problem after installation

beholder · 04-01-2006, 05:00 AM

Hi!
I`m new to the forum and totally new to Linux. Today I`ve installed Slackware 10.2 on my computer. It went quite well though I couldn`t make a boot floppy (kept rejecting all the time). I`ve also installed lilo with 'floppy-boot-option'.
The problem is that the system won`t start.
it loads some modules, and then after loading NET4,IP,TCP when trying to load VFS it wants some 'root floppy'... ? What`s that? I don`t have any idea of what it is, so I skipped it, and got kernel to panic, saying that it couldn`t 'set fs for device 202 or 02:02'.

What`s wrong? How can I repair it? Also please tell if there`s any more info I should post here - as I said I`m a newbie, and have barely any ideas of what is/might be relevant here.

Alien_Hominid · 04-01-2006, 06:19 AM

VFS is virtual file system. You should have it loaded during boot to boot your system successfuly.
I recommend you to install Lilo into MBR so you won't have to use any floppies during boot. Or you can install Lilo into the superblock of your Linux partition if it is first primary partition in your hard drive.

onebuck · 04-01-2006, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beholder

Hi!
I`m new to the forum and totally new to Linux. Today I`ve installed Slackware 10.2 on my computer. It went quite well though I couldn`t make a boot floppy (kept rejecting all the time). I`ve also installed lilo with 'floppy-boot-option'.
The problem is that the system won`t start.
it loads some modules, and then after loading NET4,IP,TCP when trying to load VFS it wants some 'root floppy'... ? What`s that? I don`t have any idea of what it is, so I skipped it, and got kernel to panic, saying that it couldn`t 'set fs for device 202 or 02:02'.

What`s wrong? How can I repair it? Also please tell if there`s any more info I should post here - as I said I`m a newbie, and have barely any ideas of what is/might be relevant here.

Hi,

First, Welcome to Slackware!

You can load the Slackware install cd1 to boot. Once you boot make a directory to allow you to mount your slack partition.
You then can chroot to allow the edit and writing of the lilo.conf. After the edit you will need to do a lilo update.

Example;

Code:

#mkdir /tmproot
#mount /dev/hdx1 /tmproot          #/dev/hdx1 your device ??
                                   #your slack is on
#chroot /tmproot                   #change to your slack
#cd /tmproot/etc                   #get to conf files
#cp lilo.conf lilo.conf-back       #save
#vi lilo.conf                      #Now you can edit lilo.conf

My lilo.conf;

Code:

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
boot = /dev/hda
message = /boot/boot_message.txt
prompt
timeout = 1200
# Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table:
change-rules
  reset
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
vga = 773
# Normal VGA console
# vga = normal
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
# vga=791
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x32k
# vga=790
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
# vga=773
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x64k
# vga=788
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x32k
# vga=787
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x256
# vga=771
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x64k
# vga=785
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x32k
# vga=784
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x256
# vga=769
# End LILO global section
# Windows bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/hda1
  label = Windows98
  table = /dev/hda
# Windows bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz-ide-2.4.31
  root = /dev/hda3
  label = Linux
  read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends
#
## Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz-generic-2.6.13
  root = /dev/hda3
  label = Linux2613
  read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends
## Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.13-1a 
  root = /dev/hda3
  label = Lnx26131a
  read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends
#
#03-06-6 18:15 gws
#
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15.3a
  root = /dev/hda3
  label = Lnx26153a
  read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends

# Linux bootable partition config begins
#boot 2.6.15.3a as single 
#to allow maintenace
image = /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15.3a
  append = "single"
  root = /dev/hda3
  label = L26_single
  read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends

Notice my boot device is /dev/hda. If I want to update my lilo;

Code:

#lilo -v -t -b /dev/hda         #test the lilo
#lilo -v -b /dev/hda            #update the lilo.

After you have updated the lilo,just reboot. The system will IPL the lilo that you update via the mbr.

BTW, you created your error with the boot floppy. The system
is asking for the floppy with your kernel image. Apparently you didn't get a good write to the floppy.

Several good references in my sig.

HTH!

beholder · 04-01-2006, 09:26 AM

Ok, I`ve reinstalled the system with lilo in MBR and without floppy - systems runs fine

Thanks a lot for help!

I`d like to ask about that floppy thing. I though that it was like in 'the system that we all know to well', where such a floppy is used to raise the system if something`s wrong, so a kind of emergency disk. I understand that what I did was that the system needs a floppy to boot... Is that it?

Second question will be about lilo backup. I mean, what if my 'the system that we all know to well' has a failure and I`ll have to reinstall it. I know that then lilo is overwritten and there`s no way to boot on linux. I`ve heard that you can make some floppy to put in then, that would raise lilo. How can I do that?

Last but not least, well... it comes again - I can`t establish network connection. I`ve this problem on Mandrake and Ubuntu also (and didn`t have it on Knoppix though). The thing is that I can`t connect to the net. Usually the case was, that internet connection was installed, without any errors but didn`t work at all :/
Here I have no internet connection installed (only loopback), so I`ve tried to install it through control panel, but I can`t find it in internet&network part nor in any other... Once again I have to ask for help :/
I have it in such a way, that I have an external modem connected to my network card (is that how you call it in english?). I have IP given from outside automaticlly (hm... it`s something to deal with DHCP right?), and that`s generally it. I have 2 network cards in my computer (one is on the mainboard, and it prooved to be worth nothing, so I`d like to shut it down, so that there would be no way of making any connections using it. Second card is a normal card and I`d like to use this one.) I also have a radial card, for my home network - I don`t wat to deal with it now - I`m just telling you that I have 3 cards of which one is a radial, because I know that this can cause some problems when configuring network.

I hope it`s all clear

Once again thanks for helping me to run the system, and thanks in advance for your further help

Alien_Hominid · 04-01-2006, 10:44 AM

That floppy is used for booting.
For system repair use bootable slackware cd1. If you overwrite lilo, everything will be ok except you have to restore (reedit) your lilo.conf into previous state (if you are cautious, keep backup). BTW, failures in MBR happen really rare and are often nasty (sometimes it can't be fixed).
For network connection run ifconfig and post your results. Also you could try your luck by running netconfig and selecting dhcp.

beholder · 04-01-2006, 12:30 PM

That`s what I get from ifconfig

Quote:

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:24 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:24 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:2208 (2.1 Kb) TX bytes:2208 (2.1 Kb)

And as for lilo: if I`ll have it overwritten, then how can I restore conf file if I can`t run linux?

Alien_Hominid · 04-01-2006, 12:36 PM

You can boot slackware CD1, then mount the root partition, run vi or pico and then edit your lilo.conf file.
Or you can boot same cd, run setup or liloconfig and configure lilo again.
If you overwrite lilo, you don't overwrite your root (/) partition and data remains accessible.

beholder · 04-01-2006, 01:02 PM

thanks for clearing this out

I`ve tried with netconfig, but it want`s to tell him my domain? What `s up?

Alien_Hominid · 04-01-2006, 01:07 PM

Imagine fake address. If you ran web server, you could reach your web server by entering this address in the address bar in your local computer.

beholder · 04-02-2006, 04:12 AM

I`ve tried with netconfig, but I still get 'unknown host' if I try to connect to any page. I set domain to aaa.aaa and used DHCP.
In ifconfig I get the same output it was before - shouldn`t I have some new connection there?
Also how can I check if my net card is installed properly? Is there some kind of a hardware manager? Something like 'system' in windows` control panel...

Alien_Hominid · 04-02-2006, 04:21 AM

If your card is connected through pci, use lspci.
Did you setup your DNS connection settings properly? (error unknown host). As I Know, dhcp server should set necessary dns parameters.
Firstly ping your DHCP server. If it succeeds, try entering an ip adress like 64.233.167.99 (that is google.com).
Ifconfig will show different output, if it detects new card.

beholder · 04-02-2006, 09:05 AM

hm... I understand that lspci is some programe/command to be run in console - I`ll try it then.
As for DNS, I have it set so that my internet provider would give it automatically.
I`ve tried to ping some serwers and I get 'unknown host' error.

onebuck · 04-02-2006, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beholder

hm... I understand that lspci is some programe/command to be run in console - I`ll try it then.
As for DNS, I have it set so that my internet provider would give it automatically.
I`ve tried to ping some serwers and I get 'unknown host' error.

Hi,

First, you can backup your /etc to insure that the conf files are saved. You can save it to cd or even grandfather on another machine. The /etc is just 11MB of space generally.

Note: Please cut & paste and post the output of the code commands.

As for the lspci, use;

Code:

#lspci -vv            #this will give you a verbose ouput
                      #see man lspci

Now for the network problem;

Code:

#ifconfig -a          #get the nic information
#route -n             #get route information
#cat /etc/resolv.conf #get your dns

Setup with a static ip to see if the problem is elsewhere;

Code:

#ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.101      # set to one higher then dhcp
#route add default gw 192.168.0.1 #I assume gw is this addr
#ping 192.168.0.1                 #your gw
#ping google.com                  #test the dns
#ping 64.233.187.99               #google IP outside LAN

If you are not able to get the ping google.com then the dns is not correct. Just edit /etc/resolv.conf and add your dns ip address from your IP. The IP provides this and should not change.

If you desire to use dhcp then you will net to setup using either netconfig or just edit the /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf file to reflect the proper information for the desired device.

BTW, disable the on board NIC by getting into your BIOS at boot.

HTS! Read some of the references in my sig for good information

HTH!

beholder · 04-02-2006, 12:09 PM

hm... I loaded my slackware again to make the network work... and it was working already o_0 Somehow, this time the system did recognize my net card, and I`m able to connect to the net from Slackware

Don`t know why, but it`s working

I`d have a question though regarding firewall/antyvirus software. Is any of those already with slackware, or do I have to d/l them from somewhere. If yes, then where do I find it, and if no, then what would you suggest to install (it`s a desktop computer, so no sophisticated protection needed - on XP I`m using the ones provided with windows and it`s fine for me).

Also, since I`m a

I`d like to work under X for the time being. I could write a script to start Xs each time I log to my account (I`ve doing similar scripts recently on classes), but is there a way, to fe. reboot or shutdown from within Xs? As far as I can see after closing session in Xs I get back to console mode and can shutdown then. Is it possible adn save to run shutdown while Xs are still running, and is there any way to do it in other way than by opening console and typing the command (I`m thinking of something like in windows, where you have buttons to do it for you). I realize that this is probalby the smallest problems after installing the system, but once again I want all to be as simple as it can be while I`m fresh meat at Linux

Alien_Hominid · 04-02-2006, 12:33 PM

Change runlevel into 4 in /etc/inittab.
There is no need for antivirus in Linux but you can try clamav. I recommend firestarter for firewall.