Hi

I just installed SuSE 9.0 on a relatively old computer, with a SCSI hard
drive. It installed perfectly, and runs fine. The problem is with booting.

The computer has one SCSI hard drive, attached to a Future Domain SCSI
controller. When I turn on the system, I get a message from GRUB saying
"stage 2 read error" (or something to that effect). I presume this means
that it can't find the Linux partition, probably because it can't see my
SCSI controller without a driver.

I can boot from the SuSE CD and manually load the "fdomain" kernal module
and proceed to successfully boot the system. However, this is a tedious
task! Is there any way I can get around this?

I have a small old IDE hard drive that I can connect to the system. I think
it's smaller than 300 MB, but maybe I can put the necessary boot files on it
somehow. Would that be the best choice, or is there a better way? And how
would I go about doing it?

Thanks
Chris

Chris Mahoney <chris@nzweb.net> schrieb:

>The computer has one SCSI hard drive, attached to a Future Domain SCSI
>controller. When I turn on the system, I get a message from GRUB saying
>"stage 2 read error" (or something to that effect). I presume this means
>that it can't find the Linux partition, probably because it can't see my
>SCSI controller without a driver.
>
>I can boot from the SuSE CD and manually load the "fdomain" kernal module
>and proceed to successfully boot the system. However, this is a tedious
>task! Is there any way I can get around this?

Boot your system from CD. Edit the file /etc/sysconfig/kernel and look
for a line for modules to be put into the initrd (Dont know the name
of the argument, look for initrd). Put the modules that are needed to
load your scsi drive into this line. Create a initrd file by this
command:
mk_initrd -k <kernel name> -i <initrd name>

replace the names for your system, i.e <kernel name> = vmlinuz-2.4.25,
<initrd name> = initrd-2.4.25. This file will be put into your /boot
directory. Make sure your /boot/grub/menu.lst file contains a proper
initrd line to load this file.

Now the scsi drive should be working.
Eggert

Chris Mahoney <chris@nzweb.net> did eloquently scribble:
> Hi
>
> I just installed SuSE 9.0 on a relatively old computer, with a SCSI hard
> drive. It installed perfectly, and runs fine. The problem is with booting.
>
> The computer has one SCSI hard drive, attached to a Future Domain SCSI
> controller. When I turn on the system, I get a message from GRUB saying
> "stage 2 read error" (or something to that effect). I presume this means
> that it can't find the Linux partition, probably because it can't see my
> SCSI controller without a driver.
>
> I can boot from the SuSE CD and manually load the "fdomain" kernal module
> and proceed to successfully boot the system. However, this is a tedious
> task! Is there any way I can get around this?

personally, I'd switch to lilo. I find the config file easier to understand.
You need to create an initrd file (this SHOULD be done by suse automatically
during the install, but if it's missing that driver for some reason you can
go into yast and add the driver name to "initrd modules" manually.

Go to system -> "edit sysconfig files" -> system -> bootloader ->kernel
-> initrd modules

Add the module name there, change bootloader to lilo in system -> bootloader
configuration

switch to lilo and select "propose new config"
exit yast, run mkinitrd, run lilo and everything should be fine then.
--
| |What to do if you find yourself stuck in a crack|
| spike1@freenet.co.uk |in the ground beneath a giant boulder, which you|
| |can't move, with no hope of rescue. |
|Andrew Halliwell BSc(hons)|Consider how lucky you are that life has been |
| in |good to you so far... |
| Computer Science | -The BOOK, Hitch-hiker's guide to the galaxy.|

On 4/7/04 9:21 AM, in article ijjbk1-2aa.ln1@ridcully.fsnet.co.uk,
"spike1@freenet.co.uk" <spike1@freenet.co.uk> wrote:

> Chris Mahoney <chris@nzweb.net> did eloquently scribble:
>> Hi
>>
>> I just installed SuSE 9.0 on a relatively old computer, with a SCSI hard
>> drive. It installed perfectly, and runs fine. The problem is with booting.
>>
>> The computer has one SCSI hard drive, attached to a Future Domain SCSI
>> controller. When I turn on the system, I get a message from GRUB saying
>> "stage 2 read error" (or something to that effect). I presume this means
>> that it can't find the Linux partition, probably because it can't see my
>> SCSI controller without a driver.
>>
>> I can boot from the SuSE CD and manually load the "fdomain" kernal module
>> and proceed to successfully boot the system. However, this is a tedious
>> task! Is there any way I can get around this?
>
> personally, I'd switch to lilo. I find the config file easier to understand.
> You need to create an initrd file (this SHOULD be done by suse automatically
> during the install, but if it's missing that driver for some reason you can
> go into yast and add the driver name to "initrd modules" manually.
>
> Go to system -> "edit sysconfig files" -> system -> bootloader ->kernel
> -> initrd modules
>
> Add the module name there

Ok, I followed you as far as here. How do I add the module name? All I can
find is a box to type a module name into, but it only seems to accept one
module at a time, and I need two (one for SCSI and one for ReiserFS). Is
there a trick to this?

Thanks
Chris

Chris Mahoney <chris@nzweb.net> wrote:
> Ok, I followed you as far as here. How do I add the module name? All I can
> find is a box to type a module name into, but it only seems to accept one
> module at a time, and I need two (one for SCSI and one for ReiserFS). Is
> there a trick to this?

The list of modules is just a simple space seperated list, you can add as
many as you like there. You said the module you have to load to get into it
is "fdomain", so just add fdomain and sd to the list. (sd is the generic
scsi harddisk driver, which uses the scsi controller driver to do its job,
you'll need both, although mkinitrd might be intelligent enough to work out
module dependencies for you. when the command is run, it tells you what
modules it's adding anyway)

>
> The list of modules is just a simple space seperated list, you can add as
> many as you like there. You said the module you have to load to get into it
> is "fdomain", so just add fdomain and sd to the list. (sd is the generic
> scsi harddisk driver, which uses the scsi controller driver to do its job,
> you'll need both, although mkinitrd might be intelligent enough to work out
> module dependencies for you. when the command is run, it tells you what
> modules it's adding anyway)
>

Ah, space-separated. It doesn't seem to say that anywhere in the dialogue
box, I tried a comma but it didn't work. I'll give that a go tomorrow and
I'll let you know how I get on.

Chris

OK, I've tried that but it's still not working. The screen just fills up
with "L 01 01 01 ..." when I try to boot. I'm not sure what mkinitrd
actually does, but it would appear that it's simply put the fdomain
driver/module in the boot partition, which is not accessible because the
driver hasn't been loaded. But I'm new at this so I can't be certain

Any other ideas?

Thanks
Chris

Chris Mahoney <chris@nzweb.net> did eloquently scribble:
> OK, I've tried that but it's still not working. The screen just fills up
> with "L 01 01 01 ..." when I try to boot. I'm not sure what mkinitrd
> actually does, but it would appear that it's simply put the fdomain
> driver/module in the boot partition, which is not accessible because the
> driver hasn't been loaded. But I'm new at this so I can't be certain

The BIOS loads lilo, lilo loads the kernel and initrd file, the kernel can
then boot. (You only need the drivers once the kernel's been booted)

what partition is your "/" partition on?
and what does your /etc/lilo.conf now say?
--
| |What to do if you find yourself stuck in a crack|
| spike1@freenet.co.uk |in the ground beneath a giant boulder, which you|
| |can't move, with no hope of rescue. |
|Andrew Halliwell BSc(hons)|Consider how lucky you are that life has been |
| in |good to you so far... |
| Computer Science | -The BOOK, Hitch-hiker's guide to the galaxy.|

On 4/10/04 12:23 AM, in article 47hik1-mpn.ln1@ridcully.fsnet.co.uk,
"spike1@freenet.co.uk" <spike1@freenet.co.uk> wrote:

> Chris Mahoney <chris@nzweb.net> did eloquently scribble:
>> OK, I've tried that but it's still not working. The screen just fills up
>> with "L 01 01 01 ..." when I try to boot. I'm not sure what mkinitrd
>> actually does, but it would appear that it's simply put the fdomain
>> driver/module in the boot partition, which is not accessible because the
>> driver hasn't been loaded. But I'm new at this so I can't be certain
>
> The BIOS loads lilo, lilo loads the kernel and initrd file, the kernel can
> then boot. (You only need the drivers once the kernel's been booted)
>
> what partition is your "/" partition on?
> and what does your /etc/lilo.conf now say?

I'm very busy at the moment and it could be quite some time before I can try
this

Chris