not able to mount root partition upon boot

Kristian2 · 11-03-2006, 06:56 AM

I compiled and installed kernel 2.6 and the modules according to all the readme's, but during the boot process I got the following message:
mount: mounting /dev/sda9 on /mnt failed: No such device or address
ERROR: mount returned error code 1. Trouble ahead.
mount: mounting /dev/sda9 on /mnt failed: Invalid argument
/boot/initrd.gz: exiting

I can't figure out what can cause this problem.
Filesystem support was compiled in the kernel (as well as Sata controller drivers). I didn't find any reference to (module) jbd in the menuconfig options which seems to be necessary for a ext3 filesystem, except for debugging support which I don't use. The file load_kernel_modules in the boot directory was empty except for some comment lines. Do I have to fill this file manually?

Here is a condensed version of my fstab:
/dev/hda5 /__NTFS_DATA ntfs
/dev/hda6 /__NTFS_GAMES ntfs
/dev/sda9 / ext3
/dev/sda10 /var ext3
/dev/sda11 /tmp ext3
/dev/sda12 /opt ext3
/dev/sda13 /home ext3
/dev/sda3 /boot ext3

bsdunix · 11-03-2006, 10:21 AM

Just a guess, did you follow "Slackware initrd mini HOWTO" for 2.6 kernels using ext3 partitions?

http://slackware.cs.utah.edu/pub/sla.../README.initrd

cdale77 · 11-03-2006, 11:51 AM

seems like you know this, but you also have to edit lilo.conf and run /sbin/lilo after you make your initrd.

You could try just re-making the initrd (it will replace the old initrd.gz with a new one)

Kristian2 · 11-03-2006, 12:21 PM

I followed the README in the boot directory, which is the same as the mini howto.
This is my lilo.conf (and I ran lilo after making changes)

boot = /dev/sda
message = /boot/boot_message.txt
prompt
timeout = 50
# Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table:
change-rules
reset
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x32k
vga = 790
other = /dev/sda1
label = Windows
table = /dev/sda
image = /boot/vmlinuz
initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
root = /dev/sda9
label = Linux
read-only

I didn't place lilo in the MBR, but in the root section. Could that make any difference? (sda1 is the first bootable NTFS partition, sda9 the root partition which is a logical partition).
As I also said that the file load_kernel_modules is empty, is that normal and if not how does it get filled with modules?