Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: "umount: devfs: not mounted"

  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    4

    "umount: devfs: not mounted"

    I've installed Knoppix 3.7 onto a second hd, have Lilo working fine, but as KDE loads, Knoppix hangs at "umount: devfs: not mounted." I've scoured the web, but with no definitive answers, just a lot of stuff about recompiling my kernel. Help, please?

  2. #2
    Senior Member registered user
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Colorado, USA
    Posts
    205
    Well, since you're not getting any takers, here are some not-so-helpful observations.

    The problem is most probably not what that error message is telling you, for three reasons. The first is that it's not a fatal error to unmount (umount) a file system that isn't mounted. Chances are that the script that called umount just did it to make absolutely sure that devfs was unmounted.

    Then there's the general situation that when something hangs, it's often hanging on some step after the one that you last got a message about. The step that hangs ... is hung. It usually won't be able to send an error message.

    Finally, when a process goes through steps A, B, C, D, E, F, and then blows up on step G, it's just one of Murphy's Laws that the real problem occurred back in step B, C, or D, but the consequencies of that problem didn't show up until later.

    I've done a little poking around in Knoppix to try to find the script that could be bombing on you, but no luck so far. Can you tell us more about what you see before things hang?

    -- Ed

  3. #3
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    4

    Thanks...

    Firstly, thanks for taking this up... for a while I though I had bad breath. Secondly, what you suggested is what I figured. The startup process runs through most of it's stuff, but when trying to run the 2.4 kernel hangs at the unmount; with the 2.6 kernel, at kjournald process. All the other posts in other forums discussed the default setting of the kernel being to not allow devfs and apparently I need to. Right now, I've been relegated to trying a new compile. I got a compiling linux for dummies article which I'm going to play with when I have time. Thanks, again... any ideas you have would be greatly appreciated.

  4. #4
    Senior Member registered user
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Colorado, USA
    Posts
    205
    for a while I thought I had bad breath
    If that's the problem, recompiling the kernel won't help!

    I think I found where in the boot process your system is hanging. Please check these message fragments to make sure I'm in the right place.
    • 2.4.27 kernel
    Code:
    RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
    Freeing initrd memory: 3185k freed
    VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
    Freeing unused kernel memory: 144k freed
    initrd-tools: 0.1.74
    mount: fstype devfs not supported by kernel
    Journalled Block Device driver loaded
    umount: devfs: not mounted
       x=x=x=x=x   (or below)
    mount: fstype devfs not supported by kernel
    kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
    EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.
    umount: devfs: not mounted
       x=x=x=x=x    (or above)
    INIT: version 2.78-knoppix booting
    Welcome to KNOPPIX (HD-Installation)
    • 2.6.9 kernel
    Code:
    RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
    VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
    Freeing unused kernel memory: 276k freed
    initrd-tools: 0.1.74
    mount: fstype devfs not supported by kernel
    EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.
    kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
       x=x=x=x=x
    umount: devfs: not mounted
    INIT: version 2.78-knoppix booting
    Welcome to KNOPPIX (HD-Installation)
    Up until that last line, "Welcome to KNOPPIX," the text is in monochrome. Any later references to devfs or kjournald will be in multi-color text.

    What's happening in the middle of this stretch, at least on my computer, is that the root partition on the hard drive is being mounted as filesystem type ext3. The ext3 and reiserfs filesystems are more resistant to errors because they journal - keep logs of - the read and write activity to drives; ext2 doesn't do this.

    So if this is where your system is hanging, that is, when it starts working with the root partition using a journalled filesystem, then my guess would be that the filesystem on that partition is bad (and devfs isn't involved).

    What I'd do is run fsck on all the Linux partitions (except swap) on the drive. Even on any that are ext2, to help determine the extent and reason for the (possible) problem.
    • NOTE !!!

      - do not run fsck on a mounted filesystem !!!


      - $ man fsck before using !!!
    So what you do is boot from the Knoppix CD and do something like this:

    Code:
    $ sudo umount /dev/hda1
    $ sudo fsck /dev/hda1
    You can also run fsck from the hard drive if you have another Linux to boot into, but DO NOT run it on the partition that you're using. One way to do this accidentally is to type # fsck with no options, which makes it run on all the filesystems in /etc/fstab (which of course includes the one you're on).

    That said, fsck does try to warn you before running on a mounted filesystem. But forewarned is forearmed - too bad Venus de Milo didn't hear that one in time!

    Another thing you could do is just start the installation over. QTParted will reformat that partition for you, but just to check that there isn't maybe a bad spot on the drive I think I'd do this before running knoppix-installer:

    Code:
    $ sudo mkfs -c -t ext3 /dev/hda1
    $ sudo fsck /dev/hda1
    The -c option checks for bad blocks before writing the filesystem. The fsck is redundant, but hey - why not?

    And skip recompiling the kernel, eh?

    -- Ed

  5. #5
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    4
    Thanks Ed... I'm gonna try and work through this. I've already re-hd-installed an inordinate number of times, maybe next will be the lucky one.

  6. #6
    Senior Member registered user
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Colorado, USA
    Posts
    205
    You must have the patience of Job to keep re-trying Knoppix!

    Have you tried installing another version of Linux? Debian's sarge is about my favorite - its installer works very well, and its hardware detection is almost as good as Knoppix'. Another one that goes very smoothly is Progeny Debian.

    -- Ed

Similar Threads

  1. Wont Boot Past "VFS: Mounted Root"
    By simusid in forum Hardware & Booting
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 11-28-2006, 07:24 AM
  2. Logical partitions mounted but "empty"
    By TP Diffenbach in forum MS Windows & New to Linux
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 06-22-2005, 11:20 AM
  3. "Connection Reset by Peer" or "hang"
    By oreo in forum General Support
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 07-23-2003, 06:33 PM
  4. "Foreign" drive formats and "dd" command
    By geebee2000 in forum Hardware & Booting
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 05-21-2003, 07:29 PM
  5. Locate Knoppix "group" in "K" menu
    By Juny in forum General Support
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 03-14-2003, 09:02 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  


HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 Server Xeon E3-1220L 16GB RAM No HDD's picture

HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 Server Xeon E3-1220L 16GB RAM No HDD's

$299.00



HP Proliant MicroServer Gen 8 2.3GHz CPU 16GB RAM NO DRIVES/CADDIES INCLUDED picture

HP Proliant MicroServer Gen 8 2.3GHz CPU 16GB RAM NO DRIVES/CADDIES INCLUDED

$179.99



HP ProLiant HSTNS-5151 Micro Server 8GB RAM No Drives/Key/Caddies *READ* picture

HP ProLiant HSTNS-5151 Micro Server 8GB RAM No Drives/Key/Caddies *READ*

$94.99



HPE PROLIANT MICROSERVER GEN10 PLUS MICRO TOWER SERVER - USED picture

HPE PROLIANT MICROSERVER GEN10 PLUS MICRO TOWER SERVER - USED

$550.00



HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 Server Xeon E3-1220L 8GB RAM No HDD's picture

HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 Server Xeon E3-1220L 8GB RAM No HDD's

$229.99



HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen 10 Plus, Xeon E-2224, 16GB DDR4, 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD picture

HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen 10 Plus, Xeon E-2224, 16GB DDR4, 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD

$750.00



ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 Intel Xeon E3-1220L V2 2.3GHz CPU 8GB RAM picture

ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 Intel Xeon E3-1220L V2 2.3GHz CPU 8GB RAM

$170.00



HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 Server Intel Xeon E3-1220L v2 16GB DDR3 (4) 4TB HDs picture

HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 Server Intel Xeon E3-1220L v2 16GB DDR3 (4) 4TB HDs

$399.00



HP ProLiant Microserver Micro Server HSTNS-5151 untested picture

HP ProLiant Microserver Micro Server HSTNS-5151 untested

$75.00



HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen10 Plus v2 Ultra Micro Tower Server P54644001 picture

HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen10 Plus v2 Ultra Micro Tower Server P54644001

$849.99