new computer old hard drive

dstromberg · 10-11-2005, 11:12 AM

Usual apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere, but I couldn't find any topics related to this.

I recently bought a new computer eMachines t3990 after my old computer stopped working properly. I had Suse Linux 8.0 installed on the hard drive and was trying to simply drop the old drive into the new computer. It didn't work, (kernel panic, unable to mount root fs...) and I tried to install Linux on the new drive. YAST dropped me into manual installation, and I got totally lost. I think that there may be a problem with compatibility of the hard drive controller, but I'm not sure. Any ideas? More information needed?
Thanks so much!

aaa · 10-11-2005, 11:25 AM

Definitely more info needed... what kind of hd is the old, the new, where exactly did you "drop it in" (master, slave?), etc.

Bruce Hill · 10-11-2005, 11:35 AM

And let us know if you're using LiLO, GrUB, or something else for your bootloader.
Probably the MBR (master boot record) is going to need updating, as well as some
stuff aaa will tell you about.

dstromberg · 10-11-2005, 11:38 AM

old hard drive is western digital 40 gb (WD400) ide...
can't look at the new hard drive right now, but it doesn't really matter, because it never gets that far.
I forgot to mention, when it moves to the manual installation, it says that it can't find the linux installation cd (after it booted from the cd, so it's there)

Both times the hard drives are the only one present in the system.

I'm using LILO as the bootloader. I tried a couple times modifying the line in lilo to set the root to different hdas (root=/dev/hda1, /dev/hdb2, etc...), but to no avail.

aaa · 10-11-2005, 01:24 PM

The problem is probably that the old was primary master (hda) or something and now it is in a different spot, making it hdc (guessing, you didn't say where you put it). The old /etc/fstab file probably still says hda, so even if you get the root= right the fstab could be the problem. So either rearrange all the drives so the old one is in the same position it was in the old computer, or boot up from a cd or floppy (the install cd should have a comand line on it) and change the old fstab. Not sure why the install went to manual, is there something special about the cdrom drive you have?

TexasDevilDog · 10-11-2005, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by aaa
The problem is probably that the old was primary master (hda) or something and now it is in a different spot, making it hdc (guessing, you didn't say where you put it). The old /etc/fstab file probably still says hda, so even if you get the root= right the fstab could be the problem. So either rearrange all the drives so the old one is in the same position it was in the old computer, or boot up from a cd or floppy (the install cd should have a comand line on it) and change the old fstab. Not sure why the install went to manual, is there something special about the cdrom drive you have?

I agree with the above. If you have the new HD in the new computer, I would disconnect it and see how everything boot up with only the old HD.

dstromberg · 10-11-2005, 04:54 PM

Well, in both cases the HD is the primary master, so it shouldn't have changed from hda (secondary master is the CD Drive, that's the only other drive connected when I boot up).
The problem is, I can't get to a command line from the CD Drive either, as mentioned earlier. I just tried putting my old CD Drive into the new computer, but had the same results. (Dropped into manual installation, says that it can't find the Linux installation CD). This occurs no matter which option I choose on the CD's boot menu. I've tried Installation, Installation - Safe Settings, Rescue System....

TexasDevilDog · 10-11-2005, 09:30 PM

When you drop to a prompt do this.

Code:

# df -HT
Filesystem    Type     Size   Used  Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda2     ext3      70G   3.2G    63G   5% /
/dev/sda1     ext3     104M    11M    88M  11% /boot
/dev/shm     tmpfs     525M      0   525M   0% /dev/shm
/dev/hdd       udf     8.6G   8.6G      0 100% /media/cdrecorder

And a "dfisk /dev/***" on what ever is not listed. This should give you an idea if linux can see your hardware.

J.W. · 10-12-2005, 01:12 AM

If I understand your situation, by "dropping the old drive" into the new machine, what you actually mean is you are actually trying to add the old drive into the new machine as a second drive. (I'm assuming that the new PC has an existing drive, which you'll be keeping as the primary master, and that you want to use the old drive for additional storage.)

If so, and since apparently both drives were jumpered to be in the primary position, the problem may be with the jumper setting on the old drive. Check the jumper settings on your drives, and adjust as needed. Good luck with it and welcome to LQ!

TexasDevilDog · 10-14-2005, 10:45 AM

Any resolution with the problem? Please add the fix, so it might help other people.