Running Commentary on CRUX 2.5

[Jonathan183]

What does

grub 
find /boot/vmlinuz

report. Also what is the output of fdisk -l ?

[jayd512]

Hi, Jonathan! Thanks for looking in
Here is fdisk -l:

Disk /dev/hda: 20.0 GB, 20020396032 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2434 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1               1        1651    13261626   83  Linux
/dev/hda2            1652        2434     6289447+  83  Linux

Disk /dev/hdb: 20.0 GB, 20020396032 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2434 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdb1               1        1040     8353768+  83  Linux
/dev/hdb2            1302        2434     9100822+  83  Linux

find /boot/vmlinuz said file not found (or doesn't exist or something... didn't write it down). So I booted up with the install CD and went to Rescue mode, got the file copied to where it needed to be. Tried rebooting to CRUX 2.5 and got this:

Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(3,1)

[Jonathan183]

Both partitions hda1 and hdb1 look to exceed the 1024 cylinder limit so would have expected both OS boot to fail if that was the issue.
Do you have to pass the kernel a root parameter ? most of the systems I have used (didn't use Crux) require root=/dev/sda1 or whatever. Has this requirement been introduced with 2.5? I have had similar kernel panic without root correctly specified (or without the file system kernel drivers in the kernel - tripped up in Gentoo with this using loadable modules).

May be worth trying something like

kernel /boot/grub/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda1

but Dapper Dan can probably advise better on required boot parameters for Crux kernel

Ed: I'll break Arch and see what the message is ... Arch did not produce the same message ... came back with something like ramfs$ Breaking Gentoo gives a similar message to the one you get - just different block device reference

[jayd512]

I was starting to wonder about boot parameters, but only cuz my hardware is a tad on the older side. I'll try your suggestion and get back!

*EDIT*

I tried what you suggested and got the same error message back. I'll try to find more info on whether or not the 2.5 kernel requires any parameters.

[Dapper Dan]

Jay, maybe a dumb question but did you compile support for ext3 into the kernel or as a module?

[jayd512]

Good question... maybe a dumb answer, though.
I think I built it in. How would I check?

*EDIT*

By the way, I ran across an older thread that mentioned running fsck on the drive, and it came back clean.

[Dapper Dan]

Go back in to the point of making menuconfig. When the menu comes up, go to that particular place and check it. If it's built as a module, re do and compile it into the kernel instead. But if you copied the .config from your 2.4 (and assuming support for ext3 was built into the kernel there) it should have gotten built the same. Are you using ext3 in 2.4 as well?

EDIT: In menuconfig, look in "file systems." File support for ext3 should have a star beside it instead of an 'm.'

[jayd512]

Okay, here goes. First, I've always used ext3, on every install I've ever had. And nothing was copied over from 2.4 to this one... fresh installation all the way.
I went into menuconfig, there are 4 options concerning ext3, all of which are built-in (have stars).

*EDIT*

My hardware is a little old, being a PIII Coppermine. I also selected some stuff for older hardware in the complie, but I did the same for 2.4.

[Dapper Dan]

I'll think on it some more... Trying to finish wrapping presents...

[jayd512]

I'm in no rush. After all, I still got 2.4 running!

Take your time, Dan! No rush at this time of year!