Problems with freshly installed Slackware64 14 on a newly bought laptop

Alien Bob · 02-16-2013, 07:03 PM

You're never too old to stop learning :-)

Eric

glupa4e · 03-16-2013, 12:04 PM

Hello again,

i finally had some time to try and build a new kernel. As i already said, this was my first time doing so. I followed those instructions. I decided to build kernel 3.7.10. I downloaded it, verified the GPG and found a generic config file from here . Everything went fine until i had to run

Code:

lilo

When i ran it, i had this error:

Code:

Warning: LBA32 addressing assumed
Reading boot sector from /dev/sda
Fatal: Trying to map files from unnamed device 0x000e (NFS/RAID mirror down ?)

Here is how the end of it loooks like:

Code:

image = /boot/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/sdb2
  label = Linux
  read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config by glupa4e begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz-custom-3.7.10
  root = /dev/sdb2
  label = 3.7.10-alien
  read-only
# Linux bootable partition config by glupa4e ends

Now i am not able to see the entry for the new kernel when booting. At least the old kernel is still loading. I changed the desktop environment to XFCE. One event that for sure causes the laptop to freeze is inserting a MicroSD card in the reader slot. That causes a kernel panic and it switches back to text console.
Here is how my /etc/fstab looks like:

Code:

/dev/sda4        swap             swap        defaults         0   0
/dev/sdb2        /                btrfs       noatime,nodiratime,discard         1   1
/dev/sda1        /home            ext4        defaults         1   2
/dev/sda2        /tmp             ext4        defaults         1   2
/dev/sda3        /var             ext4        defaults         1   2
/dev/sda5        /storage1        ext4        defaults         1   2
/dev/sda6        /storage2        ext4        defaults         1   2
/dev/sda7        /storage3        ext4        defaults         1   2
/dev/sdb1        /boot            ext2        noauto	       0   1
/dev/cdrom      /mnt/cdrom       auto        noauto,user,comment=x-gvfs-show 0   0
#/dev/fd0         /mnt/floppy      auto        noauto,owner     0   0
devpts           /dev/pts         devpts      gid=5,mode=620   0   0
proc             /proc            proc        defaults         0   0
tmpfs            /dev/shm         tmpfs       defaults         0   0

Any idea how to fix the lilo problem?

Thank you!

psionl0 · 03-16-2013, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glupa4e

.... found a generic config file from here .

That source is from Slackware current.

You could try copying /boot/config-huge-3.2.29 and building your kernel from that.

glupa4e · 03-16-2013, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by psionl0

That source is from Slackware current.

You could try copying /boot/config-huge-3.2.29 and building your kernel from that.

Could a wrong config file cause such problem with lilo really?

Didier Spaier · 03-16-2013, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glupa4e

Any idea how to fix the lilo problem?

Not at the moment.

Maybe when you will have posted your *whole* lilo.conf: you exhibit only the part about /dev/sdb2 but the error is about /dev/sda (it seems).

glupa4e · 03-17-2013, 01:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didier Spaier

Not at the moment.

Maybe when you will have posted your *whole* lilo.conf: you exhibit only the part about /dev/sdb2 but the error is about /dev/sda (it seems).

Here is my complete lilo.conf file

Code:

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
# Append any additional kernel parameters:
append=" vt.default_utf8=0"
boot = /dev/sda

# Boot BMP Image.
# Bitmap in BMP format: 640x480x8
  bitmap = /boot/slack.bmp
# Menu colors (foreground, background, shadow, highlighted
# foreground, highlighted background, highlighted shadow):
  bmp-colors = 255,0,255,0,255,0
# Location of the option table: location x, location y, number of
# columns, lines per column (max 15), "spill" (this is how many
# entries must be in the first column before the next begins to
# be used.  We don't specify it here, as there's just one column.
  bmp-table = 60,6,1,16
# Timer location x, timer location y, foreground color,
# background color, shadow color.
  bmp-timer = 65,27,0,255

# Standard menu.
# Or, you can comment out the bitmap menu above and 
# use a boot message with the standard menu:
#message = /boot/boot_message.txt

# Wait until the timeout to boot (if commented out, boot the
# first entry immediately):
prompt
# Timeout before the first entry boots.
# This is given in tenths of a second, so 600 for every minute:
timeout = 50
# Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table:
change-rules
  reset
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
vga = 773
# Normal VGA console
#vga = normal
# Ask for video mode at boot (time out to normal in 30s)
#vga = ask
# 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
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/sdb2
  label = Linux
  read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config by glupa4e begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz-custom-3.7.10
  root = /dev/sdb2
  label = 3.7.10-alien
  read-only
# Linux bootable partition config by glupa4e ends

Didier Spaier · 03-17-2013, 04:50 AM

Not sure I have a clue here.

Out of curiosity though: why do you put the boot loader on the MBR of /dev/sda, and have / and /boot on another hard disk (/dev/sdb)? At least I hope that /dev/sdb is not an USB hard disk?

Oh, and I don't see the point is having separate partitions for /tmp and /storage* but that's your machine

psionl0 · 03-17-2013, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glupa4e

Could a wrong config file cause such problem with lilo really?

Maybe, maybe not but I notice that you used the generic config file. You should use the huge config file until you have been able to build an initrd file.

BTW A couple of helpful posters put out a kernel.build script that might help you in this thread (mine isn't working properly yet).

glupa4e · 03-17-2013, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didier Spaier

Not sure I have a clue here.

Out of curiosity though: why do you put the boot loader on the MBR of /dev/sda, and have / and /boot on another hard disk (/dev/sdb)? At least I hope that /dev/sdb is not an USB hard disk?

Oh, and I don't see the point is having separate partitions for /tmp and /storage* but that's your machine

Dear Didier,
here is the result of:

Code:

df -k
Filesystem     1K-blocks     Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb2      125017412 10563260 113889772   9% /
/dev/sda1      144497320  6621700 130535588   5% /home
/dev/sda2       30963708 11051172  18339672  38% /tmp
/dev/sda3       20642428  1737804  17856048   9% /var
/dev/sda5      206424760   191756 195747244   1% /storage1
/dev/sda6      206424760   191764 195747236   1% /storage2
/dev/sda7      335967108 52220132 266680752  17% /storage3
tmpfs            8129840      132   8129708   1% /dev/shm

/sdb is actually an SSD disk which was additionally added to the initial configuration. I decided to put /boot and / on it. I have decided to use the other HDD disk for storing user files.

I remember having one issue during the installation. BIOS was detecting the devices in a different order than Linux so i had to make it like that. If you think, it would be better to change this and give your suggestions, I am ready to follow them, because I am anyway a newbie.

Didier Spaier · 03-17-2013, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glupa4e

I remember having one issue during the installation. BIOS was detecting the devices in a different order than Linux so i had to make it like that. If you think, it would be better to change this and give your suggestions, I am ready to follow them, because I am anyway a newbie.

That *could* be the cause of your problem.

My assumption is that when you boot, / is not mapped to /dev/sdb2.

So I'd suggest to name that partition by UUID instead of by its location in the /dev filesystem.

To help you doing that, please provide output of following commands (the second one should be typed as root):

Code:

cat /proc/partitions
blkid

Oh, and use a huge config file as a basis, as already advised. Or at least make btrfs (and ext4 and ext2 while you are at it) file systems built-in (not modular), otherwise you won't be able to boot anyway.

Additionally, maybe a SSD needs some time to sync (as an USB device does). Would that be the case you would have to add 'append "rootdelay=15" to the corresponding image section, but we'll see that later if need be.

glupa4e · 03-17-2013, 09:13 AM

Code:

cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name

   8       16  125034840 sdb
   8       17      16384 sdb1
   8       18  125017415 sdb2
  11        0    1048575 sr0
   8        0  976762584 sda
   8        1  146800640 sda1
   8        2   31457280 sda2
   8        3   20971520 sda3
   8        4   16777216 sda4
   8        5  209715200 sda5
   8        6  209715200 sda6
   8        7  341324487 sda7

Code:

blkid
/dev/sdb1: UUID="8d0e4770-0a9f-41bf-87f7-83ca083821c2" TYPE="ext2" 
/dev/sdb2: UUID="dae9cd30-4e0c-4194-b45f-f4c55bc24410" UUID_SUB="5ec8d4be-6670-4a62-976b-ec2ea10fc006" TYPE="btrfs" 
/dev/sda1: UUID="b5e6b8c5-10a5-46e9-8344-e9ea2d90a885" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda2: UUID="c4fb3459-2e53-46ad-ad8a-1d0af3670577" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda3: UUID="63f8ca8b-9ef0-4639-8f1e-c39b8e5be51a" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda4: UUID="5507c428-998b-4d17-9a77-86d73a5e6b87" TYPE="swap" 
/dev/sda5: UUID="d48e7c65-48a6-44b3-818a-e6ea2f46a784" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda6: UUID="d5a5ff4c-72d5-4591-818d-7148894e6340" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda7: UUID="c267f0d5-b47e-4696-be04-c9c82fa6d659" TYPE="ext4"

May i use huge file from Slackware 14, which is for kernel 3.2.29 as a basis when building kernel 3.7.10 or 3.8.3?

If you let me know which options to mark with an "*" (in order to make btrfs, ext2, ext4 built in) , I will check them when configuring the new kernel.

Didier Spaier · 03-17-2013, 11:49 AM

Thanks for the information.

Quote:

Originally Posted by glupa4e

May i use huge file from Slackware 14, which is for kernel 3.2.29 as a basis when building kernel 3.7.10 or 3.8.3?

No, use that one (you installed a 64 bit Slackware, right?) instead

Quote:

Originally Posted by glupa4e

If you let me know which options to mark with an "*" (in order to make btrfs, ext2, ext4 built in) , I will check them when configuring the new kernel.

Don't worry about that, you'll be installing a huge kernel so all that you need will be built-in. You will just have to rename it as .config and run "make oldconfig" before making the kernel & modules and install everything.

Now in /etc/lilo.conf just replace all occurrences of

Code:

root = /dev/sdb2

with:

Code:

root = "UUID=dae9cd30-4e0c-4194-b45f-f4c55bc24410"

Then in you /etc/fstab, replace

Code:

/dev/sdb2        /                btrfs       noatime,nodiratime,discard         1   1

with

Code:

 UUID=dae9cd30-4e0c-4194-b45f-f4c55bc24410       /                btrfs       noatime,nodiratime,discard         1   1

glupa4e · 03-17-2013, 12:56 PM

Dear Didier,

thank you for your hints. I will follow them. So what i need to do one more time.
I will follow the instructions one more time.
I will download kernel 3.8.3 or 3.7.10 and check its integrity by GPG.
Then, i will use as config file, the huge one referred above, download it and rename it to .config.
Then follow the instructions onwards. I will build the kernel and edit lilo.conf file.
Meanwhile you will be informed if i am experiencing difficulties.
Thank you all for the help up to now!

Didier Spaier · 03-17-2013, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glupa4e

.
I will download kernel 3.8.3 or 3.7.10

Don't use the 3.8.3 kernel, you would complicate things uselessly.

Use the kernel which matches your config file:
http://mirrors.slackware.com/slackwa...-3.7.10.tar.xz

And in the instructions, after "make oldconfig", skip "make xconfig" (you don't need to do that as you won't change the configuration) but go straight to "Building your kernel".

glupa4e · 04-04-2013, 12:20 PM

Hello,
finally i have some time to try and build the kernel. Unfortunately, the huge config file for 3.7.10 is not available here any more. There is config file for 3.8.4. Should i download and try 3.8.4 using the available huge config file for it? I could not find the config file for 3.7.10 as archive. I have not also downloaded it.
What would you advise me to do?

Thank you!