Hi guys,

I only ask, since I've been hit by a blizzard of previously unencountered boot-up problems since acquiring an Acer Aspire AMD64 dual core desktop the other day. It's the only thing I've changed from my prior Intel-based family of chips, so seems a likely culprit. Or maybe it's some video card or something similar which is making the system freeze on boot. All was well until I tried to install Slackware 12.1 and Fedora 10 on Sda1 and Sda3 respectively (SATA hard drive SD is 320Gb in total). Sda2 is Debian Etch running like a Swiss watch (as ever). Boot loader is Grub from the Debian install. Only clue in the boot menue is that both Slackware and Fedora have multiple instances displayed in the bootable kernel choice part of the process, even though the kernals listed are all the same.

Any ideas, guys?

Might be easier to troubleshoot if you posted the actual messages you're getting on boot (if any). Or is it just freezing on boot? If so, how far does it get and what is the process that it hangs on? I've been using an AMD64 dual-core processor for over two years with no problems. I also haven't used Slackware, Debian, or Fedora though, only CLFS, Gentoo, and Slamd64.

Ok,thanks. It was getting a bit late last night when I posted, hence the lack of more detail.

IRO Fedora 10, it doesn't even make it through the early part of the install process (from DVD). Problem seems to be the video output goes dead as the monitor gives a 'no signal' message a few moments into installing Fedora, and goes into standby mode. So I can't see any error message even if one was present. The video card is an ATI Radeon 2100 so I'm fingering that as a possible suspect.

The Slackware 12.1 does give some info before it crashes on boot-up(it installed without complaint). I'll post any clues it gives here shortly....

I myself have not had any issues at all with Slackware and AMD64's. Post your error messages when you can.

Okay, got it. This happens VERY quickly into bootup as you can see:


Booting 'Slackware Linux (Slackware 12.1.0) (on /dev/sda1)'

root (hda0,0)

Filesystemtype is ext2fs partition type 0x83

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-generic-2.6.24.5 root= /dev/sda1

Error 2: Bad file or directory type

Press any key to continue...

(upon which I get dumped back to the Grub kernel choice screen)

I have to say I'm surprised S/ware 12.1 is still using the old ext2 filesystem, even though ext2 and ext3 are mutually compatible.

Any ideas?

That's a grub error. Take a look here --> http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/man...#Stage2-errors and then at your kernel line for Slackware.

OK thanks, so it's a problem with Grub. I did wonder why the Slackware kernel option was repeated four times for the one kernel. I think my 'Knoppix Hacks' book has a good section on fixing Grub errors so I'll look into it later this evening. Still can't believe that this new Slackware version is using a non-journalising fs, though!

I haven't used (or installed) Slackware in a loooong time. Doesn't the installer give you several filesystem options when you're preparing your partitions?

Yes, you can choose your filesystem during installation.
Have you created an initrd if you're using the generic or generic-smp (recommended) kernel? If not, that's might be the problem. Get the mkinitrd_command_generator.sh from here:
http://www.slackware.com/~alien/tools/
run it, and it will tell you what command to run to make an initrd. Then all you need to do is add to your menu.lst, below the kernel line:
P.S.
You'll have to get into Slackware by choosing the huge-smp option from the boot menu.

OK,thanks, gentlemen. I know what the problem was with the filesystem, then. I chose the 'fully-automatic install' option and was never given any choice. In all probability, the entire directory structure has been written to just one partition, too, which is not my preferred way of working. I'll go back and re-install it manually, I think.

I looked at the /boot/grub/menu.lst and only Debian kernels were referenced in it! No wonder Slackware didn't want to boot. Just wondering if that is a glitch in the auto-install too, since Slackware was installed AFTER Debian. I'll get it all sorted out eventually...