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Hello all...

I'm not a total Linux noob, but I have been using Mandrake for about six
months, so I'm not as familiar with the console and manually editing
files as I'd like to be. Just FYI, I like mdk alright, but find it's a
bit too bloated and "wizardy" for my liking. I'd rather learn the guts of
Linux than simply have a Linux version of XP... :-)

Anyways, I have this box:
Duron 900 on ECS K7S5APro
400W PSU
512 MB PC133 SDRAM
Radeon 9000 Pro 128MB
Using OB AC97 sound, SiS 900 LAN
Win2kPro, Gentoo 1.4 built from Stage 1, 2.4 kernel compiled from
gentoo-sources

It usually runs as a dedicated Quake3 server, but it's occasionally used
in listen mode as a client in a LAN game. win2k and Gentoo boot fine and
run great. However, there are a few problems...

1 - I can't mount my FAT32 partitions, gives "no VFAT support in kernel"
error. I specifically remember making sure all FAT-related filesystem
options were enabled (not modules) when I configged.

2 - M$ PS/2 wheel mouse works, but needs acceleration and and the scroll
wheel does not work. It's the same in KDE3 as well as IceWM and Kahakai.
I'd need a 3-foot mousepad to move the pointer form one side of the
screen to the other without lifting the mouse several times!

3 - I get a warning from Xfree about not being able to find an IRQ and
that DRI has been disabled for my Radeon9000 card, but it gets 200+ FPS
in glxgears!?!?! I haven't tried Q3 yet as I can't copy my files over
from the FAT32 partition...

4 - ACPI was disabled in the mobo BIOS when I built Gentoo. Windoze still
will not ATX-off at shutdown (just get "it's now safe to shut off your
computer") and Gentoo freezes a lot at "sending the KILL signal to all
processes" when a halt or reboot command is given.

5 - Partitions are a clusterf*ck. I'd prefer to have Win2k and it's data
partition on hda and Linux and it's partitions on hdb. As it is now,
partitions are splattered over three drives wherever I could create room.

Should I just wipe all the drives and start over fresh on this boxen...
or what would YOU do with it?

Any help would be appreciated!

--
The Boogieman
(the one your mama warned you about!!)

"Jay \"Boogieman\" Edwards" <boogie350@NOSPAMyahoo.com> writes:

> 1 - I can't mount my FAT32 partitions, gives "no VFAT support in kernel"
> error. I specifically remember making sure all FAT-related filesystem
> options were enabled (not modules) when I configged...

The most common reason for this (in gentoo) seems to be that the user
is not running the kernel he thought he was running.

The reason usually is that his /boot partition is not mounted when
installing the newly compiled kernel, so the new kernel goes into
the /boot directory of the root partition by mistake. The result
is the old kernel is booted next time around.

walt <wa1ter@hotmail.com> wrote in news:868yj8avuj.fsf@hotmail.com:

> "Jay \"Boogieman\" Edwards" <boogie350@NOSPAMyahoo.com> writes:
>
>> 1 - I can't mount my FAT32 partitions, gives "no VFAT support in
>> kernel" error. I specifically remember making sure all FAT-related
>> filesystem options were enabled (not modules) when I configged...
>
> The most common reason for this (in gentoo) seems to be that the user
> is not running the kernel he thought he was running.
>
> The reason usually is that his /boot partition is not mounted when
> installing the newly compiled kernel, so the new kernel goes into
> the /boot directory of the root partition by mistake. The result
> is the old kernel is booted next time around.
>

I'll look, but... being a fresh install, I don't really understand how
there *was* an old kernel. I'm talking about the kernel I compiled when I
installed Gentoo, onto a fresh filesystem, from the liveCD, starting from
Stage 1... That's the only kernel I am aware of, unless one gets placed
during the bootstrap phase.


--
The Boogieman
(the one your mama warned you about!!)
------------------------------------------

"Jay \"Boogieman\" Edwards" <boogie350@NOSPAMyahoo.com> writes:

> walt <wa1ter@hotmail.com> wrote in news:868yj8avuj.fsf@hotmail.com:
>
> > "Jay \"Boogieman\" Edwards" <boogie350@NOSPAMyahoo.com> writes:
> >
> >> 1 - I can't mount my FAT32 partitions, gives "no VFAT support in
> >> kernel" error. I specifically remember making sure all FAT-related
> >> filesystem options were enabled (not modules) when I configged...
> >
> > The most common reason for this (in gentoo) seems to be that the user
> > is not running the kernel he thought he was running.

> I'll look, but... being a fresh install, I don't really understand how
> there *was* an old kernel...

Well, okay, I'm not certain what your problem is. Do you have a
separate partition for /boot, or is it just a directory on your
root partition?

What do you see in /boot, both with/without /boot being mounted
(if you do in fact have a separate /boot partition)? If you don't
have a separate partition for /boot then this is not a consideration.

walt <wa1ter@hotmail.com> wrote in news:8665eckjxc.fsf@hotmail.com:

>> I'll look, but... being a fresh install, I don't really understand how
>> there *was* an old kernel...
>
> Well, okay, I'm not certain what your problem is. Do you have a
> separate partition for /boot, or is it just a directory on your
> root partition?

Separate partitions.

> What do you see in /boot, both with/without /boot being mounted
> (if you do in fact have a separate /boot partition)? If you don't
> have a separate partition for /boot then this is not a consideration.

Mounted, /boot has the correct bzImage of the correct filesize and
date/time. However, if I umount /boot (hdb1) as root, there is also a
/boot directory in the / partition (hdb2). There is a kernel in there as
well as a map and a couple boot.xxx files.

This is when running on the kernel image. I'll try to see what I can find
when I boot off the CD image later.






--
The Boogieman
(the one your mama warned you about!!)

"Jay \"Boogieman\" Edwards" <boogie350@NOSPAMyahoo.com> writes:

> ...if I umount /boot (hdb1) as root, there is also a
> /boot directory in the / partition (hdb2). There is a kernel in there as
> well as a map and a couple boot.xxx files.

Okay, this is important, because there is no reason to have any files
in the /boot directory of the root partition.

Those files got there somehow by accident. I would not feel at ease
until the system boots without any of those files being present.

What are the names of those files in /boot (when your /boot partition
is NOT mounted?). Maybe that would give a clue about which step your
installation went astray.

walt <wa1ter@hotmail.com> wrote in news:864qtvkg34.fsf@hotmail.com:

> "Jay \"Boogieman\" Edwards" <boogie350@NOSPAMyahoo.com> writes:
>
>> ...if I umount /boot (hdb1) as root, there is also a
>> /boot directory in the / partition (hdb2). There is a kernel in there
>> as well as a map and a couple boot.xxx files.
>
> Okay, this is important, because there is no reason to have any files
> in the /boot directory of the root partition.
>
> Those files got there somehow by accident. I would not feel at ease
> until the system boots without any of those files being present.
>
> What are the names of those files in /boot (when your /boot partition
> is NOT mounted?). Maybe that would give a clue about which step your
> installation went astray.
>
Okay... well I was just musing this whole situation over with my co-admin
here... The ACPI being disabled seems to have had some odd effects on
both windoze and Gentoo. so we decided it's best just to SLAM this box
and start over from scratch, with separate hard drives for each OS to
keep things organized.





--
The Boogieman
(the one your mama warned you about!!)
------------------------------------------

"Jay \"Boogieman\" Edwards" <boogie350@NOSPAMyahoo.com> writes:

> walt <wa1ter@hotmail.com> wrote in news:864qtvkg34.fsf@hotmail.com:
>
> > "Jay \"Boogieman\" Edwards" <boogie350@NOSPAMyahoo.com> writes:
> >
> >> ...if I umount /boot (hdb1) as root, there is also a
> >> /boot directory in the / partition (hdb2). There is a kernel in there
> >> as well as a map and a couple boot.xxx files.
> >
> > Okay, this is important, because there is no reason to have any files
> > in the /boot directory of the root partition.
> >
> > Those files got there somehow by accident. I would not feel at ease
> > until the system boots without any of those files being present.
> >
> > What are the names of those files in /boot (when your /boot partition
> > is NOT mounted?). Maybe that would give a clue about which step your
> > installation went astray.
> >
> Okay... well I was just musing this whole situation over with my co-admin
> here... The ACPI being disabled seems to have had some odd effects on
> both windoze and Gentoo. so we decided it's best just to SLAM this box
> and start over from scratch, with separate hard drives for each OS to
> keep things organized.

I don't think it is necessary, but it never hurts to start over and
re-read the docs for the umpteenth time (heh, or the first time) as
you go ;0)

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 12:25:40 -0800, walt wrote:

> The most common reason for this (in gentoo) seems to be that the user
> is not running the kernel he thought he was running.
>
> The reason usually is that his /boot partition is not mounted when
> installing the newly compiled kernel, so the new kernel goes into
> the /boot directory of the root partition by mistake. The result
> is the old kernel is booted next time around.

been there.
done that.

;-)

Oli

walt <wa1ter@hotmail.com> wrote in news:86ekszprki.fsf@hotmail.com:

> "Jay \"Boogieman\" Edwards" <boogie350@NOSPAMyahoo.com> writes:
>
>> walt <wa1ter@hotmail.com> wrote in news:864qtvkg34.fsf@hotmail.com:
>>
>> > "Jay \"Boogieman\" Edwards" <boogie350@NOSPAMyahoo.com> writes:
>> >
>> >> ...if I umount /boot (hdb1) as root, there is also a
>> >> /boot directory in the / partition (hdb2). There is a kernel in
>> >> there as well as a map and a couple boot.xxx files.
>> >
>> > Okay, this is important, because there is no reason to have any
>> > files in the /boot directory of the root partition.
>> >
>> > Those files got there somehow by accident. I would not feel at
>> > ease until the system boots without any of those files being
>> > present.
>> >
>> > What are the names of those files in /boot (when your /boot
>> > partition is NOT mounted?). Maybe that would give a clue about
>> > which step your installation went astray.
>> >
>> Okay... well I was just musing this whole situation over with my
>> co-admin here... The ACPI being disabled seems to have had some odd
>> effects on both windoze and Gentoo. so we decided it's best just to
>> SLAM this box and start over from scratch, with separate hard drives
>> for each OS to keep things organized.
>
> I don't think it is necessary, but it never hurts to start over and
> re-read the docs for the umpteenth time (heh, or the first time) as
> you go ;0)

Or recompile the kernel for the 127th time... We've been fighting with
the 2.6.3 kernel with a radeon card and finding we probably could have
spared ourselves many hours of grief just staying with the 2.4 kernel...
:-)



--
The Boogieman
(the one your mama warned you about!!)
------------------------------------------
*THE STORY YOU HAVE JUST READ IS TRUE!!!!*
*(at least that's what I'm sticking to!!)*
* ONLY THE PACKETS HAVE BEEN SCANNED *
* TO FRAME THE INNOCENT! :-) *
------------------------------------------