Error after Hdd install

[twistedalpha]

after i installed knoppix v3.7 on hdd then after reboot it then gives me boot menu then after i enter the specified menu then it gives me this error :

initrd-tools : 0.1.74
mount : fs type devfs not supported by kernel
umount : devfs : not mounted
mount : fs type devfs not supported by kernel
umount : devfs : not mounted
pivot_root : No such file or directory
/sbin/init : 426 : cannot open dev/console : no such file
Kernel panic : Attempted to kill init!

and the lights of the caps and scroll lock keeps on blinking then it stay's there for about 30mins .. and i assume it hangs. :cry:

[markb]

Somebody else asked this recently, see http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15751

[twistedalpha]

the forum site u gave me give no results? any possible solution out there?

[rrfish72]

Could be a bad burn or bad download. Try burning again with a slower speed. Then when you boot at the prompt type knoppix testcd, that check the integrity of the files of the cd. Good luck.

[markb]

the forum site u gave me give no results? any possible solution out there?
That's because there aint no answer!

The URL I referenced above was me asking the same question about the same problem along with another guy. I've seen this problem since Knoppix v3.6. I've also seen the same problem on the most recent 2 versions of Kanotix. What I am saying is that I think it is a bug in the latest Debian unstable libparted and, unfortunately, we have to wait until Debian fixes it.

[markb]

Could be a bad burn or bad download. Try burning again with a slower speed. Then when you boot at the prompt type knoppix testcd, that check the integrity of the files of the cd. Good luck.
rrfish72, this exactly the same problem experienced by quite a few people. It is *not* due to a bad burn/download etc. It occurs only with the very latest Knoppix/Kanotix/Mepis/Unstable (etc) and only with some newer motherboards.

[rrfish72]

Why not post this in the kanotix forum and maybe Kano will get you the answer.

http://kanotix.mipooh.net/

[Harry Kuhman]

What I am saying is that I think it is a bug in the latest Debian unstable libparted and, unfortunately, we have to wait until Debian fixes it.

I don't really know anything about this problem and I'm not disputing what you are saying, but do I understand right that this problem is only seen after a hard disk install but not off the live CD? If so, how is it a bug in the latest Debian unstable libparted? I just don't understand why that would be.

[twistedalpha]

Oh well so much for v3.7 .. :lol:

[rrfish72]

I've used and installed 3.7 successfully three times on 3 different computers. Might be just operator error!

[markb]

Why not post this in the kanotix forum and maybe Kano will get you the answer.
http://kanotix.mipooh.net/
I did that long ago but have not received a reply.

[markb]

What I am saying is that I think it is a bug in the latest Debian unstable libparted and, unfortunately, we have to wait until Debian fixes it.
I don't really know anything about this problem and I'm not disputing what you are saying, but do I understand right that this problem is only seen after a hard disk install but not off the live CD? If so, how is it a bug in the latest Debian unstable libparted? I just don't understand why that would be.
It only occurs with *some* motherboards/bios and *only* after a hard disk install when you install lilo/grub into the root partition (not the MBR). To clarify - the live CD always works ok on every machine, that is not the problem. Can do a HD install fine on my laptop, just not my pc which has a ASUS P4P800S-SE. Have seen this bug reported by others across various forums but I have never seen a solution. This bug was listed in about 3 variations in the Knoppix 3.6 bug list on this site but was no solution was ever stated and the bug was not addressed in knoppix 3.7.

My guess about libparted is a long shot but I have theorized that after various attempts with different distributions and other findings which I have not described here.

[twistedalpha]

I've used and installed 3.7 successfully three times on 3 different computers. Might be just operator error!

what operator error? .. and btw i installed lilo/grub into the MBR not in the root partition :?:

[markb]

.. and btw i installed lilo/grub into the MBR not in the root partition :?:
Ok, strike that. Seems the problem is not related to how lilo/grub is installed. You are the first person to confirm that it can happen with an MBR install. What kind of motherboard and harddisk(s) have you got?

[twistedalpha]

.. and btw i installed lilo/grub into the MBR not in the root partition :?:
Ok, strike that. Seems the problem is not related to how lilo/grub is installed. You are the first person to confirm that it can happen with an MBR install. What kind of motherboard and harddisk(s) have you got?

Ok i have to check my board and hd .. i forgot it, ill check it early tomorrow :lol:

[franz29]

have te same pb
with booting kernel 2.4

but 2.6 boots whith lots of errors

[twistedalpha]

my board is an old PCCHIPS M741LMRT w/ chipset Xcel 2000 (Twin Sockets: Slot1& PGA370Socket) and my hd is a 40G Seagate Barracuda ..

[markb]

my board is an old PCCHIPS M741LMRT w/ chipset Xcel 2000 (Twin Sockets: Slot1& PGA370Socket) and my hd is a 40G Seagate Barracuda ..
No correlation with the motherboard - but my hard drive is a 40G Seagate Barracuda as well ?? :?:

So my theory is now that libparted has a recently introduced bug which is exposed by this brand/model/type of drive.

[twistedalpha]

hmm .. maybe ill try installing it on a diff. machines and ill post it here for the results ok ;)

[twistedalpha]

hmm .. i still get the kill init results waa

[Durand Hicks]

The errors you're reporting is saying that the filesystem of your linux installation wasn't compiled into the kernel. What filesystem did you install linux to? If it isn't ext2, ext3 or reiserfs, then that would be your problem.

[markb]

The errors you're reporting is saying that the filesystem of your linux installation wasn't compiled into the kernel. What filesystem did you install linux to? If it isn't ext2, ext3 or reiserfs, then that would be your problem.
Durand, recall that the knoppix-installer installation script we are running here creates the file system itself (ext3 I am pretty sure) before it writes the installation. Then we get the devfs error and kernel panic on our first reboot after install. I think the installer script uses parted to do partitioning + formatting, hence my theory there is a bug in parted/libparted.

[Durand Hicks]

Not necessarily, you have to choose the filesystem before installing. For all we know, the op may have already partitioned his drive prior to running knoppix-installer. What I wanted to know is what filesystem is he installing to? Matter of fact, I partitioned my drive using qtparted prior to installing knoppix to my partitions, so I never really ran into that problem. The knoppix-installer will reformat the partitions it installs to anyway, so I asked the question because he may have done it differently.

[twistedalpha]

-at Konsole:
sudo qtparted
-i create an ext3 filesystem .. then a linux-swap
-then
sudo knoppix-installer
-then the installation follows
-after the installation end ofcourse i rebooted
-then when it booted it gives me the error .. again :x

[Durand Hicks]

When you ran qtparted, were the partitions unmounted before you made any modifications? Second, did you commit (write) the new partition table before exiting qtparted? If this step was omitted, then you'll need to rerun qtparted, make your modifications, and finally commit the changes. Then you can run sudo knoppix-installer.

HTH,

Durand

[twistedalpha]

1st question .. i can't seem to understand
2nd question .. yes, i commit before exiting

[francisgirard]

Hi All :-)

This is my first post on this forum and I admit I am a newbie when it comes to Linux...

I am also experiencing a similar problem after installing to Hdd using the Knoppix-installer which comes with the KNOPPIX_V3.7-2004-12-08-EN.iso (MD5 checksum passed)

I used the exact same procedure that I used to install V3.4 that came with the Knoppix Hacks book. The 3.4 install worked fine, but since the HW detection for 3.4 could not detect my USB Scanner, I decided to try with 3.7.

When running the 3.7 LiveCD, it saw all my HW properly so I tried to HDD install again.
So I wiped the partition clean (by removing, reboot, recreating, reboot) using QTParted as root. (Swap of 1 gb as linux swap, and a 6 Gb ext2 part, which gets formated in ext3 by the installer script after)

I am doing the single boot install (no other OS installed) and using the MBR as the install option.

Now the symptoms are similar... I did notice also that during the install there was some errors reported as to the drive being read-only. I never had this type of error reported when I previously installed 3.4 but only had full confirm that it did not complete when I tried to boot to hdd.

Mine seems to go a bit further in the boot process compared with the others. I always boot with the 2.6 kernel, and it only stops when trying to load KDE. I cannot recall exactly what the message says but can certainly type it down once I am back home...

Someone pointed out earlier that it might be related to a lib from Unstable (since similar symptoms are reported on other install than Knoppix)... If this means there are no workaround for now, and considering that this is beyong Knoppix's original mandate (it works perfectly fine as a LiveCD), can any of you suggest to me a way to find the driver that 3.7 uses for my USB scanner (a way for me to look it up by myself I mean)? This way I can re-install 3.4, patch that driver in, and get the rest of the packages updates thru apt-get direct from the debian sources...

Thanks again for all your help,

Francis

[markb]

Hi All :-)
I am also experiencing a similar problem after installing to Hdd using the Knoppix-installer which comes with the KNOPPIX_V3.7-2004-12-08-EN.iso (MD5 checksum passed)
Francis, I think you are in the wrong thread. You seem to be describing a different issue. Unless you are seeing the specific errors described by twistedalpha at the opening of this thread then you are not experiencing the problem we are discussing here. The errors are:

umount : devfs : not mounted
mount : fs type devfs not supported by kernel
umount : devfs : not mounted
pivot_root : No such file or directory
/sbin/init : 426 : cannot open dev/console : no such file
Kernel panic : Attempted to kill init!

Do you see these "devfs" errors and then the kernel panic?

[francisgirard]

Hi Markb,

No I do not have the exact same error messages which you (in another thread) and twistedalpha are mentioning, and you are right that it might have been better to open a complete new thread for it in this case...

The only reason I brought it up in the same thread is that I thought it might help since it is most likely related. Remember that the way I am installing is also slightly different (from what I recall reading both you and Twistedalpha installed it as dual-boot, not single boot) so this might account why it does not fail exactly at the same point (with the devfs errors) but just right after (once it starts loading) so if someone was inclined to test those 2 scenario and try to replicate the error to debug, they could better pinpoint at the fault.

But, as I already admitted, Linux is a brand new world from me. But the last years I was doing tech support on IBM HW (under MS windows) showed me that having a slight different perspective on a similar problem might pinpoint to the right solution.

Désolé... :-)

Francis

[twistedalpha]

No I do not have the exact same error messages which you (in another thread) and twistedalpha are mentioning, and you are right that it might have been better to open a complete new thread for it in this case...

err :x .. if u can please help me

[twistedalpha]

ahhh .. somebody please help

[rrfish72]

Why not move to Kanotix? It is better suited for a hd install.

[markb]

Why not move to Kanotix? It is better suited for a hd install.
He can't move to Kanotix because it has the same problem (read my earlier posts in this same thread!).

Knoppix V3.6 and V3.7 and Kanotix BH9 and BHX have given me this exact same problem. All are fine as live CDs, it is the HD install that fails with this devfs error. All earlier versions of Knoppix and Kanotix installed fine. Read my earlier posts.

[rrfish72]

Did you or twisted try it to actually install kanotix, or just read the forums and see that other people have the problem so you won't try it. I didn't see anywhere in this post where you tried. Not saying that it will work but just suggesting another alternative.

[twistedalpha]

ive never tried kanotix

[markb]

Did you or twisted try it to actually install kanotix, or just read the forums and see that other people have the problem so you won't try it. I didn't see anywhere in this post where you tried. Not saying that it will work but just suggesting another alternative.
rrfish72, did you bother to re-read this thread before you posted?! See my second post in this exact thread where mentioned I have had this problem with Knoppix and Kanotix.

I have seen others post about this problem with Knoppix but I am the only one I think I have seen mention it with different distributions. I personally experience it with the 2 latest knoppix versions and the 2 latest Kanotix versions. I also used to be unable to install the pre-RC2 and earlier versions of the new Debian Sarge installer as it would fail to read my partitions. The very latest Sarge installer can finally see my partitions and can install onto my machine now. I have a theory that there is a parted (or libparted) bug travelling through the latest Debian unstable parted stuff and that maybe the current Knoppix and Kanotix have this bug. That is why I think it only occurs when we do a HD install as it has something to do with how the partitions are created and/or formatted etc. Note that twistedalpha (who experiences this same bug as I do) has confirmed that he has the same HD as me (a Seagate 40G barracuda).

[francisgirard]

Hi All,

Markb & Twistedalpha (and Franz29), I know that I did not have the exact same symptoms (mine was booting further, did not stop with a kill init) but I still wanted to share how I fixed my problem since it might still help you out. Anyway, at this point I guess it is still worth the try since you already tried different ways and you keep having the same problem...

I booted with the 3.7 live cd in kernel 2.6, I re-used qtparted as root and deleted the ext3 partition but kept the 1 Gb swap, commited the change, rebooted, qtparted as root and created a ext2 partition of 4 Gb this time instead of 6 Gb, since I have read on another sites that some older Hdd experience problems with Linux partition approaching 6 Gb. I know you two have a Seagate 40 Gb and my Samsung 12 Gb is almost as old so that might help. Anyway, after commiting this 4 Gb ext 2 partition, I used the knoppix-installer from root again to install the same way I had before.

I still got the same errors during the install as I had reported earlier (error line 42, line 98 and others to do with the drive being read-only since it tried to modify files on the live cd, and some errors to do with device-mapper driver not being found in the kernel) but this time, when I rebooted to hdd I was able to boot into.

The installer script seems to have changed since the 3.4. One of the things I noticed is that I do not have a root id this time, only the user one. So the install script itself might account for our problem installing this version to hdd.

Anyways, as I said, I am aware this might not be working for you guys but it might still help... So I hope you will not chew my head off like last time ;-) (just kidding Markb, I know how it must be frustrating to repeat the same stuff and still get no further)

Bonne chance!

Francis

[scruffyeagle]

I don't really know anything about this problem and I'm not disputing what you are saying, but do I understand right that this problem is only seen after a hard disk install but not off the live CD? If so, how is it a bug in the latest Debian unstable libparted? I just don't understand why that would be.
===============

Hi, Harry!

My speculation, would be it would have something to do with the basic difference in method re. managing data transferred from a hard drive file system as vs. transferred from a CD file system; i.e., permanent media vs. removable media, Ext# vs. ISO 9660, and/or uncompressed file data vs. compressed file.

[xfactor973]

Hey guys I installed knoppix 3.6 and I'm having the same problem with the 2.6 kernel. I have a segate serial ATA drive but it's a 160gb not a 40gb drive. It sounds like everyone with seagates is having this problem. Very odd..

[xfactor973]

BTW do you think there is anyway to get the knoppix autoconfig to detect hardware similar to the way it does for the 2.4 kernel? It seems to work fine with the 2.4 kernel, which leads me to believe that maybe it is doing something that it shouldn't be in the 2.6 config section. Maybe a hack to the autoconfig script would fix this? Just an idea..

[rusty]

I'll throw in my two cents worth :

twisted: do you have the same problem with both lilo and grub HD installs? Have you tried disabling any antivirus protection in the bios ( I think the ASUS board might have such)

I have a ASUS A7VM266 with an older maxtor drive that can only seem to hd install lilo - go figure.

Kanotix and Mepis have grub (no joy), the last knoppix I installed (2.6 ) installed ok with lilo.

Keep in mind that once you have installed the distro you prefer to the HD, boot loader issues can be addressed by booting from CD, then chrooting into the HD partition and trying different grub/lilo things. OTH, qtparted might not be the best partitioning tool out there, try an older knoppix that uses cfdisk for partitioning if you can. Or run cfdisk, or fdisk from a live CD after install..

Two cents and worth every penny. HTH

[franz29]

-at Konsole:
sudo qtparted
-i create an ext3 filesystem .. then a linux-swap
-then
sudo knoppix-installer
-then the installation follows
-after the installation end ofcourse i rebooted
-then when it booted it gives me the error .. again :x

sudo knoppix-installer

i got it works don't know why used
knx2hd
or some like
but firs i blankt out my partitio,n whith

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/(hda---my install partiton)

ther still pbls but minor
hope u get it run

franz

[franz29]

my hd install issu
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16316

[pingu]

Hi!

Got the same problem and when I tried lilo-config choosing to install on MBR this came up

Activating Partition 5 on disk /dev/hda.
5: not a valid partition number (1-4)
ERROR: activate failed! Your system may not be bootable.

Now I know that its bootable since I'm in it. There is a nother strange thing. Everytime I try to run lilo or lilo-config it fails if my usb harddrive isn't connected. I used it to install knoppix.

/pingu

[franz29]

Activating Partition 5 on disk /dev/hda.
5: not a valid partition number (1-4)
ERROR: activate failed! Your system may not be bootable.

if u do sudo fdisk -l /dev/hda

have yur a extendit partiton (5 and more needs to be on extended partition)

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/structPartitions-c.html

[kgndb]

I have had this problem for over a year. I just succeeded in installing Knoppix 4.0.2. The solution for me was to install the GRUB loader.

My computer is a Microstar International MSI865GV Hetis (Intel 865GV chipset) with a 2.8GHz Pentium 4. I put a 160GB Seagate SATA drive and a Sony DRU-530A DVD writer in it. I have been running Windows XP and Knoppix 3.4 with the 2.4 kernel since I bought it in May of last year.

I installed Knoppix 4.0.2 to my hard disk and tried to boot resulting in the kernel panic. I tried a lot of command line options without success. Searching on the web I found some suggestions for changes to make to /boot/grub/menu.lst. I had Knoppix write the master boot record when it installed and the boot menu looked like what was in /etc/lilo.conf. There was a /boot/grub directory but no menu.lst file so I decided to try creating one and installing the GRUB loader.

I first created a GRUB boot floppy to test out the idea. I booted Knoppix from CD and followed directions I found in a Linux Journal article at http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/4622. I had a floppy that had already been formatted for msdos. I opened a root window and ran the following commands:

mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /floppy
mkdir -p /floppy/boot/grub
cp /boot/grub/stage* /floppy/boot/grub
grub
grub> root (fd0)
grub> setup (fd0)
grub> quit

I booted from the floppy and at the grub> prompt typed the following commands (/dev/sda1 is my Windows XP partition, /dev/sda2 Knoppix)
grub> root (hd0,1)
grub> kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda2 ro vga=791 lang=us
grub> boot
Knoppix booted successfully

In Knoppix I created /boot/grub/menu.lst containing the following text

default 0
timeout=5
title Knoppix 4.0.2 (2.6.12)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz ro root=/dev/sda2 screen=1280x1024 depth=24 lang=us
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.12
title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

The three lines after each title line are indented a couple spaces in the file but they aren't showing up in the preview.

I ran grub

grub
grub> root (hd0,1)
grub> setup (hd0)
grub> quit

I rebooted my machine and selected Knoppix. It booted up to the login screen.