Kernels > 2.6.28 vs TP42p??

[phubai]

I'm having a continuing problem, at least on my Gentoo and Sabayon distros, when I upgrade to kernel 2.6.29. The result, with no other changes from my current running 2.6.27 kernel is:

Activating mdev...

Block device /dev/sda3 is not a valid root device in .

I am of course looking at the possibilities including lvm, fstab, and certainly GRUB, and this error is normally easily corrected in one of the sources I've mentioned, but one individual in the Gentoo forums has indicated the problem is confined to his T42p and is not a problem in any of the other machines he has Gentoo, and kernel 2.6.28 installed on.

Is anyone here running a kernel > 2.6.28 and using an external SATA HD? If so, of course my next question will be what type of machine you're running it on

I haven't given up on the kernel, and I may have to move Gentoo to my internal HD to verify if it's an external HD issue with the T42p or a universal problem with the kernel and my machine.

Strangely, I can type at the boot error message "/dev/sda3" and it boots just fine. This happens whether I use UUID in grub.conf and fstab or dev. It's I suppose a minor issue in that once I get beyond that niggle it works just fine, it just requires input during boot which is a bit frustrating.

Thanks!

[tylerwylie]

First thing that comes to mind, can you share your .config and /etc/fstab?

Also, genkernel or manual config?

[phubai]

First thing that comes to mind, can you share your .config and /etc/fstab?

Also, genkernel or manual config?

Hello! I'm on 2.6.27 again, but I didn't change anything when I went to the new kernel.

Portion of .config:

CONFIG_ATA=y
# CONFIG_ATA_NONSTANDARD is not set
CONFIG_ATA_ACPI=y
CONFIG_SATA_PMP=y
CONFIG_SATA_AHCI=y
CONFIG_SATA_SIL24=y
CONFIG_ATA_SFF=y
CONFIG_SATA_SVW=y
CONFIG_ATA_PIIX=y
CONFIG_SATA_MV=y
CONFIG_SATA_NV=y
CONFIG_PDC_ADMA=y
CONFIG_SATA_QSTOR=y
CONFIG_SATA_PROMISE=y
CONFIG_SATA_SX4=y
CONFIG_SATA_SIL=y
CONFIG_SATA_SIS=y
CONFIG_SATA_ULI=y
CONFIG_SATA_VIA=y
CONFIG_SATA_VITESSE=y
CONFIG_SATA_INIC162X=y
CONFIG_PATA_ACPI=y
CONFIG_PATA_ALI=y
CONFIG_PATA_AMD=y
CONFIG_PATA_ARTOP=y
CONFIG_PATA_ATIIXP=y
CONFIG_PATA_CMD640_PCI=y
CONFIG_PATA_CMD64X=y
CONFIG_PATA_CS5520=y
CONFIG_PATA_CS5530=y
CONFIG_PATA_CS5535=y
CONFIG_PATA_CS5536=y
CONFIG_PATA_CYPRESS=y
CONFIG_PATA_EFAR=y
CONFIG_ATA_GENERIC=y
CONFIG_PATA_HPT366=y
CONFIG_PATA_HPT37X=y
CONFIG_PATA_HPT3X2N=y
CONFIG_PATA_HPT3X3=y
# CONFIG_PATA_HPT3X3_DMA is not set
CONFIG_PATA_ISAPNP=y
CONFIG_PATA_IT821X=y
CONFIG_PATA_IT8213=y
CONFIG_PATA_JMICRON=y
CONFIG_PATA_LEGACY=y
CONFIG_PATA_TRIFLEX=y
CONFIG_PATA_MARVELL=y
CONFIG_PATA_MPIIX=y
CONFIG_PATA_OLDPIIX=y
CONFIG_PATA_NETCELL=y
CONFIG_PATA_NINJA32=y
CONFIG_PATA_NS87410=y
CONFIG_PATA_NS87415=y
CONFIG_PATA_OPTI=y
CONFIG_PATA_OPTIDMA=y
CONFIG_PATA_PCMCIA=m
CONFIG_PATA_PDC_OLD=y
CONFIG_PATA_QDI=y
CONFIG_PATA_RADISYS=y
CONFIG_PATA_RZ1000=y
CONFIG_PATA_SC1200=y
CONFIG_PATA_SERVERWORKS=y
CONFIG_PATA_PDC2027X=y
CONFIG_PATA_SIL680=y
CONFIG_PATA_SIS=y
CONFIG_PATA_VIA=y
CONFIG_PATA_WINBOND=y
CONFIG_PATA_WINBOND_VLB=y
CONFIG_PATA_SCH=y
CONFIG_MD=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_MD=y
CONFIG_MD_LINEAR=y
CONFIG_MD_RAID0=y
CONFIG_MD_RAID1=y
CONFIG_MD_RAID10=y
CONFIG_MD_RAID456=y
CONFIG_MD_RAID5_RESHAPE=y
CONFIG_MD_MULTIPATH=y
CONFIG_MD_FAULTY=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_DM=y

fstab:

UUID=96443b64-558b-4963-afac-fdcdcb68d6df / ext4 extents,user_xattr 1 1
UUID=517ba4b9-dc4c-4499-9e3a-fa7e803c583e /home ext4 extents,user_xattr 1 2
UUID=b739b912-b219-4c78-9cd6-eaeefe73a21e /boot ext2 defaults 1 2
/dev/shm /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
UUID=4f65ff6a-68bd-4374-ac92-448911ea6bdf swap swap defaults 0 0

I am currently in Sabayon and running kernel 2.6.27 which is the info I've provided. I have gentoo on hold right now, but I will again try to upgrade the kernel in Sabayon and post those results later this evening. This is a genkernel .config, but I've both on Gentoo with the same result unfortunately.

This is the post that caused mine:

http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-72 ... ight-.html

Thanks for the reply, and happy holiday!

Bob

[tylerwylie]

Then it's probably genkernel not compiling either the correct FS support, or right block device support, into the initrd. Have you considered making your own kernel/initrd and trying that out?

[phubai]

Yep, I normally do with Gentoo anyway. Not so much with Sabayon, although I did the other day to see if I could resolve it. I had heard that I should eliminate all of the PATA reference in one of the Gentoo forums, and that did work for the post originator. Others, (and myself) not so much. I've made room on another HD, had Sabayon running without problem, and just now updated the kernel...same result and error, so my next step is to build the kernel myself and see if I can remedy it. I can devote this drive to testing, so I'll keep trying. I have a couple of Dell notebooks from work I may even try to see if I can isolate the problem.

I thought it may be related to ext4 possibly, so I formatted this partition with ext3 just to be sure. No difference.

Thanks again for your responses and I'll post how I make out.

-Bob

[phubai]

I updated the bios through lenovo, and it seems to be working now. At least I am able to boot to the external HD as long as I have the internal HD installed. I typically ease it out when doing an install on an external HD to minimize any changes I have to make to grub.conf (menu.lst), fstab, etc. So now, as of kernel 2.6.29, the internal has to be installed, or I get the error. Push it in, and it's fine, but only since the bios upgrade. It's not an especially new upgrade, but I hadn't honestly looked for one since everything had been working so well. Ah well, all is good again.