Cannot install Fedora Core 4
Rick Stevens
rstevens at vitalstream.com
Tue Jan 17 19:22:44 UTC 2006
On Mon, 2006-01-16 at 19:55 -0600, Russell Golden wrote:
> *sigh* yes, i'm sure... when i boot RHL9 off the hard disk it boots fine.
> I'm using a laptop, there is no floppy drive.
> any boot option i use panics. when i use it on my tower, it boots, but
> then hangs and can't even get past loading /sbin/loader.
> starting to sound like fedora sucks...
Wait, wait, wait. I'm getting confused here. You say you have RHL9 on
that machine's hard drive, yet you installed FC4 on it and booting off
an FC4 CD in rescue mode gets a kernel panic. I've never heard of a
rescue boot kernel panic, so I suspect you really aren't doing what you
think you are. Don't take that as an insult, it's danged confusing at
times and I could be totally wrong in my assumptions. Here's what I'd
like you to do:
Get into the BIOS of the machine. Take the hard drive completely out of
the boot sequence, so the machine will only try to boot the CD. Let it
boot either the first FC4 CD or the FC4 Rescue CD. If it's the first
CD, then make sure you put in "linux rescue" at the "boot:" prompt.
Let's see if that works. If it does, read on.
Here's another issue that may be causing problems. If you indeed do
have RH9 and FC4 on the same hard drive, it's entirely possible that
the loader is trying to mount the WRONG root partition--especially if
you used filesystem labels when you built the thing. If we successfully
get to the "#" in a rescue boot, you should take a look at the file
"/mnt/sysimage/etc/fstab". If you see entries such as:
LABEL="/" / ext3 defaults 1 1
then we may have an issue. If you have two partitions that have labels
of "/", then the system may be trying to mount your RH9 "/" instead of
your FC4 "/" and yes, that will cause MONDO problems. In that case,
you should do this command:
# fdisk -l /dev/hda
and look at its output. For each partition listed, you should:
# e2label /dev/hdaN
replacing "N" with the partition number. Find out which two have the
same "/" label. Pick one and modify that /mnt/sysimage/etc/fstab file
and replace the 'LABEL="/"' with the actual partition name so the line
reads something like:
/dev/hda2 / ext3 defaults 1 1
Re-enable the boot for the hard disk and try a reboot. If that doesn't
work, then try the rescue boot again and swap the partition name for the
other one labeled "/" and try again.
Note that if we do fix it this way and you have more than one Linux
partition (e.g. a separate "/usr" partition), we'll have to sort those
out as well.
To the other readers...this is one of the reasons I dislike using
filesystem labels instead of device names. If you are only using a
single version of Linux on a given hard drive, they're fine. As soon
as you try to have multiple versions, confusion reigns supreme. If you
do want multiple Linux installations, PLEASE label the filesystems
appropriately, e.g. "/-FC4", "/usr-FC4". That way, there's no confusion
as to what partition belongs to which OS.
>
> Rick Stevens wrote:
>
> >On Mon, 2006-01-16 at 16:50 -0600, Russell Golden wrote:
> >
> >
> >>that is the problem. it can't get that far. i get the "boot:" prompt,
> >>then when it tries to mount the root filesystem while booting the kernel
> >>off the CD, it says
> >>kernel panic - not syncing. VFS: cannot mount root filesystem on unknown
> >>block (8,3).
> >>the boot: prompt is the only prompt i can reach
> >>
> >>
> >
> >You mean that entering "linux rescue" at the "boot:" prompt off the
> >CD panics? Are you SURE you're booting off the CD? Get into your
> >BIOS and make SURE that the CD is checked BEFORE the hard drive.
> >Ideally, you should set the BIOS to boot in this sequence:
> >
> > floppy first
> > CD/DVD second
> > hard drive third
> > network last
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >>Rick Stevens wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>>On Fri, 2006-01-13 at 19:47 -0600, Russell Golden wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>yeah small problem with that... none of the modes will boot.
> >>>>unless you mean i should let the thing run through its kernel panic
> >>>>script...?
> >>>>I'm trying to install it on a laptop that doesn't have a floppy drive,
> >>>>might that have something to do with it?
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>Absolutely not. You have to boot of the first CD in rescue mode. That
> >>>means that you boot off the CD, then at the "boot:" prompt, put in
> >>>"linux rescue". The system will boot of the CD and go look for your
> >>>Linux installation. If it is found, then the system will ask you if you
> >>>want to mount it. Answer "Yes". The system will mount the installed
> >>>Linux system at "/mnt/sysimage" and drop you to a "#" prompt. That's
> >>>when you put in the five commands:
> >>>
> >>> # chroot /mnt/sysimage
> >>> # cd /boot
> >>> # mkinitrd -v -f initrd-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4.img 2.6.11-1.1369_FC4
> >>> # exit
> >>> # exit
> >>>
> >>>as I described earlier. That rebuilds your initrd image and reinstalls
> >>>it. Note that the "2.6.11-1.1369_FC4" bit refers to the kernel that was
> >>>installed (and that value is the kernel installed with FC4). If you use
> >>>a different kernel, replace the above with your kernel version.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>Rick Stevens wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>>On Mon, 2006-01-09 at 18:48 -0600, Russell Golden wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>>nope.
> >>>>>>it goes into panic after displaying "VFS: please append a correct
> >>>>>>'root=' boot option" or something to that effect. also says it can't
> >>>>>>find a device, then it gives (8,3), which i'm guessing is a location.
> >>>>>>the message saying it can't find the device comes before the VFS
> >>>>>>message. what is going on here?
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>It appears that the initrd file wasn't built with the ext3 filesystem
> >>>>>support module or the lvm system. Boot off the first CD in rescue mode
> >>>>>and let the system search for and mount the existing system. At the
> >>>>>"#" prompt, do the following:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> # chroot /mnt/sysimage
> >>>>> # cd /boot
> >>>>> # mkinitrd -v -f initrd-`2.6.11-1.1369_FC4.img 2.6.11-1.1369_FC4
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Verify that the ext3 filesystem module gets loaded in, and if you're
> >>>>>using LVM, that the LVM modules get loaded as well. When that's done:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> # exit
> >>>>> # exit
> >>>>>
> >>>>>(yes, two "exit" commands--the first exits the chroot environment, the
> >>>>>second terminates the rescue boot). Pop the CD out and see if it'll
> >>>>>boot.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>>Oliver wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>>try using acpi=off kernel boot option
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>*** mail checked - no virus found ***
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>For some reason, I can't install Fedora Core 4 on my laptop. I can get
> >>>>>>>>the boot: prompt, but then it can't mount the root filesystem (i guess
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>from the CD) and goes into kernel panic. I've done the checksums, and
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>they add up correctly. What should I do?
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>>>- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens at vitalstream.com -
> >>>>>- VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com -
> >>>>>- -
> >>>>>- First Law of Work: -
> >>>>>- If you can't get it done in the first 24 hours, work nights. -
> >>>>>----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>>>
> >>>>>_______________________________________________
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> >>>>>
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> >>>----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens at vitalstream.com -
> >>>- VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com -
> >>>- -
> >>>- Denial. It ain't just a river in Egypt anymore! -
> >>>----------------------------------------------------------------------
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> >----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens at vitalstream.com -
> >- VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com -
> >- -
> >- Brain: The organ with which we think that we think. -
> >----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com -
- -
- When all else fails, try reading the instructions. -
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