Hello,
I'm trying to move an IDE LFS drive from an older "PATA" computer to a new
"SATA" computer. I've been unsuccessful so far.
After literally hundreds of iterations/permutations of Master/Slave, various
'rdev' settings, BIOS settings, "kernel ... root=/dev/..." in GRUB, Linux
versions (with/without 'udev'), ETC., all boot attempts typically fail with the
infamous "VFS" three error lines:
"VFS: Cannot open root device "hd.." or unknown-block (x,y)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs or unknown-block(x,y)"
In short, the boot sequence never gets to mount my file system and then to
trigger 'init', at which point I would obviously have a fighting chance to
bring the boot to a happy ending (I do expect some inconsistencies, names to be
resolved, etc. on the new machine). The alternative, building "from scratch" a
new Linux on a SATA drive is scary.
COMMENTS and CLUES
1. I've tested with either of two IDE drives, one 2.6.9 (non-LFS, non-udev),
the other 2.6.24.4 (with udev-120). Both work flawlessly on the old, "PATA"
PC. Both have the expected "boot" points ("/dev/hdax", etc.) manually included
to eliminate possible 'udev' limitations and/or suspicions here.
2. GRUB (0.96) works A-OK (otherwise I wouldn't get to the VFS point in the
uncompressed kernel, nor to my original, unaltered "root=..." kernel boot
option, as shown on the VFS first error line).
3. The new "SATA" machine does boot either IDE drive OK. I can always confirm
it with my first DOS partition which is chainloaded without any problem by GRUB
(my first partition on any drive is always a little bootable DOS, for rainy
days).
4. As far as I know, the IDE drive is seen by the new PC as "hda" ("hdb" if
Slave). This I got when booted on a 2.4 Rescue Floppy. Funny, a Knoppix CD
sees it as "hde" or "hdf". Anyway, I tried all reasonable possibilities -
including "sdx"'s. Luckily, my new machine is a speed demon, so I'd hit the
reset button and try a new combination.
The SATA drive, when connected, is "sda", of course.
5. So far, the only thing I haven't tried that I can think of is using
"initrd". I figure if boot (and GRUB) has been working fine on my old machine
without this contraption, why adding this extra unknown/complication now.
Obviously, if anybody can demonstrate its necessity under the new circumstances
and configuration I'll hop on it.
6. GRUB (like I said, works admirably) uses a menu looking something like this
title Linux LFS-2.6.24.4
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/LFSkernel root=/dev/hda4
title DOS 6.21
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
NOTE: No other commands, but I do play with drive names/numbers during tests.
REFERENCES
1. The "old" "PATA" board is an ASUS "P4S533-MX". Two "genuine" IDE
controllers/connectors.
2. The "new" "SATA" board is an ASUS "P5E-VM HDMI". One ATA IDE port (off a
JMicron JMB368 PATA controller) and six SATA ports (off intel's ICH9R).
CLOSING WORDS
Any helpful comments/suggestions/questions are invited and highly appreciated.
It'd make me even happier if I could hear from someone who successfully pulled
this stunt I've been miserably failing to.
Thanks,
-- Alex
--
http://linuxfromscratch.org/mailman/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page
