cant boot into latest kernel

[Qqmike]

Re: cant boot into latest kernel

EDIT added:

If you decide to clean up that drive, after overwriting it with zeros, you then must partition (& format) it. Do so using GParted Live CD, and it will ask you to set a Disk Label (DOS) on it -- just say "Yes," then do the new partitions.
(You actually could just write zeros to the MBR and not to the whole drive, but, again, why not clean the whole thing? If you wish to write only to the MBR and need help writing the dd statement, just post back; but if it were me, I'd clean the whole drive; "experts" do this all the time, if you read their work, and using dd.)
Sorry to run on, but I jumped in late, am getting interrupted on my end, and trying to record what I have so far on this--and I think this is all I have now.

[toad]

Re: cant boot into latest kernel

Cheers Qqmike, your words went down like a creamy pint of the finest Burton ale

I agree with the notion that Grub is not at fault here - a reinstall won't hurt, obviously. But I don't see (or understand) how it would improve on the "find /boot/grub/stage1", "kernel" and "initrd" procedure.

I don't know enough about fstab, reckon snowhog is the one on that front, but there is a lot of options in Richarddrahl's file. Here a couple of lines from my (working) 7.10 version for reference.

proc      /proc      proc  defaults    0    0
# /dev/sdb7
UUID=476b64c8-c4b2-41f8-8c7e-2dd489a49375 /        ext3  defaults,errors=remount-ro 0    1

Finally, I haven't given up on the idea that the hdX and sdX mix up is confusing the kernel. The simple manipulation of the Grub kernel line, however, lays bare my limited knowledge of the address system. I'd be interested in where fdisk gets its info from and how it can be manipulated. Knowing Linux a couple of links are quite capable of making things purr along nicely once again

Got to read up on that now

[Qqmike]

Re: cant boot into latest kernel

toad: "I'd be interested in where fdisk gets its info from"

Astute observation there. I just read on that yesterday but can't remember now (I had my focus on other dd things.) I did read that fdisk and df get their info from different ways, and one must be sure of which way for which purpose.

EDIT: toad, something about fdisk reads the partition table and df reads the format info. Maybe man df and man fdisk would get to the bottom of it for you.

[Snowhog]

Re: cant boot into latest kernel

Did your grub kernel line look like this? If not, please try again

kernel     /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=88b0fb01-9809-4ca2-9e58-1462613b126a root=/dev/sda1 ro

That would have been the wrong syntax (but the idea was on the right track). While Toad's observation that Gutsy uses sdx notation for HDs, and not hdx, one must keep in mind, that the data that Richardrahl is able to provide to us, if from a Feisty booted kernel. Therefore, HD references are going to show as hdx.

Something Qqmike said has me wondering. If the upgrade wasn't fully successful, as seems the case here, to what extent was it not successful?? Maybe the Gutsy kernel data never got written, or parts of it are missing. A guess, but one that can be checked.

When booted, open a console and type:

ls -l /boot/

Copy and paste the results. Let's see what initrid* and vmlinuz* files are actually present.

[Qqmike]

Re: cant boot into latest kernel

It was written:

/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=88b0fb01-9809-4ca2-9e58-1462613b126a root=/dev/sda1 ro

That's got two root= 's in it;
so, Richardrahl, please make sure your test with toad's idea is complete:

try with:
/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro

I did read one post where changing hdx to sdx fixed a similar problem for someone.

[toad]

Re: cant boot into latest kernel

Quick recap:

1st - try booting with this kernel line

/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro

2nd - post output from

ls -l /boot/

Good point about unsuccessful update, snowhog. There are so many issues here it is easy to get confused. BTW, we (richarddrahl) do have a command line to work from, don't we? If the update wasn't successful perhaps a "sudo apt-get install -f" or "sudo dpkg --reconfigure -a" would get us back on track Loooooooooooooooong shot, I know... Must be desperation.

Qqmike, why df? disk free? I don't get it As for fdisk, if the above doesn't work I'd do a

sudo fdisk /dev/hda

to call up fdisk followed by a

v

to verify hda's partition table and see what it spits out...

[Richardrahl]

Re: cant boot into latest kernel

oh yuck, ok update i did a full install and again could NOT run gutsy off a live or alternate cd so i went with the feisty install and did a dist-upgrade only to find that the same problem persists, ALTHOUGH i did find out some interesting things i know for a fact 100% positive of it that its my HDD thats causing the problem on account of the following:

1, i got a loan of a 4g HDD off of Lowey and tried to boot the live gutsy CD and it loaded without problems

2, i also disconnected all HDD's and ran the same live CD without any problems

so in conclusion i think there is something lurking on my HDD that completely refuses to allow me to run either gutsy 2.6.22-14 OR the live/alternate CD

that being said i did a full format partition wipe and as many other things that i could think of to clean wipe my HDD but its still the same result

[toad]

Re: cant boot into latest kernel

Wonderful

Out of interest, did you put that 4GB drive into the same controller the olde "crap" HDD was in?

Also, I know it is a bit of a read, but Qqmike has put together a truly great write up of the dd command which may shed some light or even get your HDD back up to scratch. It does indeed appear as though you are a nut in the tinkering sense (take it as a compliment) so I wouldn't put it past you to explore a little more

[dibl]

Re: cant boot into latest kernel

Good job of troubleshooting!

You might take a look at the BIOS setting for that troublesome hard drive when it is connected. If there is a "mode" setting, you might want to try one of the other modes, maybe "legacy" or "AHCP" or whatever it is NOT presently set to.

[Richardrahl]

Re: cant boot into latest kernel

haha Toad a tinkerer i am if its not broke i'll fix it good and proper o0 i just wish this time it was something i did but hey if i can get it done beauty if not i'll keep breaking it untill its fixed (to me its all good fun) and by the time im finished i hope to be one of the good folk here helping out the others (but all in good time) and yes it was in the same controller as my PoC HDD im using now 8)

thats not a bad idea Dibl thanks i'll give that a shot i played with just about all the other settings in the bios just not the ones for the HD

Cheers

Ross

[toad]

Re: cant boot into latest kernel

sorry, forgot to give the link for the dd command

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3090824.0

[Qqmike]

Re: cant boot into latest kernel

and if you try the dd command, please take care to specify the correct hard drive sdx in the of=/dev/sdx part !!!

Because dd will, like the factory, write zeros to that drive and it will not warn you, ask you, invite you to Cancel, apologize, or anything -- it just rips!

I guess I'm a bit like you, Richardrahl, always messing, breaking, fixing. People warn me to be careful, saying I'll mess up my OS or my HDD. My response is usually, Yeah, exactly, that's what I'm trying to do!

Best way to learn.



BTW, toad, I intentionally made that piece "a bit of a read" this time; not very tutorial because I want to target fearless Linux folks rather than people who are unsure and who may wipe all their drives out and then blame me! Notice how I single spaced things and just jumped right in, with references. It's not difficult stuff, but the dd command is very powerful. Mind your "if's" and "of's". There's a reason dd is lovingly referred to as Data Destroyer.

[Richardrahl]

Re: cant boot into latest kernel

im going to try this DD thing out in a few weeks (dont want to go over the download cap 8)) sounds like scary fun...im in...just a quick question though when specifying the /hda i dont need to put in the 1 do i it would just be /dev/hda not /dev/hda1 yes?

[Qqmike]

Re: cant boot into latest kernel

Yes.
If you want to clear out (with zeros) the entire hard drive, then you use /dev/hda;
if you are only clearing out the first partition of hda, then it is /dev/hda1.

You will note that I did try this on my own 160 GB Seagate SATA hard drive; took 45 minutes. I used the special dd called dcfldd (developed by USA Dept of Defense, and it is on the Live Helix CD. It's nice because it shows a progress meter. However, even with dd, you will know it is working because your hard drive light will remain on during the dd operation. But, old-time experts have used dd from a command line for a long time, without any Live CD or special dd implementation. So, it's your choice. Or, do it both ways for fun .

[Qqmike]

Re: cant boot into latest kernel

btw, most (normal) people consider dd to be a bit scary (along with other powerful, cryptic UNIX/Linux commands). That's because * you * are the one pushing the button, the Enter key. Fact is, how do you think GParted copies Linux partitions? Yep, dd. So dd is around and in use, but when it in on YOUR Konsole, with no cozy GUI, it does take some nerve now and then. Just be sure the "if" is correct and the "of" is correct, and don't reverse them! Happy Destruction!