Stanley, First off, if I may be so bold, that is some whacked partitioning you got going on there. ;-) I rarely get past 5 partitions before I get confused.
Here's my thought on this, which may or may not be valid, but it's a thought: You've got a 40 GB drive in a P200. Are you sure it really works completely correctly? Does Windows see all 40 GB? My first P200 had a 1.7 GB, which I later upgraded to 6.4, and then I couldn't go beyond that without a BIOS upgrade, and even then I think the new limit was 32 GB. Your Linux partitions on that drive seem to be wayyyy near the end. They might be beyond the reach of the bios. The 2.4 GB hard drive seems to have nothing but Linux on it. Have you tried installing the entire RedHat installation to that drive, to see if that works? Ian > -----Original Message----- > From: Stanley A. Schultz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2002 4:16 PM > To: Mailing List: Calgary Linux User's Group > Subject: (clug-talk) Install/Boot problem > > > > One & All: > > Okay, sport fans, I need your help. I've been trying to install Linux on a > computer for weeks now and am experiencing a really vexing problem. The > details of the hardware and some of the software appear at the end of this > (lengthy, sorry) posting. Here's the story. > > I'm moderately computer literate but almost all of my experience has been > with DOS and the variations of Window$ through W98 SE and as little of > WinXP and Win2000 as I can arrange. > > I began with a straight forward installation of Red Hat Linux 7.1 choosing > [EXPERT] mode and "Install Everything." (What the heck? I've got plenty of > disk space and who knows when I'll want to play with a new toy!) > > On finishing the installation I get a series of error messages flashing by > far too fast to be read in their entirety, however they start out reading > > "Gtk - CRITICAL ***..." > > [Note to kernel and application developers: Either the <Pause> key has to > be activated or writing to the screen automagically paused at the end of > each error message, waiting for a key press. If I have this much trouble > trying to read the error messages on a P200, what must those with 1.8+ GHz > machines be experiencing?] > > On reboot to Linux I get a bunch of error messages like what follows. I > have no idea what they're referring to or how many of them there are > because (again) the text flashes past too fast for mortal man to read. > > "(null): The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct > ext2 file system. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2 > filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock is > corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternative superblock: > e2fsck -b 8193 <device>" > > At this point I am prompted to enter my root password for maintenance mode > or to press control-d to reboot. > > I have tried various combinations of running e2fsck as recommended, > repartitioning the drives (DOS' fdisk, Linux' fdisk, PartitionMagic 5.01), > reformatting the drives (Linux, PartitionMagic 5.01) and reinstalling RHL > 7.1 at least 6 times with no success. > > I can manually mount most, if not all, of the Linux partitions, but doing > an "ls -la" on them reveals nothing on most. There are files in /etc, > /bin and /sbin, however that will allow me to use a few limited commands. > The WIN-DOS partitions were automagically mounted and I was able to copy > fstab and dmesg to them. (That's how I can show them to you below.) > > Upon rebooting to Window$ I edited fstab to parallel one on a similar > machine that I have access to. Upon rebooting to Linux (with the same > error messages) and logging in as root I copy the "new, improved" fstab to > /etc. Then I reboot to Linux. > > Linux at first seems to be booting normally, then I start to get a lot of > [FAILED] messages. (Damn! I wish they'd do something about stopping the > screen scrolling at error messages so I could read them!) > > Finally it appears to slam to a halt with the message "Starting system > logger." After 10 or 15 minutes it finally breaks loose and continues to > scroll text by, again sprinkled with [FAILED] error messages I can't read. > > Eventually I get to a point where Linux flashes some sort of message about > waiting 5 minutes because X is respawning too fast (or something similar), > and repeats the message every 5 minutes ad infinitum. I can get to a > system prompt with control-c and log in as root but in another 5 or 10 > minutes I'm interrupted with the same "X is respawning too fast" message. > I can recover the prompt with control-c. > > If I copy the original fstab back to /etc (Yes, I did make a "CYA" copy) I > get to the "Enter root password or press control-d" thingie again. > > At no point do I get X or the KDE screen I'm looking for. For what it's > worth, I've installed Linux from these same CDs in approximately the same > way to at least 2 other machines, and while I've had small problems (e.g., > failing to recognize an Adaptec SCSI card) those other installations > generally went smoothly. Ergo, corrupt CDs probably aren't the cause. > Because all the hardware works under Window$, it probably isn't a faulty > disk drive, controller or other hardware, either. > > > MY QUESTIONS (AT LAST) > > 1. What's going wrong? > > 2. How do I fix it? > > This is getting frustrating enough to make Torvalds buy stock in > Micro$oft! I really need to get this thing installed and get on with my > life! > > Stanley A. Schultz > Techno-Geek wanabe > > > > **** FOR THE RECORD, HERE ARE ALL THE GORY DETAILS.**** > > HARDWARE > IBM 300GL w/P200 CPU > Adaptec AHA2940 SCSI card > 3Com Etherlink XL (3C-900-TPO) NIC > Cirrus GD5440 (PCI) video card (on board) > HDD: Primary Master (Disk 1): Seagate ST340016A > (Barracuda), 40 Gbytes > Partitions: 1st Primary - W98-DOS drive C: > Extended partition containing 12 > FAT32 logical partitions and then 5 ext2 logical partitions. > 3rd Primary partition as Linux swap > (125.5 Mb) > HDD: Primary Slave (Disk 2): Western Digital WDC AC22500L, > 2.4 Gbytes > Partitions: 1st Primary partition in ext2 as /boot > Extended partition containing only > 1 logical partition in ext2 as / > 3rd Primary partition as Linux swap > (126.0 MB) > HDD: Secondary Master: ATAPI CD-ROM, 24X > HDD: Secondary Slave: None > > > OPERATING SYSTEMS > Window$ 98 SE > Red Hat Linux 7.1 (Seawolf) > > > STATUS > Window$ works as well as one might expect it should. (I only have > to reboot it twice a day.) All devices and hardware are functional. > RHL - Attempting to install. Failing miserably, so far. > > > FSTAB (ORIGINAL) > > LABEL=/ / ext2 defaults 1 1 > LABEL=/boot /boot ext2 defaults 1 2 > /dev/hda7 /data1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda8 /data2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda9 /email1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda10 /email2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda11 /graffix1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda12 /graffix2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda13 /graffix3 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda18 /home ext2 defaults 1 2 > /dev/sda1 /jaz vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner 0 0 > /dev/hda14 /scratch1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda15 /scratch2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda16 /scratch3 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda21 /scratch4 ext2 defaults 1 2 > /dev/hda19 /tmp ext2 defaults 1 2 > /dev/hda17 /usr ext2 defaults 1 2 > /dev/hda20 /var ext2 defaults 1 2 > /dev/hda5 /w98-apps1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda6 /w98-apps2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda1 /w98-sys vfat defaults 0 0 > none /proc proc defaults 0 0 > none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0 > /dev/hda3 swap swap defaults 0 0 > /dev/hdb3 swap swap defaults 0 0 > > > FSTAB (MY VERSION) > > LABEL=/boot /boot ext2 defaults 1 1 > LABEL=/ / ext2 defaults 1 2 > LABEL=/usr /usr ext2 defaults 1 2 > LABEL=/home /home ext2 defaults 1 2 > LABEL=/tmp /tmp ext2 defaults 1 2 > LABEL=/var /var ext2 defaults 1 2 > LABEL=/scratch4 /scratch4 ext2 defaults 1 2 > /dev/hda1 /w98-sys vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda5 /w98-apps1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda6 /w98-apps2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda7 /data1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda8 /data2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda9 /email1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda10 /email2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda11 /graffix1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda12 /graffix2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda13 /graffix3 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda14 /scratch1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda15 /scratch2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda16 /scratch3 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/sda1 /jaz vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner 0 0 > none /proc proc defaults 0 0 > none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0 > /dev/hda3 swap swap defaults 0 0 > /dev/hdb3 swap swap defaults 0 0 > > > DMESG > > Linux version 2.4.2-2 ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) (gcc version > 2.96 20000731 (Red Hat Linux 7.1 2.96-79)) #1 Sun Apr 8 19:37:14 > EDT 2001 BIOS-provided physical RAM map: > BIOS-e820: 000000000009fc00 @ 0000000000000000 (usable) > BIOS-e820: 0000000000000400 @ 000000000009fc00 (reserved) > BIOS-e820: 0000000000020000 @ 00000000000e0000 (reserved) > BIOS-e820: 0000000003f00000 @ 0000000000100000 (usable) > BIOS-e820: 0000000000001000 @ 00000000fec00000 (reserved) > BIOS-e820: 0000000000001000 @ 00000000fee00000 (reserved) > BIOS-e820: 0000000000020000 @ 00000000fffe0000 (reserved) On node > 0 totalpages: 16384 > zone(0): 4096 pages. > zone DMA has max 32 cached pages. > zone(1): 12288 pages. > zone Normal has max 96 cached pages. > zone(2): 0 pages. > zone HighMem has max 1 cached pages. > hm, page 01000000 reserved twice. > Kernel command line: auto BOOT_IMAGE=linux ro root=345 > BOOT_FILE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.2-2 Initializing CPU#0 > Detected 199.436 MHz processor. > Console: colour VGA+ 80x25 > Calibrating delay loop... 398.13 BogoMIPS > Memory: 61692k/65536k available (1363k kernel code, 3456k > reserved, 92k data, 232k init, 0k highmem) Dentry-cache hash > table entries: 8192 (order: 4, 65536 bytes) Buffer-cache hash > table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes) Page-cache hash table > entries: 16384 (order: 5, 131072 bytes) Inode-cache hash table > entries: 4096 (order: 3, 32768 bytes) VFS: Diskquotas version > dquot_6.5.0 initialized > CPU: Before vendor init, caps: 008001bf 00000000 00000000, vendor > = 0 Intel Pentium with F0 0F bug - workaround enabled. > CPU: After vendor init, caps: 008001bf 00000000 00000000 00000000 > CPU: After generic, caps: 008001bf 00000000 00000000 00000000 > CPU: Common caps: 008001bf 00000000 00000000 00000000 > CPU: Intel Pentium MMX stepping 03 > Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK. > POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX > mtrr: v1.37 (20001109) Richard Gooch ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) mtrr: > detected mtrr type: none > PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfd8bc, last bus=0 > PCI: Using configuration type 1 > PCI: Probing PCI hardware > Limiting direct PCI/PCI transfers. > Activating ISA DMA hang workarounds. > isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards... > isapnp: No Plug & Play device found > Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.4 > Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039 > Initializing RT netlink socket > apm: BIOS version 1.2 Flags 0x03 (Driver version 1.14) > Starting kswapd v1.8 > pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured > block: queued sectors max/low 40872kB/13624kB, 128 slots per > queue RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size 1024 > blocksize Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 6.31 > ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with > idebus=xx PIIX3: IDE controller on PCI bus 00 dev 09 > PIIX3: chipset revision 0 > PIIX3: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later > ide0: BM-DMA at 0xfff0-0xfff7, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, > hdb:DMA ide1: BM-DMA at 0xfff8-0xffff, BIOS settings: > hdc:DMA, hdd:pio hda: ST340016A, ATA DISK drive > hdb: WDC AC22500L, ATA DISK drive > hdc: , ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive > ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14 > ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15 > hda: 78165360 sectors (40021 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, > CHS=4865/255/63, (U)DMA hdb: 4999680 sectors (2560 MB) w/256KiB > Cache, CHS=620/128/63, (U)DMA Partition check: > hda: [DM6:DDO] [remap +63] [4865/255/63] hda1 hda2 < hda5 hda6 > hda7 hda8 hda9 hda10 hda11 hda12 hda13 hda14 hda15 hda16 hda17 > hda18 hda19 hda20 hda21 > hda3 hdb: hdb1 hdb2 < hdb5 > hdb3 > Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M > FDC 0 is a National Semiconductor PC87306 > RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0 > Freeing initrd memory: 359k freed > Serial driver version 5.02 (2000-08-09) with MANY_PORTS MULTIPORT > SHARE_IRQ SERIAL_PCI ISAPNP enabled ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A > ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A > Real Time Clock Driver v1.10d > md driver 0.90.0 MAX_MD_DEVS=256, MD_SB_DISKS=27 > md.c: sizeof(mdp_super_t) = 4096 > autodetecting RAID arrays > autorun ... > ... autorun DONE. > NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0 > IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP > IP: routing cache hash table of 512 buckets, 4Kbytes > TCP: Hash tables configured (established 4096 bind 4096) > Linux IP multicast router 0.06 plus PIM-SM > NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0. > VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem). > SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00 > (scsi0) <Adaptec AHA-294X Ultra SCSI host adapter> found at PCI > 0/11/0 (scsi0) Narrow Channel, SCSI ID=7, 16/255 SCBs > (scsi0) Cables present (Int-50 NO, Ext-50 NO) > (scsi0) Downloading sequencer code... 436 instructions downloaded > scsi0 : Adaptec AHA274x/284x/294x (EISA/VLB/PCI-Fast SCSI) > 5.2.4/5.2.0 <Adaptec AHA-294X Ultra SCSI host adapter> > Vendor: iomega Model: jaz 1GB Rev: J.86 > Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: > 02 Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 6, > lun 0 (scsi0:0:6:0) Synchronous at 10.0 Mbyte/sec, offset 15. > SCSI device sda: 2091050 512-byte hdwr sectors (1071 MB) > sda: Write Protect is off > sda: sda1 > VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly. > change_root: old root has d_count=3 > Trying to unmount old root ... okay > Freeing unused kernel memory: 232k freed > Adding Swap: 128480k swap-space (priority -1) > Adding Swap: 128984k swap-space (priority -2) > usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs > usb.c: registered new driver hub > usb-uhci.c: $Revision: 1.251 $ time 19:51:15 Apr 8 2001 > usb-uhci.c: High bandwidth mode enabled > usb-uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0x5440, IRQ 11 > usb-uhci.c: Detected 2 ports > usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1 > hub.c: USB hub found > hub.c: 2 ports detected > > [Nothing more after this entry] > >
