Error when booting Gentoo

I just did an install of Gentoo and I thought all went well until it came up with this when I rebooted:

can not find reiserfs on ramdisk(1,0)
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount oot fs on 01:00

Is there anyway I can fix this without reinstallng?

I reinstalled the whole system this time using EXT3 but I am no getting and error about a file not being found. It is the line in /boot/grub/grub.conf that goes like this:

kernel /kernel-2.4.25-gentoo root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/hda3

Any help would be great.

When you were finishing up the installation, there is a step where you edit the /etc/fstab file. It should lok something like this:

/dev/hda1 /boot ext2 noauto,noatime 1 2
/dev/hda2 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hda3 / reiserfs noatime 0 1

none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0

/dev/cdroms/cdrom0 /mnt/cdrom auto noauto,user 0 0

if the default entries are left in the spots colored red then it will be looking for the wrong type of file system.....if on the other hand, you left the defaults in the yellow shaded areas the system will not know which partion is which:

/dev/hda1 /boot ext2 noauto,noatime 1 2
/dev/hda2 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hda3 / ext3 noatime 0 1

none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0

/dev/cdroms/cdrom0 /mnt/cdrom auto noauto,user 0 0

The default entries are:
/dev/hda
/dev/hdb
/dev/hdc

I hope this may help.

Don't forget to comment out the crap at the beginning of the /etc/fstab file. There is some default stuff that is there that doesn't apply to your system, but is not commented out. It was giving me errors.

Can you post exactly what your errors are?

I have tried that all and still no luck. It says this:

Booting 'Gentoo Linux 2.4.25'

root (hd0,0)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel /kernel-2.4.25-gentoo root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/hda3

Error 15: File not found

Press any key to continue..._


Any help would be great.

My gentoo boot looks like this:

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.5
root (hd1,0) #This is hard drive number 2, partition number 1, which is where my /boot partition is located
kernel /kernel-2.6.5-gentoo root=/dev/hdb3

I'm not sure why it's not finding yours. I'd make sure the kernel name is right (including caps). Also, make sure that root (hd0,0) is your /boot partition.

You can try changing your boot line to match mine more closely too, it might work (of course keeping your partitioning scheme).

I am using Grub as the bootloader by the way. So now I am setting it up with Lilo to see if that will work.

No success. What file should this be in? The /etc/fstab or /boot/grub/grub.conf?

What file should what be in?

arabarabian said:

I reinstalled the whole system this time using EXT3 but I am no getting and error about a file not being found. It is the line in /boot/grub/grub.conf that goes like this:

kernel /kernel-2.4.25-gentoo root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/hda3

Any help would be great.

Click to expand...

Why are you specifying Root as a RAM drive?

Use grub. At least you can change it by hitting "e" on the line you need to edit.

If you highlight Gentoo, or what ever you called it, and hit e twice you will see the boot line. Use the left arrow key to get over to where the kernel is. If you named the kernel bzImage something then delete all but bzImage then hit tab twice. It will list all the files that start with bzImage. Pick the right one and type it in.

If you get nothing there, then you are pointing grub to the wrong partition for /boot or there is no kernel there. You may need to remount like you did during the install and make SURE /boot is mounted when you copy over the kernel.

If you get another error, then you are pointing to the wrong partition for /, sometimes called root.

Post back if you need help. I'll try.

Later

arabarabian said:

I have tried that all and still no luck. It says this:

Booting 'Gentoo Linux 2.4.25'

root (hd0,0)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel /kernel-2.4.25-gentoo root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/hda3

Error 15: File not found

Press any key to continue..._


Any help would be great.

Click to expand...

When you compiled your kernel...did you perform a manual config then compile the kernel? Or...did you use Genkernel to config and automatically comple the kernel? The code listings below illustrate the proper grub.conf file examples:

Code Listing 5: grub.conf for non-genkernel users

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.4.25
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.4.25-gentoo root=/dev/hda3

title=Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,5)
chainloader +1


Code Listing 6: grub.conf for genkernel users

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.4.25
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.4.25-gentoo root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/hda3
initrd /initrd-2.4.25-gentoo

# Only in case you want to dual-boot
title=Windows XP
root (hd0,5)
chainloader +1



I have yet to have any success using the initrd ramdisk setup for the boot sequence.

I used Genkernel and I typed that in the first time. I will try again tomorrow.

I never got the genkernel to work for me. I have also seen where others have had trouble with it. If you are new to Linux you may want to keep trying otherwise, I would try doing a regular kernel.

Just something to think about.

Later

I manually configured the kernel following the directions in the guide. I had no trouble with it.

Depends on how much you know about configuring a kernel though. I had to do it three times just to get it to boot. Then a couple more to get it stable. That devfs thing got me too.

Just be patient with it and go through each menu.

Later

Depends on how much you know about configuring a kernel though.

Click to expand...

I didn't know jack **** about configuring a kernel. It was the first time I had ever done it. =p

I have played around with configuring it. The only reason why I used genkernel is I wanted to do it quickly. Well I will try to do it tonight.