to care about. The upper one is your hd controller, the second one is the nic. I don't know if they are real or virtualized, but linux will not care either so all you need is to make sure that you have the relevant drivers in your kernel. These, I think, would be the relevant settings under device drivers->serial ata...

Code:

<*>   AHCI SATA support         
<*>   Platform AHCI SATA support[*]   ATA SFF support[*]     ATA BMDMA support

You *might* (not sure) need this:

Code:

<*>       Intel PATA old PIIX support

or maybe:

Code:

<*>     Intel PATA MPIIX support

Code:

/dev/sda1		/boot		ext2		noauto,noatime	1 2
/dev/sda3		/		reiserfs		noatime		0 1
/dev/sda2		none		swap		sw		0 0

If you use an old driver, these could turn into hda*, but if there are not more HDs available then there's little possible variance. It must be one of the two, but the first thing is to make sure that the kernel can see the disk.

Sometimes these problems are caused by simple problems. You need to check the kernel version each time you fire up menuconfig (at the top-left in the blue screen), and every time you install the kernel and change grub.conf, also on every boot, and after having booted (with uname -a, so you can also see the date and hour of compilation). Double check that everything matches. If you need, delete the whole kernel tree, import the old .config as I told you above and start afresh.

Oh, your nic driver should be the pcnet32 driver. It's under device drivers->network device->ethernet->amd devices.

If you get lost, remember that in menuconfig you can press '/', then type the text you want to search ("pcnet32", in this case).