[gentoo-user] Kernel fails to boot on Via Epia

[gentoo-user] Kernel fails to boot on Via Epia

[Thomas Chef]

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Hello !

I am realy a beginner at Linux, and i am trying to get Gentoo work with my
Epia Via C3 Nemiah.

I have followed the Handbook (I hope), and have looked at some Epia HOWTO's
on how to configure the kernel. (manual config)

I configured the needed devices as built in, and nothing as a module.

I have a primary ide-disk on the first IDE-channel, /dev/hda when I boot the
minimal installation cd.

Use tha handbook's partition's. And use lilo, as in the examples.

But when I reboot i get:
VFS: Cannot open root device "303" or unknown-block (3,3)
Please append a correct boot option; here are the available:
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on
unknown-block(3,3)

Please help me, as I don't know what to try next.
Does anyone have a .config-file that works with the Epia card ?

/ Thomas

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Re: [gentoo-user] Kernel fails to boot on Via Epia

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:03:06 +0200, Thomas Chef wrote:

> I configured the needed devices as built in, and nothing as a module.

Which devices?

> I have a primary ide-disk on the first IDE-channel, /dev/hda when I
> boot the minimal installation cd.

Is this an old CD? Modern kernels would see that device as /dev/sda

> VFS: Cannot open root device "303" or unknown-block (3,3)
> Please append a correct boot option; here are the available:
> Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on
> unknown-block(3,3)

The kernel is unable to find your root device. Try with the sda notation,
if that fails post your kernel config.

> Does anyone have a .config-file that works with the Epia card ?

Yes, but I netboot my Epia box so it may not be much use to you.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Q-Tip: When an omnipotent alien gives you advice.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Kernel fails to boot on Via Epia

[Thomas Chef]

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I selected all devices from the guideline in the EPIA Howto:
http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/VIA_Epia_M_II

I downloaded the minimal CD:
http://bouncer.gentoo.org/fetch/gentoo-2008.0-minimal/x86/

For the kernel source I followed the online Handbook (with links)

I will try with sda notation in my lilo config.
If this doesnt work I will send my .config and lilo.conf-files.

Is it lilo that tells the kernel at boot what device to mount as root ?

/ Thomas



On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 10:40 AM, Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:

> On Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:03:06 +0200, Thomas Chef wrote:
>
> > I configured the needed devices as built in, and nothing as a module.
>
> Which devices?
>
> > I have a primary ide-disk on the first IDE-channel, /dev/hda when I
> > boot the minimal installation cd.
>
> Is this an old CD? Modern kernels would see that device as /dev/sda
>
> > VFS: Cannot open root device "303" or unknown-block (3,3)
> > Please append a correct boot option; here are the available:
> > Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on
> > unknown-block(3,3)
>
> The kernel is unable to find your root device. Try with the sda notation,
> if that fails post your kernel config.
>
> > Does anyone have a .config-file that works with the Epia card ?
>
> Yes, but I netboot my Epia box so it may not be much use to you.
>
>
> --
> Neil Bothwick
>
> Q-Tip: When an omnipotent alien gives you advice.
>

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Re: [gentoo-user] Kernel fails to boot on Via Epia

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:58:49 +0200, Thomas Chef wrote:

> Is it lilo that tells the kernel at boot what device to mount as root ?

Yes, although you'll find that most people prefer GRUB to Lilo nowadays.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Work is the curse of the partying class!

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Re: [gentoo-user] Kernel fails to boot on Via Epia

[Thomas Chef]

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I just rembered that lilo verifies that the root-device that I use in
lilo-conf actually exists ?

So when I boot from my minimal-cd the disk is /dev/hda so if I write
/dev/sda in lilo.conf I will get an error when running lilo ?

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 11:02 AM, Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:

> On Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:58:49 +0200, Thomas Chef wrote:
>
> > Is it lilo that tells the kernel at boot what device to mount as root ?
>
> Yes, although you'll find that most people prefer GRUB to Lilo nowadays.
>
>
> --
> Neil Bothwick
>
> Work is the curse of the partying class!
>

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RE: [gentoo-user] Kernel fails to boot on Via Epia

[Adam Carter]

> > VFS: Cannot open root device "303" or unknown-block (3,3)
> > Please append a correct boot option; here are the available:
> > Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on
> > unknown-block(3,3)
>
> The kernel is unable to find your root device. Try with the
> sda notation, if that fails post your kernel config.

Neil, could this alternatively be due to the filesystem driver being absent from the kernel? Ie not built at all or built as a module, so it wont be available early enough in the boot process?

Thomas, I also have an EPIA (disk booted) so I can dig that up if there's no progress.

Re: [gentoo-user] Kernel fails to boot on Via Epia

[Thomas Chef]

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> Thomas, I also have an EPIA (disk booted) so I can dig that up if there's
no progress

I'm pretty shure that I have selected all device drivers as specified in:
http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/VIA_Epia_M_II
but I will tripple check this tonight.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Kernel fails to boot on Via Epia

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:45:02 +1000, Adam Carter wrote:

> > > VFS: Cannot open root device "303" or unknown-block (3,3)
> > > Please append a correct boot option; here are the available:
> > > Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on
> > > unknown-block(3,3)  
> >
> > The kernel is unable to find your root device. Try with the
> > sda notation, if that fails post your kernel config.  
> 
> Neil, could this alternatively be due to the filesystem driver being
> absent from the kernel? Ie not built at all or built as a module, so it
> wont be available early enough in the boot process?

The error says the kernel can't open the root device. It's a slightly
different message when the filesystem can't be read, although I haven't
seen that one in a while.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Pound for pound, the amoeba is the most vicious animal on the earth.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Kernel fails to boot on Via Epia

[Thomas Chef]

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Thanks for all your support.

Yesterday evening I reconfigured the kernel again, and I added SCSI I think,
but I also removed some generic IDE drivers and just kept the VIA driver for
ide. Recompiled, and rebooted. And voila, it booted :) I will compare the
two .config's to see what I actually did that made it work.

But there is a lot of work left before it's complete:
* APCI don't work (powerbutton)
* Framebuffer at startup (like on the install-cd, which looks nice)
* Mouse-support (maybe this comes with the framebuffer, as I can see it
detects the mouse)
* Swedish keymap (I didnt get the config correct, but I know how to now)
* X
(Hmm. If I would have choosen Windows instead, I would have been up and
running with Cubase in 3 hours max, but I would not have learned so much)

A few questions:
- When I recompile the kernel and replace an existingly (in lilo) configured
kernel, do I have to rerun lilo ?
- Neil: How have you configured your frambuffer support in lilo/grub ? The
handbook is some what confusing in this matter I think ?
- How much do I earn in speed by optimising and removing unneeded options in
the kernel ? Or is it just kernel-size ?

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Re: [gentoo-user] Kernel fails to boot on Via Epia

[Alan McKinnon]

On Friday 17 April 2009 07:48:49 Thomas Chef wrote:
> A few questions:
> - When I recompile the kernel and replace an existingly (in lilo)
> configured kernel, do I have to rerun lilo ? 

Yes, you must rerun lilo from a working installation. lilo does not understand 
filesystems, so rerunning lilo tells the boot loader the exact location of the 
kernel image on disk (in terms of block numbers). This changes with every 
recompile.

grub OTOH, does understand filesystems and you can point it at a kernel image 
file and it works. grub is the preferred choice for most distros for this 
reason. Also, you can select the file image and edit options to use at boot 
time

> - Neil: How have you
> configured your frambuffer support in lilo/grub ? The handbook is some what
> confusing in this matter I think ? 

Kernel documentation is extremely confusing in this regard :-)

It normally involves a "vga=" element in your boot options
Check <kernel source>/Documentation/fb/* for more info

> - How much do I earn in speed by
> optimising and removing unneeded options in the kernel ? Or is it just
> kernel-size ?

You earn absolutely no speed improvements whatsoever. That would be like 
uninstalling Opera and expecting Firefox to go fast.

What you gain is kernel size, compilation speed (can make a big difference on 
Gentoo) and some sanity in /lib/modules - you don't actually need 1000 modules 
there when you only use 10. Building everything in a generic kernel is useful 
for binary distros like Ubuntu, that have to support everything their users 
might have but the devs cannot know in advance what that is. So they have 
complex auto-detect systems that run at startup and load the correct drivers. 
You DO know what you have, so your life is made much easier by simply building 
only what you will need.

-- 
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com

Re: [gentoo-user] Kernel fails to boot on Via Epia

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:48:49 +0200, Thomas Chef wrote:

> - When I recompile the kernel and replace an existingly (in lilo)
> configured kernel, do I have to rerun lilo ?

Yes, and after confusing yourself a couple of times because you forgot to
do so, you'll probably switch to GRUB.

> - Neil: How have you configured your frambuffer support in lilo/grub ?
> The handbook is some what confusing in this matter I think ?

I don't. I actually like to see all those little green oks running upthe
screen, a splash screen just hides problems.

> - How much do I earn in speed by optimising and removing unneeded
> options in the kernel ? Or is it just kernel-size ?

It's really just kernel size, which affects loading time memory usage.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

If it was easy, the hardware people would take care of it.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Kernel fails to boot on Via Epia

[Florian Philipp]

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Thomas Chef schrieb:
[...]
> But there is a lot of work left before it's complete:
> * APCI don't work (powerbutton)

Try acpid. It should have a default entry doing a shutdown when you
press the power button.

[...]
> * Mouse-support (maybe this comes with the framebuffer, as I can see it
> detects the mouse)

Install gpm and start it (/etc/init.d/gpm start)



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Re: [gentoo-user] Kernel fails to boot on Via Epia

[Dirk Heinrichs]

Am Freitag, 17. April 2009 08:42:42 schrieb Alan McKinnon:

> grub OTOH, does understand filesystems and you can point it at a kernel
> image file and it works. grub is the preferred choice for most distros for
> this reason. Also, you can select the file image and edit options to use at
> boot time

Don't forget to mentioned that it's not needed to run grub every time the 
kernel is updated, as is the case with lilo.

Bye...

	Dirk