Problem with slackware

[mehulved]

Hello Friends I got some problems with slackware
I recently upgraded the kernel of slackware from the default 2.4.31 to 2.6.13 from the testing directory in the cd. I also upgraded alsa drivers and GCC with it. And also added GRUB as my bootloader instead of LILO as the latter wasn't showing the entries for FC3 after many attempts to add it. I got GRUB 0.97 from the slackware website. I did grubconfig and added both the distros to GRUB and installed grub on MBR of hda1.
But, when I try to boot now I get the following error for slackware:-

Kernel panic - not syncing:VFS: Unable to mount root fs in unknown-block(3,1)

For FC3 I get the following error:-

Ext2FS:hda3:couldn't mount because of unsupported optional features (4)
Kernel panic - not syncing:VFS: Unable to mount root fs in unknown-block(3,3)

My disk partitions are as follows:-
/dev/hda1 - Slackware - ReiserFS
/dev/hda2 - Swap
/dev/hda3 - FC3 - Ext3FS

I also have problem with swap on slackware. Even though I added swap when I installed slackware when I looked into performance monitor the swap was not enabled. Can you suggest how to enable it now?

 

[Satissh S]

And also added GRUB as my bootloader instead of LILO as the latter wasn't showing the entries for FC3 after many attempts to add it.

you need to run the command lilo once you have modified it's config to work.

I got GRUB 0.97 from the slackware website. I did grubconfig and added both the distros to GRUB and installed grub on MBR of hda1.
But, when I try to boot now I get the following error for slackware:-
Kernel panic - not syncing:VFS: Unable to mount root fs in unknown-block(3,1)
For FC3 I get the following error:-
Ext2FS:hda3:couldn't mount because of unsupported optional features (4)
Kernel panic - not syncing:VFS: Unable to mount root fs in unknown-block(3,3)

Try booting from fc3 rescue cd and type linux rescue from boot prompt. It shud auto-detect your fc3 system if not, then once you are in the shell , change root chroot /mnt/sysimage Now type grub-install /dev/hda This should enable your fc3 grub loader, now once in fedora you can run vi /boot/grub/menu.lst and create a new entry as slackware with chainloader config as,

title slackware
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

I'm not sure of the VFS Panic thingy and somebody correct me if wrong. Hope this helped

I also have problem with swap on slackware. Even though I added swap when I installed slackware when I looked into performance monitor the swap was not enabled. Can you suggest how to enable it now?

I think that to enable swap one has to run the following command
swapon /dev/hda2

 

[Satissh S]

And forgot to mention, from FC3 you can create seperate boot options for your Slackware kernels by just modifying the /boot/grub/menu.lst of the slackware root partition. Make sure you have mounted the slackware partition or just run the foll. commands,

Su to root b4 running
mkdir /slack (or sumthing)
mount -t reiserfs /dev/hda /slack

Since the two kernels you have mentioned are 2.4.31 to 2.6.13
Try adding the following lines and comment out your previous config lines just in case you need 'em in future.

title slackware kernel 2.4
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz- < the kernel name of 2.4 kernel >(2.4.31-386)-< architecture >
root=/dev/hda1 ro quiet splash < and any options you may need > append 1 to boot in runlevel 1 with root permissions.
initrd /boot/initrd.img- < the kernel name of 2.4 kernel >(2.4.31-386)-< architecture >

Append Similar thing for the 2.6 kernel, but just change the kernel name . Sorry i'am unable to help you out with kernel names as i have not tried slackware. Hoping to try soon. Hope this helped, somebody correct me if wrong.

 

[mehulved]

Thank you satish for your suggestions
There's no use running liloconfig AFAIK as I've installed GRUB instead of lilo. Am I wrong here?
I tried to boot into FC3 using rescue but it is refusing to mount and was giving some error. I've removed FC3 and added Suse 9.1 Personal Edition for the time being.
I've mounted slackware on Suse and am trying out your suggestion of modifying menu.lst and let's see the results.
No problems with the kernel names I can manage that.
But, the real problem is the kernel panic thing if I can understand that I've got things under control I think. But, lets see if I can get it to boot from 2.4 kernel.

 

[mehulved]

I did get into slackware now using 2.4.31 kernel but still am getting kernel panic message for 2.6.13 kernel. Can anyone explain me what that error message means?

 

[ujjwal]

The 2.6 kernel provided by slackware does not support reiserfs, so you need to create an init ramdisk, which can be used for loading the required modules. Check these -

*distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20040628#1
ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-10.0/testing/packages/linux-2.6.7/README.initrd

As for the swap space, check the file /etc/fstab to see whether an entry for your swap space is present.

 

[mehulved]

Got the swap working but am looking at the 2.6 kernel problem.

 

[mehulved]

I've read about people working with 2.6.xx kernel with reiserfs in slackware. Also in distrowatch they have mentioned a way to make intrd with reiserfs so I think there's some other problem that I dunno. The thing that strikes m is that end of the error message it says: unknown block(3,3) I think that's where the problem lies. But I duuno exactly what that is.

 

[praka123]

I havent worked with SLackware till.but i think ur problem is kernel doesnot support reiserfs.try lsmod whether reiser module listed or not.if slackware got 'modconf' tool like Debian Linux u can insert the reiser modules without much problems.

 

[mehulved]

Hi prakash i am ot sure whether reiserfs is supported or no. If reiserfs isn't supported then can anyone explain me this line

mkinitrd -c -k 2.6.13 -m reiserfs

 

[praka123]

what exactly are u doing?are u compiling a kernel?
mkinitrd is used for making initrd images.i dont know about the -c option u gave?Why stick with reiserfs try ext3 ..?

 

[mehulved]

I've just installed the kernels given in the testing directory. I am myself unsure of it I just followed the instructions that were given. I used installpkg command to install kernel from testing directory from the slackwae cd 2 and followed the instructions given.

 

[praka123]

Then try making initrd as most Distros now need initrd image.also make sure
ur grub contains 'initrd' line.Please bear i have not yet used slackware

 

[mehulved]

I did make initrd. See the command I've given earlier mkinitrd -c -k 2.6.13 -m reiserfs

 

[ujjwal]

You need to create the initrd image as given in the instructions in the testing directory, and then make sure the lines to load this ramdisk are present in GRUB. Using an initrd is necessary as the kernel does not have inbuilt support for reiserfs.

 

[mehulved]

I just followed the instructions given here *www.madpenguin.org/cms/?m=show&id=4723 and adjusted them as per 2.6.13 kernel. So, I did create initrd.

 

[mehulved]

OK i got the answer. Following line was missing in menu.lst

initrd /boot/initrd.gz was missing

Thank you ujjawal prakash and sathish for your help. That was a silly mistake by me. I saw menu.lst so many times but never noticed it.