Slackware not finding drives
 

I just got slackware9.1 installed and running. I Formated my hard drive as follows:
1g swap
4g root (ext2)
35g for programs/files (ext2)

I also have a floppy, DVD-rom and a CD-RW.

however I recently noticed that only my DVD-rom, floppy, and root partistion are seen by slackware.:(

can anyone help me get my drives back?

Post the output of
bash-2.05b# fdisk -l
and
bash-2.05b$ df -h
and
bash-2.05b$ cat /etc/fstab

To make it where we can read it, put [_code_] without the underscores before each section of output, and [_/code_] without the underscores after each section of output.

Now I see my other two partistions :). btw, no need to worry about hdb1. im gonna install winXp on that.

looks like im gonna need to move some stuff to hda3 :)

Hope this helps :)

When you installed you apparently didn't add the swap partition and /home partition during the setting of the mount points. Otherwise they would be listed in your /etc/fstab.

What do you mean when you say:
Where are you "looking" for this to occur?

When you created 35g for programs/files (ext2) did you make a mount point for it? It doesn't look like you have. The Slackware system will not know that you want to place programs/files on /dev/hda3 unless you tell it how to go about doing that. The system needs to know if you want to use that as your /home partition, or leave /home under / and use that for data storage. And your swap partition isn't in /etc/fstab so you didn't add it when installing Slack.

When you saidthat produced a red flag. When you install XP, it's going to write over your Slackware LiLO, and you'll need to reinstall LiLO. Not a big problem, but it's recommended to always install Windoze first, Linux second.

You saybut we don't see the CD-RW drive. Actually, we should get a proper layout of your system for you before you go any further. Do you know what drives are in your computer and where they're located? For instance:

/dev/hda = master drive on primary controller
/dev/hdb = slave drive on primary controller
/dev/hdc = master drive on secondary controller
/dev/hdd = slave drive on seconday controller

For that CD-RW drive, is it an IDE ATAPI or SCSI drive? It will need SCSI emulation, and all SCSI drives are listed:

/dev/scd0 = first SCSI drive - they're numbered, with the first drive starting at 0

If you're not sure about your drives, issue
bash-2.05b# cdrecord -scanbus
and post that output like you did before. That will tell us where your CD-RW is located.

And issue
bash-2.05b$ dmesg | less
and look for lines like this
so we can determine what type of drives you have, how they're attached, and where they're located.

Is there a way to add them?

I really dont want to restall.

You are going to have to do some monkeying around. Here is a link to help:
http://www.poulpetersen.dk/linux/ukadddsk.htm
Of course you won't have to do the start of it as you have already done the partitioning.
Here is my swap list in /etc/fstab
/dev/hdb2 swap swap defaults 0 0

The how to gives how to enter /home in fstab. If swap still doesn't work you may have to mkswap and swapon. man pages for both of them.

there all Ide.
there hooked up as follows
primary master= 40g HD (linux)
primary slave = 8g HD (soon to be windows)
secondary master = DVD-rom
secondary slave = CD-RW

im pretty sure thats how there hooked up. (hardware I can do :) )



I could unhook my main (linux) hd when I install windows then pulg it back in after the install. that way it should leave the linux MBR alone. well that work?

output from cdrecord -scanbus:
I dont know what this means but it doesent look good

output from dmesg | less:
there was a ton more but this seemed the most realivent

so basicly all I have to do I add the correct lines to my fstab?

Read the link. Right now /home is on your / partition. You have to change its name. Then add the line to your /etc/fstab, put /home on it then move the backed up info to the new /home.

all right, but what about my swap and cd-rw?

I gave you the line to put in /etc/fstab for swap earlier. For the cdrw, Chinaman was helping you there. Here is the line to add to your /etc/lilo.conf
append = 'hdd=ide-scsi'
then add this line to your /etc/fstab
/dev/sr1 /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,user,rw 0 0

Hope that helps

thank you so much
sorry for making you repete yourself, its getting late and ive been working on this all day. Just wanted to make sure.

No problem. Remember be patient. It's all part of the learning process. You will get it if you keep at it.

ok, I got myy swap and /home worked out, now I just need to get my CD-rw working.

i also remembered that I do need to acess hdb. I got so files on there I need

On the cdrw did you try what I posted before?

To be able to mount your windows partition put the following in your /etc/fstab:
/dev/hdb1 /mnt/windows ntfs noauto,user,ro 0 0
make sure you create /mnt/windows with mkdir. then to mount it just type mount /mnt/windows

thanks, I diddent think to try that on the cdrw.

(btw does linux have that neat automount/supermount feature?)

look in /usr/doc/Linux how tos/automount. that isn't exact but you can find it with that.

um shoudent that be: /dev/scd0 ?
or have I got my wires cross again?

scd0 will be symlinked to sr0 so that doesn't matter.
you said the cdrw was the secondary slave, that is why i thought it would be on 1 not 0.... but you will only have 1 scsi if you do not append both drives for scsi emulation.... i run ide-scsi on both so I have sr0 and sr1. to be honest i am not sure. you can set it up as one then try to mount, if it won't then change it, unless someone else chimes in here.

ok I just tried scd0, scd1, sr0, and sr1 none of them worked
when I tried to mount them it said :
mount: /dev/scdX (srX) is not a valid block device

you added the line to /etc/fstab, you added the append='hdd=ide-scsi' line in lilo.conf, ran lilo as root, rebooted, then tried mounting?

Since you got someone helping you I've backed off, but kept up with your progress.
Only three things to "chime in" at this point. I always use this for ide writers
and the second thing is, after you add append="hdd=ide-scsi" to your /etc/lilo.conf
file, you will have to issue
# /sbin/lilo
again, or it won't be added - and then reboot.

Last, I believe you issued
bash-2.05b$ cdrecord -scanbus
rather than
bash-2.05b# cdrecord -scanbus
Notice the $ indicates a normal user, and the # indicates root.
You can only use cdrecord as root.

Like ringwraith said whilst I was posting, you have to rerun lilo for
the changes to stick - then reboot - always have to do that after
changing LiLO.

Also, you have to have a mount point to mount the CD-RW. You
have issued a command to mount a device but didn't tell your
system where you want to mount it. My setup above allows
you to mount them as a regular user. You don't want to su to root
in a *nix system except for sys maintenance reasons. That's the
primary thing that makes your Slackware box 100 times more secure
than that Windoze eXperiment thing. ;-)

making mount point
 

Slack comes with /mnt/cdrom - I think. Issue
$ ls -alc /mnt
and see what's there. Then su to root and issue
bash-2.05b# pico /etc/fstab
and add the mount point for your drive. Look at
the example I posted above, post back with ???

ok I reran LiLo but it gave me this:
line 41 is the line I put append='hdd=ide-scsi'

I did cdrecord -scanbus in root and got this:
I Triple checked to make sure I was in root

I did $ ls -alc /mnt , but im not sure what to make of it
just for reference heres my fstab and LiLo
btw I got /windows working, thing is that everything is owned by root (locked up), I tried chmoding it (777) but it dident to the subdirectys

Put the append line up at the top, right below
# Start LILO global section

Also I noticed I gave you single quotes ' , should be regular "

Here is mine just as an example:
# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
append="hdc=ide-scsi hdd=ide-scsi"
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
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/hdb1
label = Slackware
read-only
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/hda5
label = RockLinux
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends
other = /dev/hda1
label = WindowsXP
other = /dev/hda2
label = Debian

That line should read append="hdd=ide-scsi"
and should be exactly where you see it above. You have the double quotes
as single quotes and have it after the data is finished. So, make it like the
above, save the file, and issue
# /sbin/lilo
and you're good to go for that. And I don't know if it matters, but I've personally
never had quotes around the boot device.

There is a difference between "in root" and "as root." The first one, "in root" means
that you are in the root directory; the second one means you are logged in as root,
super user. You do this by issuing
$ su
password:
and then the prompt changes from $ to # and you know you are "logged in" as root.
Sorry to have you check for a fourth time - maybe you just stated it wrong. This time
post it with the entire bash prompt like this:
though the problem will be solved after you fix LiLO, assuming you did the
standard full install and have the proper modules. I know it's anal retentive,
but IMO this issue should be resolved before trying something else. If you
have it right in LiLO, your machine should see it. So, you must run this test
again after you've redone LiLO and rebooted - okay?

That's real good. You have a place to mount all the devices. So for your
/etc/fstab entry, put
Don't worry - it will all come out in the wash. ;-) And you will be able
to mount your CD-RW as user, and not as root. Good security measure...

Thanks - you just need to change the 1 in the cdrw line to 0

You can't change permissions of the Windoze drive in Linux. Well, I can't by issuing
bash-2.05b# chown -R mingdao.users /DATA_FAT32/
but if I'm wrong, I welcome the correction. :} You don't want to mess with that bad boy,
btw, because Linux cannot reliably write to a NTFS drive, but can read it. Linux
can, however, read and write very well to FAT32. :}

I got lilo working!!! :D

cdrecord -scanbus is seeing it!! :D
(btw I was root, the thingy I was triple checking was the # promt, oh well it working now:D)
and I got my cdrw mounted!!!.... well sorta :(
:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:


sorry I left something out, I once I was able to access the drive I copied everything over to a folder on my desktop (cause the hd is gonna zero-writ, reformated and loaded with windows). Thats where every thing was locked up, the folder, not the drive. sorry about the confuseion

Wait...stop the presses...what type of CD did you try to mount?
I bet it was a blank one. If so, try one with some data...any kind
of data...and fyi you don't have to mount a CD before you burn...
and by all means, burn from the command line!

And Sam, to unmount it you issue
bash-2.05b$ umount /mnt/cdrw (that's correct - there is no n after the first u)

You got me on that one for sure. You just use that command I posted
# chown sam.users /path/to/file
or
# chown -R sam.users /path/to/dir
and you'll make something happen. Read
$man chown

chown sam.users /path/to/file worked !!!!!

the cd I tried was a burned audio cd. I tried a data cd and it worked!!!!
but why wont audio cds work? I tried to play it in KsCD but it wont play

Spot on!

Quote:

the cd I tried was a burned audio cd. I tried a data cd and it worked!!!! but why wont audio cds work? I tried to play it in KsCD but it wont play

Hey, uh, well, Linux systems aren't setup to read the regular audio .cda files or
whatever. I think that will work if you go through a dog and pony show, but
I just rip mine to mp3 and play them with xmms. I've been using a program called
Ripper-X (I think that's the name) to do it, but some guys have posted that there
are better apps. Just do some searching on LQ and also Google and you'll find
something. If you want to try Ripper-X, here's the addy -> sorry, I can't get it right
now - Google's down - that's been happening a lot lately. I searched LQ and you
can, too. Trickykid suggests grip, and if it's good enough for Drew, it's good enough
for me. :}

Thank you both so much!!!
If it were not for you I probely would be curled up in a corner sulking, over come by the harsh mistress if linux :)

Google is back up and you can get ripper-X from http://ripperx.sourceforge.net/index.html
They also have a Slackware package - these are packages that end with .tgz and can be
installed on a Slack system by issuing, as root ->
bash-2.05b# installpkg <package name>
read man pkgtool and the others suggested at the bottom of it for more info, plus you can
get a lot of info from the Slackware website.

Glad we could help you. In 1999 I tried DeadRat, and quit after about 2 months. If I had
found a site like LQ then, it's no telling where I would be today. Those 4 years would have
be spent learning Linux, and I never would have encountered Windoze eXperiment.

LQ is the main reason that I'm able to use Linux at all today. There are no books in English
where I live, and so I'm totally dependent upon the web and /usr/doc/Linux-HOWTOs/ and
/usr/doc/Linux-FAQs (these are in Slackware, but I don't know about other distros). I've also
started reading some things, and I believe the Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition by Paul Sheer
is a must read for all newbies like myself migrating from Micro$loth Windoze.