[vox-tech] Can't mount root while booting 2.6.5 kernel - Solution

[Peter Jay Salzman]

hi chris,

aside from ME's suggestion of /boot/kernel, i also have /boot/configs
where all my .config files go (name 2.6.1-1, 2.6.1-2, etc) and
/boot/tarballs where all my kernel sources and patches go.  Like ME, the
first thing I do with a new system is have lilo point to the actual
image rather than the symlink, and get rid of the symlinks.

System.map used to be forced into being called "System.map", but that
changed a long time ago.  All the programs that need the file, like ps
and the like, are now intelligent to pull in the correct symbol table.
So symlinks in /boot aren't necessary anymore.

also, like ME, i keep many copies of the kernel, with labels:

bleedinglinux
newlinux
linux
oldlinux
mustylinux
crustylinux

so i only keep 6 of them.  if i could think of two more cute names,
maybe i'd keep 8 myself.   :-)

glad you got your system working!

pete


On Mon 07 Jun 04, 11:20 AM, ME <dugan@passwall.com> said:
> Gah! That would have been tough to diagnose here.  :-)
> 
> Ons of the things I do after I install a system is to make a directory
> like /boot/kernels
> and copy my kernels there, including the one which came with the system
> install.
> 
> All kernels go there, including new ones.
> 
> Symlinks are deleted and lio.conf is edited to point to the actual kernel
> files and then lilo is run.
> 
> I keep up to 8 copies of kernels so that I have many options to fall back
> to try if there is a problem in the future.
> 
> It helps to avoid problems like this.
> 
> -ME
> 
> Chris Jenks said:
> >
> >   Dear Peter and List Members,
> >
> >   I'm sorry for posting too much unnecessary information - especially
> > since the problem had nothing to do with .config anyway! In my
> > frustration, I tried reinstalling the custom 2.6.3 kernel that had booted
> > previously, and it would no longer boot (same error as 2.6.4-2.6.5). I
> > installed the vanilla 2.6.6 kernel image, and got the same thing. I
> > discovered that, when I had changed /vmlinuz and /vmlinuz.old to point to
> > different kernel versions, I had created them as hard links (i.e., link
> > /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.3-040604 vmlinuz) instead of soft links (i.e., ln -si
> > /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.3-040604 vmlinuz). When I had later purged the kernel
> > version and installed another, vmlinuz was not updated, and caused a bad
> > kernel to be loaded.
> >   After creating the proper soft links, so that vmlinuz now references the
> > vanilla 2.6.6 kernel, and running lilo, I rebooted over the network. To my
> > great surprise, I was able to log on - so the system not only boots, but
> > the network comes up too! Originally I had wanted to start with a minimal
> > .config and work my way up, but maybe that wasn't the best strategy.
> >
> >   Thanks for the suggestions,
> >
> >     Chris
> >
> > On Sat, 5 Jun 2004, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> >
> >> Chris, 2000 lines of config files is not appropriate.
> >>
> >> Next time, please trim your .config file.  Codpages and sound drivers do
> >> not have anything to do with your problem.  You should really have
> >> either sent that via private email or at least put in a minimal effort
> >> to trim it down.
> >>
> >> 5 minutes of your time could've made the difference between sending 2000
> >> lines to 400 people versus sending 100 lines to 400 people
> >>
> >> Also, take a look at this:
> >>
> >>    http://www.lugod.org/documents/faq/lugod-faq.html#ARCHIVEHEADER
> > _______________________________________________
> > vox-tech mailing list
> > vox-tech@lists.lugod.org
> > http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
> >
> >
> 
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