Re: [gentoo-user] Grub heartbreaker

[darren kirby]

quoth the John covici:
> on Thursday 04/24/2008 Alan McKinnon(alan.mckinnon@×××××.com) wrote
>
>  > On Thursday 24 April 2008, reader@×××××××.com wrote:
>  > > So assuming I've made some mistake in grub.conf  I try to boot from
>  > > grub command line.
>  > >
>  > >   root = (hd0,0)  (which is /dev/sda1 in linux terms)
>  > >
>  > >   kernel /kernel-2.6.25-r1
>  >
>  > Nope. Kernel needs a root=<device> parameter. It can't know what is your
>  > root partition, that info is in fstab and fstab is on the root
>  > partition.So you tell it via a parameter
>  >
>  > > boot
>  > >
>  > > But it fails with a message saying please append a working root=?? to
>  > > the boot commands.
>  >
>  > expected result. see above.
>  >
>  > > So reloading the install ISO I mount /mnt/gentoo/boot and edit
>  > > grub.conf to say:
>  > >
>  > >     title=kernel-2.6.25-r1
>  > >     root (hd0,0)
>  > >     kernel /kernel-2.6.25-r1 root=/dev/sda3
>  > >
>  > > That fails
>  > >    kernel /kernel-2.6.25-r1 root=/dev/hda3 (Thinking maybe grub
>  > >    does not understand sda)
>  >
>  > Nothing to do with grub. It's a kernel boot parameter passed verbatim to
>  > the kernel and needs valid kernel device names.
>  >
>  > What's the error you get? Is (hd0,0) a separate /boot? Does it contain a
>  > file called kernel-2.6.25-r1 at the top level? And you also should have
>  > a "ro" kernel parameter in there
>  >
>  > > That Fails
>  > >
>  > >   kernel /kernel-2.6.25-r1 root=(hd0)/sda3
>  > >
>  > > Fails
>  >
>  > Won't work. (hd0) is a grub thing. You need a /dev/sda3 or similar in
>  > there
>  >
>  > > I've even tried:
>  > >    kernel /kernel-2.6.25-r1 root=(hd0,2)
>  >
>  > Won't work. Same reason.
>  >
>  > > And another failure... all with the same message about appending a
>  > > working `root=???'
>  > >
>  > > I'm about out of ideas here.
>  >
>  > here's a working grub.conf for illustration:
>  >
>  > default         0
>  > timeout         10
>  > splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
>  >
>  > title           Default
>  > root            (hd0,0)
>  > kernel          /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 ro
>  >
>  > title           Gentoo-2.6.25
>  > root            (hd0,0)
>  > kernel          /vmlinuz-2.6.25-gentoo root=/dev/sda3 ro
>  >
>  > Seems my setup is identical to yours:
>  > /boot on /dev/sda1 aka (hd0,0) to grub
>  > / on /dev/sda3
>  >
>  > Only difference is the "ro" boot parameter, which shouldn't make a
>  > difference - it's there for fsck purposes during start-up.
>  >
>  > What disk driver and disks do you have? Are you 100% sure you are either
>  > using the new ata driver (everything is an sd) or have scsi/sata disks?
>  > If your disk is IDE with the old driver, it will be an hd and will
>  > require that on the kernel line
>
> Well, I had to put a lot more parameters for it to work -- I am not
> using grub but my parameters aside from the ro are
> init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda2 udev
> and some more specific to me.  I am using something close to the
> original gentoo configs, so it uses an initrd parameter also which you
> need separately in grub.

That would only apply if in fact the OP is using an initrd, which does not 
appear to be the case, though, the OP may have simply omitted this info.

Rather, as Alan mentioned, it seems the problem is that the kernel doesn't 
agree that /dev/sda3 is the '/' filesystem. I have never used vmware, perhaps 
it fudges device paths in some way?

> Hope this helps.
>
> --
> Your life is like a penny.  You're going to lose it.  The question is:
> How do
> you spend it?
>
>          John Covici
>          covici@××××××××××.com

-d
-- 
darren kirby :: Part of the problem since 1976 :: http://badcomputer.org
"...the number of UNIX installations has grown to 10, with more expected..."
- Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson, June 1972
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