[Bootcd-user] bootcd hangs at boot time

[Mark Clarkson]

Hi Rubikz,

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004, Rubikz wrote:

> With devfs disabled (DEVFS=no) in bootcdwrite.conf config file and not
> compiled in the kernel 2.6.5

Ok - but it's still in the kernel. We see "Remounting devfs" later,
which will only be shown if /dev/.devfsd exists. This file is created by
the kernel.

Can you mount the cd, cd to it, and do 'ls -la dev/'. Is it empty?

> ram1.cpio.gz (335,9 Mo)
> ram2.cpio.gz (1,3 Ko)

I tried with a 300MB ram1.cpio.gz. It worked for me.

> All the same, It stops in middle of booting and hangs
> 
> Minimum of needed INODES : 6600
> Creating Ram with 1024 INODES per MB
> Mke2fs 1.27 (8-Mar-2002)
> Remounting devfs
> (After three minutes of wait)
> (... it appears errors)
> cpio: cannot make directory `/ram2/var.ro`: Read-only file system
> ....
> mv: cannot stat `/ram2/var.ro`: No such file or directory
> ln: `/var/lib/locate/locatedb`: File exists. (To finish, it stop here)
> 

I guess the errors went by too fast for you to see them all. I would
also expect to see /ram1/ errors. Shame we can't get a full bootup
output.

The fact that it was unable to make the directory /ram2/var.ro would
suggest to me that /ram2 was not mounted successfully.

The only thing I can blame right now is devfs, as bootcd thinks it's
still there. You say devfs doesn't work but one of your previous
messages shows that it _does_ work:

   VFS: Mounted root (iso 9660 filesystem) readonly
-> Mounted devfs on /dev
   Freeing unused kernel memory: 268k freed
   INIT: version 2.84 booting
   Creating extra device nodes ...done.
   Started device management daemon v1.3.25 for /dev
   Activating swap
   Minimum of needed INODES : (why does it stop here ?)

Since you're not using an initrd and if CONFIG_DEVFS_MOUNT=y was set
before then devfs will already be mounted on /dev. We see 'Remounting
devfs' which tells us that it's mounted /ram1, remade the /ram1/dev
directory, and mounted dev again (since mounting /ram1 would wipe out
/dev). It then can't create files on /ram1.

So, the last thing left is that ramdisk support is not compiled in to
the kernel. It must be compiled in, not as a module. You must have:

  CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM=y

in your kernel .config file. Use the 'make menuconfig' to set it.

So as a last ditch attempt make sure the kernel .config contains:

  CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM=y
  CONFIG_DEVFS_FS=y
  CONFIG_DEVFS_MOUNT=y              <-- was this set before?

then recompile the kernel. Copy the files in your /boot directory to the
boot directory in /mnt/hda5. I assume /mnt/hda5 is a complete root
filesystem, if not, use SRCDISK="/".

In your config comment out the line (I think this is a big typo)

  CONFIG=$SRCDISK/boot/config-2.6.5

and supply the KERNEL= option. bootcd would not have worked without it.

> I begin to lose hope and I really can't think why I choose another
> solution

Maybe you're right. If you had already done the above then I don't know
what to suggest next.

Cheers
Mark.