Installed gentoo, couple of questions

**psic** · 10-08-2005

Well, I've installed gentoo (2005.1, following the handbook) and I have a couple of questions.
First, when I choose gentoo in the grub menu (note that I didn't install grub with gentoo, I just added an entry for it in the menu.list file in Kanotix), I get "you passed an undefined mode number". I think I have to add something to the menu.list entry, just not sure what? I already have vga=0x317, anything else?
Next, after this, I get another error, "The root block device is unspecified or not detected". I type in /dev/hda8, which is the partition gentoo is on, and it works, I suspect this is also some problem in the menu.list file.

Also, another general question: when I emerge something (like links, which I'm using to type this, hehehe), I get the message that some config files need updating. Should I just update all of them? Or do I go through all of them and see if any should be left alone (in this case, will I be getting the same message for any files which I decided to leave alone?)

Thanks in advance.

**dylunio** · 10-08-2005

For the menu.lst, could you post it here?

As for using etc-update I go through each just to check it's not trying to overwrite something like my apache.conf file or something.

**psic** · 10-08-2005

Here's the entry for Gentoo:

title Gentoo 2005.1
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.12-gentoo-r6 root=/dev/hda8 vga=0x317
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.12-gentoo-r6
boot

I have gentoo on hda8, obviously. If you need any more info, let me know.

**dylunio** · 10-08-2005

Hmm, can you get it to boot with out problems with:

title Gentoo 2005.1
kernel (hd0,7)/kernel-2.6.12 root=/dev/hda8

with this I take you don't have /boot on a separate partition...

**psic** · 10-08-2005

No, when I installed grub with kanotix, I put it in the MBR. I'll try out your suggestion and get back with the results. Thanks for the help.

**psic** · 10-08-2005

I get:

Error 15: File not found
press any key to continue...

After pressing the 'any' key

, I get back to the grub menu. Note that I left in the 'initrd' line, as well as the 'boot' at the end, not sure if this matters or not.

**juvestar15** · 10-08-2005

I think what dylunio meant was did you install the /boot directory to another partition?

If root is mounted at /dev/hda8, /boot might be at something different. I don't think grub knows where /boot is unless it's on the root partition. Lets say your /boot directory is at /dev/hda7, you'd edit your menu.lst like this.

kernel hd(0,6)/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.12-gentoo-r6 root=/dev/hda8 vga=0x317
initrd hd(0,6)/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.12-gentoo-r6

/etc/fstab would probably tell you what partition /boot is on if you're not sure.

Forgot to add, that error you get "you passed an undefined mode number" has to do with "vga=0x318". You can either delete it(you won't get an error anymore) or you can go here and try a different one. (Scroll down a little to see the table of values).

**genesus** · 10-08-2005

try this

Code:

title Gentoo
     root &#40;hd0,7&#41;
     kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.12-gentoo-r6 root=/dev/ram0 ro init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/hda8 udev
    initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.12-gentoo-r6
    boot

remember you have to call genkernel a little differently than the other kernels, you need the extra lines I put in there...

**psic** · 10-08-2005

Excellent, thanks genesis. One problem down, I've still got to figure out about the 'undefined mode number', removing the "vga=0x318" didn't change anything. I used it in the first place because that's what I have in Kanotix. Anyways, /boot is on the root partition.

**genesus** · 10-08-2005

try either

vga=0x317 or vga=0x311

Thread Tools

Display

Installed gentoo, couple of questions

Posting Permissions