Problem: GX620 boot from CD problem

[sid_galt]

I have Dell OptiPlex GX620, intel Pentium 3.2 GHz 2MB L2 cache, 945G Chipset, 1 gig DDR2 Ram and 160 GB Sata hard drive.

When I try to boot Linux Knoppix 3.9, I get the error

"Kernel Panic: Unable to mount..." etc.

I tried setting the SATA drive to combination but even then it doesn't work although the same error doesn't show up.

Please help

[Harry Kuhman]

http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16574

[sid_galt]

I apologize if this has been asked before or I have posted this in the wrong forum.

My problem is not HDD install. My knoppix can't boot from the CD.

I tried to search the archives but I couldn't find an answer. Please help me.

[Harry Kuhman]

I apologize if this has been asked before or I have posted this in the wrong forum.

My problem is not HDD install. My knoppix can't boot from the CD.

I tried to search the archives but I couldn't find an answer. Please help me.
My point was that your choice of topic lines is so poor that it makes your post useless for anyone searching the forums. And it will not attract the attention of the people who know the answer. I suggest that you go back and edit your first post and change the subject from "problem" to something informative and specific that may better attract help. Titles like "OptiPlex GX620 boot bug", "Kernel Panic: Unable to mount" or "booting SATA drive" convey useful information. If everlyone selected topics like "problem" the forums would become useless.

[sid_galt]

I have SATA hard drives. When set to normal, the following happens

USB/firewire devices ... done
Accessing CDrom

Later

USB/firewire devices ... done
Can't find Knoppix filesystem, sorry.
Dropping you to a (very limited) shell.
Press reset button to quit.
Additional bulletin commands available
cat mount umount
insmod rmmod usmod
knoppix#

(Cursor keeps blinking but keyboard does not work)


When the hard drive is set to Combination

hdc: Status error: Status = Ox58 {DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest}
failed opcode was unknown
hdc: drive not ready for command (these three lines appear quite a lot of times)
end - request: I/O error, dev hdc secor 21932
cloop: Read error at pos 8233652 in file /cdrom/knoppix/knoppix, 28814 bytes lost
cloop: erro - 3 uncompressing block 745 65536/0/28814/0 823365 - 8262466
Kernel panic - not syncing. VFS. unable to mount root fs on unknown block (1, 3)

(After this the computer hangs)


Please help me.

[rwcitek]

When I try to boot Linux Knoppix 3.9, I get the error
"Kernel Panic: Unable to mount..." etc.
Have a look at Cheatcodes:Tips&Tricks (http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Cheat_Codes#Tips.26Tricks). Which of the two boot commands did you try, and how far in the boot process you were able to get?

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org/

[UnderScore]

You are getting cloop errors which is usually an indication that the CDR is bad. See My PC will boot off of the burned disc. It is strange since it loads but then stalls or it loads but is giving me I/O errors. What's going on? (http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Downloading_FAQ#Q:_My_PC_will_boot_off_of_the_burn ed_disc._It_is_strange_since_it_loads_but_then_sta lls_or_it_loads_but_is_giving_me_I.2FO_errors._Wha t.27s_going_on.3F)

[sid_galt]

When I try to boot Linux Knoppix 3.9, I get the error
"Kernel Panic: Unable to mount..." etc.
Have a look at Cheatcodes:Tips&Tricks (http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Cheat_Codes#Tips.26Tricks). Which of the two boot commands did you try, and how far in the boot process you were able to get?

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org/

I tried both. The message comes



Starting interediate shell stage 1 as requested by "debug" option
Type "exit" to continue with normal bootup



The cursor keeps blinking but I can't type anything.

This comes in both the boot options



Edit: I hadn't downloaded the md5 and asc files. Now I have downloaded them. Right now I have five files on my PC,
KNOPPIX_V3.9-2005-05-27-EN.iso.md5
KNOPPIX_V3.9-2005-05-27-EN.iso.md5.asc
KNOPPIX_V3.9-2005-05-27-EN.iso.sha1
KNOPPIX_V3.9-2005-05-27-EN.iso.sha1.asc
MD5SUM

Which one do I burn on to the CD and how? The FAQ only seems to tell how to burn the ISO file onto the CD.

[rwcitek]

I tried both. The message comes

Starting interediate shell stage 1 as requested by "debug" option
Type "exit" to continue with normal bootup

The cursor keeps blinking but I can't type anything.
This comes in both the boot options
Have you tried the link that UnderScore recommended? That is, have you verified the md5sum of the ISO file you downloaded? If you have and the md5sums match, have you tried burning a new CD slowly, < 8x?

While it is possible that you have some esoteric hardware that Knoppix doesn't recognize, the most likely reason for Knoppix not booting correctly is because of what UnderScore mentioned: a bad CDR.

Let us know what you discover.

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org/

[jkusters]

I have the same computer configuration, a Dell Optiplex GX620. Actually, I have three of them. I get the same set of errors as sid_galt gets on all of them. The same CDR works fine on several other computers (an older Dell model, some Gateways, some whteboxen, etc.), so I do not believe it's the CDR. Tried to boot with debug, and I get a prompt at which I cannot type anything. I checked the MD5 of the ISO and it matched. I suspect it is something paticular to this model of Dell. (I'm also having trouble getting the latest version of the Norton Ghost "Recovery" disc to function in these machines, which is why I'm exploring the Knoppix Live CD.)

JOhn.

[Harry Kuhman]

Edit: I hadn't downloaded the md5 and asc files. Now I have downloaded them. Right now I have five files on my PC,
KNOPPIX_V3.9-2005-05-27-EN.iso.md5
KNOPPIX_V3.9-2005-05-27-EN.iso.md5.asc
KNOPPIX_V3.9-2005-05-27-EN.iso.sha1
KNOPPIX_V3.9-2005-05-27-EN.iso.sha1.asc
MD5SUM

Which one do I burn on to the CD and how? The FAQ only seems to tell how to burn the ISO file onto the CD.
You don't burn any of those 5 tiny files. They are for verifying a valid download (just using one md5 file is fine, there are multiple files to accomodate multiple ways to check the ISO). You burn the ISO. It's covered very well in the downloading FAQ. What part is not clear?

[rwcitek]

Tried to boot with debug, and I get a prompt at which I cannot type anything. I checked the MD5 of the ISO and it matched. I suspect it is something paticular to this model of Dell.
From what I've read about the machine, it does not have PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse. Instead it uses USB. Therein may lie the problem. If you boot with the "nousb" cheatcode, e.g. failsafe, or you get a prompt that requires typing before the USB drivers get loaded, e.g. debug (just a guess), then I would imagine your keyboard and mouse will not work.

So, my conclusion is that one cannot use the debug cheatcode unless you have a PS/2 keyboard. Can someone please refute or verify that conclusion?

BTW, what error are you having that prevents you from booting Knoppix using the defaults? Are you referring to the "DriveReady ..." errors?

Regards,
- Robert

[jkusters]

BTW, what error are you having that prevents you from booting Knoppix using the defaults? Are you referring to the "DriveReady ..." errors?

Yes, and then an eventual kernel panic.

The machine indeed has no PS/2 ports. Only USB ports. I get the same sequence on all three machines.

It starts off booting, and I see two penguins. Normal start up commences, but immediately after the "setting paths..." message, a set of error messages start scrolling up the screen (happily the two penguins remain in place to keep me company). I do see other messages interspersed with the error messages but they fly up the screen too quickly to be able to read them.

The error messages consist mainly of the following:

hdc: ATAPI reset complete
hdc: status error: status=0x58 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest }
ide: failed opcode was: unknown
end_request: I/O error, dev hdc, sector 21932
hdc: drive not ready for command

Then, the Kernel panic:
cloop: Read error at pos 8233652 in file /cdrom/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX, 28814 bytes lost.
cloop: error -3 uncompressiong block 745 65536/0/28814/0 8233652-8262466
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unkown-block(1,3)

The optical drive, which I assume it's assigning to hdc, is a DVD-ROM, CD R/RW.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
JOhn.

[Harry Kuhman]

If it is the USB keybard that is causing the problem, then I doubt that it will be fixed in Knoppix. I'm not clear of how one types in any cheat codes before the USB support has been loaded though.

Manufacturers need to be given feedback that such short sighted design choices make systems non-standard and are not accepted by the user. On a related matter I have a friend who has a DVI based video display and bought a very high end video card with both VGA and DVI output. Unfortunately he found out that the DVI wasn't on by default and had to be enabled by drive software before it would work, so he made the store buy the card back and went with a different brand. Such a stupid design choice not only locks out users who are using an OS other than Windows, but it even stopped my friend from doing basic BIOS setup (can't access the BIOS if the display isn't enabled by some damn Windows driver yet). If the manufacturers buy back enough such bad design choices they will stop doing this to us; if they get no negative feedback from customers they will just be more inclined to take such short sighted short cuts in the future.

[rwcitek]

Any thoughts?
What is itching in the back of my mind is that there are two HW-related issues: the keyboard via USB and the CD-ROM via SATA(?). (Is the CD-ROM using SATA?) Ideally, it would be nice to separate the two issues. Let's see if we can get the keyboard working. Boot with

boot: debug usb-handoff -b 3

This is just a guess from reading the kernel parameters (http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Kernel-parameters-2.6.11). Did you get to stage 1 and were you able to type?

Regards,
- Robert

[jkusters]

Boot with

boot: debug usb-handoff -b 3

This is just a guess from reading the kernel parameters (http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Kernel-parameters-2.6.11). Did you get to stage 1 and were you able to type?

Well, I got to stage 1, but cannot type anything. I'll have to look at the cheatsheet again and see if I can find other parameters that might get me to a usaable stage 1.

Thanks for your help!

JOhn.

[rwcitek]

I'll have to look at the cheatsheet again and see if I can find other parameters that might get me to a usaable stage 1.
Although you cannot use the keyboard, you can get to stage 1. That means that the linux kernel can load. The question is at what point does it have a problem and why. Naturally, stepping through the boot process would be much easier with a functioning keyboard. Perhaps you can boot with all the cheatcodes that failsafe uses except the "nousb" cheatcode so that your keyboard will work:

boot: knoppix acpi=off atapicd noacpi noagp noapic noapm nodhcp nodma nofirewire nofstab nopcmcia noscsi nosound pnpbios=off vga=normal xmodule=vesa -b 1

Of course, you could probably shorten that to those cheatcodes that only deal with those that affect the disk since that's what seems to be causing the problem:

boot: knoppix acpi=off atapicd noacpi noapic noapm nodma nofirewire nofstab nopcmcia noscsi pnpbios=off -b 1

Let us know how it goes.

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org/

[rwcitek]

Of course, you could probably shorten that to those cheatcodes that only deal with those that affect the disk since that's what seems to be causing the problem:

boot: knoppix acpi=off atapicd noacpi noapic noapm nodma nofirewire nofstab nopcmcia noscsi pnpbios=off -b 1
As a variation on the above, I just tried booting on a machine with a USB-only keyboard with these boot commands:

boot: failsafe usb-handoff -b 1
boot: failsafe -b 1
boot: failsafe 1
boot: knoppix usb-handoff -b 1
boot: knoppix -b 1

Unfortunately, I was unable to use the keyboard with any of them. The only succesful boot command was this:

boot: knoppix 1

This suggests two items:

1) that in order to use a USB keyboard, the USB module needs to be loaded
2) the USB module is not loaded until the init process runs /etc/knoppix-autoconfig

... which means that if you want to try the commands in the previous post, you probably should NOT use the "-b" cheatcode.

BTW, this was all using Knoppix 3.8.2.

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org

[jkusters]

Tried the following:

debug acpi=off atapicd noacpi noagp noapic noapm nodhcp nodma nofirewire nofstab nopcmcia noscsi nosound pnpbios=off vga=normal xmodule=vesa 1

I wound up back at the stage 1 prompt (#) but unable to type.

Replacing "debug" with "knoppix" results in the same scroll of error messages reported previously.

This is with 3.9, downloaded earlier this week.

Vexing!

JOhn.

[rwcitek]

I wound up back at the stage 1 prompt (#) but unable to type.
Right. Don't use the "debug" label. Use only the "knoppix" label. Debug will pause during the boot process, which is futile for you since the USB module is not loaded until after stage 3.

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org

[jkusters]

I wound up back at the stage 1 prompt (#) but unable to type.
Right. Don't use the "debug" label. Use only the "knoppix" label. Debug will pause during the boot process, which is futile for you since the USB module is not loaded until after stage 3.

Yeah, forgot to mention (and later went back and edited my post) that I also tried "knoppix" followed by the same parameters which resulted in the same set of scrolling messages followed by the kernel panic.

I haven't tried any other flavors of linux since what I'm really looking for is something just like knoppix that runs off the CD. The ultimate purpose is a cheap-man's ghost solution, of which the first step is getting something to boot.

Thanks for your help!

JOhn.

[rwcitek]

I haven't tried any other flavors of linux since what I'm really looking for is something just like knoppix that runs off the CD. The ultimate purpose is a cheap-man's ghost solution, of which the first step is getting something to boot.
From a bit of Googling, Linux will run just fine on the machine ... from the hard drive. Apparently, linux doesn't have support for SATA CD-ROMs, yet, which this machine uses. Also, Knoppix isn't compiled with the USB modules so that you could use your keyboard. If either worked, you'd be set.

Some options to try:

1) If the mobo has a normal ATA (IDE) conection, then try adding an ATA CD-ROM and booting from that.
2) Try kanotix: http://kanotix.com
3) Try slax: http://slax.linux-live.org

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org

[jkusters]

Thanks for the help! I'll look into those.

I just discovered that the optical drive on these machines is a Philips DVD+-RW DVD8701. I wonder if it being a DVD/RW drive makes any difference? Maybe I'll try to download the 4.x version of Knoppix onto DVD and run with that...

JOhn.

[mmaki]

I was having similar problems on a Dell Optiplex GX280 with USB only keyboard. I got it to work with the following cheat codes (v. 3.8.1):

knoppix noapic noagp noapm noaudio noddc nodhcp nofstab nofirewire nopcmcia noscsi noswap pnpbios=off acpi=off

Basically everything but nousb. I could probably test to find which is offending but...

I was able to use partimage and image my SATA (/dev/sda2) partition.

I never did get a kernel panic, I just could not get the keyboard to work. Now it does!

HTH,

Mike

[rwcitek]

I got it to work with the following cheat codes:
knoppix noapic noagp noapm noaudio noddc nodhcp nofstab nofirewire nopcmcia noscsi noswap pnpbios=off acpi=off
That's great! One code I don't recognize is "noddc". The only reference I could find for it via google is that it's used in configuring X11. Is that correct, or it is used for something else? How did you know to use it?

It would be great if someone else could verify if that set of cheatcodes works for them, too.

After that, the next step would be to figure out if the cheatcode set can be whittled down.

Thanks, Mike, for posting feedback.

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org

[jkusters]

It would be great if someone else could verify if that set of cheatcodes works for them, too.

I was so very hopeful...

But I just tried this. Twice, to make sure I typed it all in right. And both times I got the scrolling error messages followed by a kernel panic.

(BTW, got the same exact result with slax, so I know it's not a Knoppix issue.)

Thanks,
JOhn.

[rwcitek]

But I just tried this. Twice, to make sure I typed it all in right. And both times I got the scrolling error messages followed by a kernel panic.
In previous posts you mention using Knoppix 3.9. mmaki was using Knoppix 3.8.1. You might want to download that version and give it a whirl. 3.8.1 uses the 2.6.11 kernel. 3.9 uses the 2.6.11.10 kernel. 4.0 uses the 2.6.12.4 kernel.

Also in reviewing some of the older posts, you are able to get to stage 1. So, linux and some initial drivers do load. I'm curious to know if you can get into "emergency mode". Try booting with this:

boot: failsafe -b 1

Of course, your keyboard won't work. But I'm just interested to know if you get to a prompt or if you get a kernel panic.

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org

[mmaki]

FWIW I got my Optiplex GX280 to boot with everything working by using:


knoppix acpi=off

Mike

[rwcitek]

FWIW I got my Optiplex GX280 to boot with everything working by using:

knoppix acpi=off
Thanks, Mike, for whittling down that cheatcode list and posting it. What kind of CD-ROM do you have in your machine? Is it a SATA bus or regular ATA (IDE)?

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org

[jkusters]

boot: failsafe -b 1

It's been a while since I've had time to work on this, so I tried both this and Mike's suggestions.

With the failsafe, I do get the kernel panic on Knoppix 3.9. I'll be downloading and burning 3.8.1 later today and giving it a try.

With acpi=off, I also get the kernel panic.

Somone suggested trying Kanotix, so that's next on my list. Something about the ub driver (though I'm neophyte enough to not know what that is).

JOhn.

[rwcitek]

I'll be downloading and burning 3.8.1 later today and giving it a try.
When you do be sure to burn at the slowest speed possible, preferably <8x.

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org

[mensan]

I am having the exact same kernel panic with the Knoppix 4.0.2 CD on my GX620. From looking at the BIOS, it appears that the HD is SATA, but the DVD-ROM is PATA and the primary master drive. It doesnt seem like there has been much progress in getting this to work. I have even considered remastering an image with custom kernel, new x.org for the 945G, etc. but would really rather avoid that. How has everyone fared since their last posts?

Any help?

[mensan]

Well just to let everyone know. I got around the kernel panic by using the following boot option (4.0.2 CD with Dell GX620):

hdc=noprobe

It will get you to full desktop. Now to get the video driver working, this will take a remaster with the latest x.org development release.

-men$an


EDIT: There is a change required to the BIOS though, that I didnt mention. Go into Drives -> SATA Operation and change from "Normal" to "Combination" ! ! !

[rwcitek]

Well just to let everyone know. I got around the kernel panic by using the following boot option (4.0.2 CD with Dell GX620):

hdc=noprobe

Glad to hear you got Knoppix working. Thanks for posting your solution. Out of curiosity, what is /dev/hdc? The SATA, the PATA, or something else?


It will get you to full desktop. Now to get the video driver working, this will take a remaster with the latest x.org development release.

You may not have to remaster. You may be able to get away with using a persistent disk image (PDI). The general strategy would be to boot into text mode, create a PDI sufficiently large (e.g. 1GB), reboot into text mode again, attach the PDI, rework X.org, test out the video driver. Once you get X11 working, remove unneed files from the PDI , resize it, and use it whenever you boot Knoppix.

I would imagine that you can even remaster a new CD given an old CD and PDI, but I haven't tried that, yet.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org

[mensan]

Good to see a fellow Missourian around! (Go Redbirds!)

hdc is the SATA hard drive. Since I dont need access to it from Knoppix, this is a solution for me. If this is not the case for others (access is needed to the HDD), then maybe some information about how correctly change a remastered kernel can be gleaned from here:

http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~ushankar/linux-dell.html

The "Hardware Support Detail" section may provide good info on getting the SATA and PATA stuff figured out.

Thanks for the tip on the PDI, but since creating a persistent image on disk is not a realistic option for me, I am going with the remaster. I am looking to put development X.org (6.8.99.901), and latest kernel (2.6.14.2) on there in hope of getting the 945G graphics supported, plus we can always use a newer kernel, right? I will let you know how the remaster goes, and if it works well, and I can find a place to host it, I will make the .iso available for download.

Hopefully I will have more to report after the weekend.

-men$an

[mensan]

Well, after a few attempts at a remaster, I have a CD that boots, but then it fails on trying to start the Xserver. I updated the xserver-common, xserver-xorg, and xserver-xfree86 packacges to 6.8.99.901 (the 6.9 RC1), and I must be missing a link or something somewhere. When it tries to start the Xserver (I have an Nvidia card in this test machine, not the Dell GX620, so "nv" driver should be used), it detects it as Nvidia, and says it is starting XFree86(nv), but then fails out of that, then tries fbdev and vesa, neither of which work. It then says that no acceptable Xserver could be found for my card, which is normally supported. So, I am wondering if I am missing a link from XFree86 somewhere to Xorg, or something else.

Any thoughts? Anyone else upgraded the X server on Knoppix before? If no one posts much in a couple of days, I will start a new thread, dont want to hijack. :)


-men$an

[mensan]

Hi All,

So the latest problem I have found is that my USB flash drive is not working on the Dell GX620. It is apparent form the dmesg (as well as that my USB mouse and keyboard work) that the USB 2.0 drivers are being loaded, it looks though, like the following line from dmesg might be a clue:

mtrr: no more MTRRs available

which occurs near the bottom. Anyone else having this problem? Any ideas?


-men$an

[mensan]

alright, well to get my USB flash drive to work and get around the MTRR error i posted above, all i had to do was load the ehci_hcd module, so the following will do that:

modprobe ehci_hcd

which must be done as root. now to find a good place to put that command in a script.


-men$an

[sundry_50]

A recent live cd copy (3.7 I think) failed to boot on the gx260 but works on other machines. An older copy of live cd (3.3) and the current live dvd boot but most usb ports are inactive. I find that the usb ports on the keyboard are active using the live 3.3CD and the live current dvd. Will try the latest post from mensan soon.

[kgndb]

My computer is not the same as yours but I thought my solution might help you or at least give you some ideas.

I have 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 downloaded Knoppix 4.0.2 when it came out and tried to boot it on my machine. When the initial screen came up I just hit return at the boot prompt but then it said it couldn't find the CD drive and dropped me into the primitve shell. I tried creating a floppy with the driver for my DVD writer, booted expert mode and told it to load and autoprobe for the device but it couldn't find it. At that point I thought the problem might be in the BIOS configuration.

I had originally gotten the SATA drive to work by setting the BIOS to Native Mode with the SATA interface as the first and second controller making the PATA interface the third controller. It worked for XP and for Knoppix 3.4 with the 2.4 kernel but after a couple experiments I found that changing to Legacy Mode and making the PATA interface the first controller and the SATA interface the second and third controller the DVD drive showed up as the primary master and the SATA became the secondary master allowing my system to boot and run Knoppix 4.0.2 from the CD. I think that the code probing for the drive couldn't find it when it was on the third controller.

When I was able to boot from the CD I installed Knoppix to my SATA drive but had the same problem as twistedalpha with a kernel panic (Error after Hdd install). I was able to solve that problem on my machine by installing GRUB. I posted a reply in that thread with my solution to the problem.