2.6.8 kernel won't boot (and 2.6.8.1)

edman007 · 08-14-2004, 10:10 PM

ok, i just downloaded and compiled/installed the new 2.6.8 kernel, then i go to reboot, starts going and then i get kernel panic, its says (me paraphrasing) can't mount root drive, try using root= at the boot prompt thingey, i tried that and still no go, luckily i have all the 2.6.x kernels in lilo and still there so i can still boot, but not the 2.6.8 kernel, i know the lilo thing is right because all i did was copy the 2.6.7 entry and changed the 7 to an 8 and 2.6.7 is working fine for me right now, the drive is that is the root drive is on an onboard promise sata raid controller (but only one drive so raid is not enabled), and i have a asus p4c800-e dlx motherboard, i'd like to update the bios for that too but i can figure out how to do it on linux (they only have dos flash program, i don't think i have dos aywhere)

i'm using slackware current, and incase this is related, i cannot get lilo or grub to install on sata drive, and to boot i have to put lilo on a PATA drive using the slack install cd, thats the only thing that will work

so does anyone have any idea on what might be going on and how i can get this to work, i also used the same config for the 2.6.7 kernel too except i added all the joystick modules

foo_bar_foo · 08-14-2004, 10:49 PM

did the original kernel have a initrd.img that goes with it ???
if so you will have to either make one for the new kernel or
compile the modules in that .img as included not modules in the new kernel
(ide driver , file system support)

edman007 · 08-14-2004, 11:09 PM

whats a initrd.img? by googling it seems its only needed if there are modules that are needed for loading the root drive, well, i have never done anything with that, and i have always compiled the promise sata driver and ext3 support (the format of the root drive) into the kernel if thats what you mean, and i just checked and its all there, from the errors i had it seemed like it couldn't /dev/hde2, it said something about blocks, like it doesn't exist or could find them, i'm not sure

gibiman · 08-15-2004, 10:06 AM

I remember having the same pb with 2.6.7 when i was tryin' to upgrade my old 2.6.3!

Anyways all the manuals specificaly point out that u should compile your kernel with support for your fs built-in ( not as a module ! ) ! Thinkin' u've done that i'm goin' to tell u how i solved my problem ! I cd to my kernel source tree and

Code:

make oldconfig ( and then i added/removed several components and recompiled the damn thing )

Now cp /arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/linux-2.6.7 and then i coppied the System.map file into my /boot/ directory .. overwriting the old one ! It booted and actually worked ... Although new incompatibilty problems aroused , i got it to boot!
If u done what i did already ... please say so .. I have other things on my mind which could be at the root of your pb but i'm too lazy to wright them down

!

edman007 · 08-15-2004, 10:49 AM

i think i already did that (except i used make xconfig) this is what i do when i recompile the kernel

Code:

cd /usr/src/linux
make mrproper
zcat /proc/config.gz > .config
make xconfig
make -j3 bzImage && make modules && make modules_install
cp System.map /boot/System.map-2.6.8
cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/linux-2.6.8
cp System.map /mnt/hd/boot/System.map-2.6.8
cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /mnt/hd/boot/linux-2.6.8

then i edited the lilo.conf

i copy to /mnt/hd/boot/ because thats the drive that lilo actually works on

futhark · 08-15-2004, 11:36 AM

With 2.6 kernels you can "make install" at the end of the compilation. It copies the kernel, creates system.map, initrd and updates grub.conf.

That said your problem reminds me something I encountered myself when I upgraded to 2.6.7 last week. I am not totally sure but I think it is the "rhgb" kernel option I stripped from my grub.conf that made the system boot.

Something else I have modified without confirming the ffect is to replace "root=LABEL=/" for "root=/dev/hda5".

Good luck!

edman007 · 08-15-2004, 03:12 PM

trying the make install thing didn't seem to do anything

i found on google that devfs=nomount might help, well i tried it an nothing happened

and this time i copied the error message

Code:

VFS: Cannot Open device "2102" or unknown-block(33,2)

futhark · 08-15-2004, 03:51 PM

I came across multiple comments on kerneltrap.org that said to compile ext3 file system support inside the kernel and not as a module.

http://kerneltrap.org/node/view/2547#comment-7477
http://kerneltrap.org/node/view/2321#comment-7356

Is your EXT3_FS set to y?

edman007 · 08-15-2004, 03:55 PM

yes it is compiled in, i said it above if you looked, i have both the promise sata controller driver and the ext3 fs format compiled into the kernel, like i said it is exactly the same config file that i used in 2.6.7 with the exception that i added joystick modules

futhark · 08-15-2004, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by edman007
trying the make install thing didn't seem to do anything[/code]

"make install" is simply a command that saves typing after the kernel is compiled. It copies the kern in /boot, etc.

futhark · 08-15-2004, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by futhark
That said your problem reminds me something I encountered myself when I upgraded to 2.6.7 last week. I am not totally sure but I think it is the "rhgb" kernel option I stripped from my grub.conf that made the system boot.

Something else I have modified without confirming the ffect is to replace "root=LABEL=/" for "root=/dev/hda5".

Good luck!

Have you tried this or not?

I resolved another problem with my 2.6.7 kernel today, but I doubt it is related to your problem since it never prevented my to boot. I had a problem with the loading of my initrd and had to increase the default ramdisk size from 4096 to 8192 (BLK_DEV_RAM_SIZE). The symptom was the following msg in dmesg:

Code:

RAMDISK: Incomplete write (-28 != 32768) 4194304

futhark · 08-15-2004, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by edman007
whats a initrd.img? by googling it seems its only needed if there are modules that are needed for loading the root drive, well, i have never done anything with that, and i have always compiled the promise sata driver and ext3 support (the format of the root drive) into the kernel

The initrd is useful for loading modules before mounting drives. Say your bootable drive is scsi. You will need to load the scsi module before you can mount this drive.

I also experienced problems with the loading of scsi drivers when I installed a scsi card after the initrd was created. That prevented scanners to work properly after a boot. The driver wouldn't load correctly on boot until I recreated the initrd.

As you suggest, maybe compiling drivers right in the kernel defeats the purpose of initrd.

edman007 · 08-15-2004, 05:52 PM

as i said above (first post) i'm using lilo not grup, and i don't think i am loading a initrd or any other type of ramdisk, i just complied everything into the kernel it makes it easier, i have firewire, usb, promise sata controller, ide controller, network, alsa, and reiser and ext3 (i think ext2 too) (and a lot more things) all compiled into the kernel

also in my lilo.conf, i have always had root=/dev/hde2

sygin · 08-17-2004, 06:29 AM

Hi

I believe that the link below is part of the same problem of getting 2.6.8 to boot.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=218383

Thanks
Sygin