Finding Filesystem Woes

[zeromaint]

i have a simple 3 partition table.
hda1 - boot - ext
hda2 - swap - swap
hda3 - root - reiserfs

i followed the gentoo installation handbook.
my friend recommended the reiserfs for the root directory.

I made it all the way through the GRUB installation, tried to reboot as the handbook said.
Which i don't think my chroot command worked because i was in [livecd #] in the entire time, so i just hard reset the machine anyway.

It boots through GRUB, goes through the boot process and stops on:


*Checking root filesystem...
Failed to open the device '/dev/ROOT': No such file or directory

* Filesystem couldn't be fixed :( [ !! ]

Give root password for maintenance


I tried typing in the password i had when i was in the LiveCD but it doesn't work. Could this possibly be a fstab error? Or something else?

What should I check for?

[Parcival]

Originally posted by zeromaint

*Checking root filesystem...
Failed to open the device '/dev/ROOT': No such file or directory

* Filesystem couldn't be fixed :( [ !! ]



Yes, this is an fstab error. /dev/ROOT is the default entry by the Gentoo developpers in /etc/fstab meant to be edited to point to the root partition, e.g. /dev/hda1

Well, if your chroot hasn't worked, you have a serious problem, because that means you made most of your configurations in the ramdisk without saving them on the harddisk. That would explain why there's still the default values in fstab.

I suggest you restart your installation at the point in the installation guide where you do the chroot thing.

[zeromaint]

i typed in:

chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash

and my next prompt looks like this:

livecd / #


am i still writing in ram and not the hdd?

[Choozo]

I believe you should do chroot /dev/hda3 /bin/bash instead?
As long as you are in /mnt/gentoo you are still running from the CD - and in RAM?

[zeromaint]

with:
chroot /dev/hda3 /bin/bash

I get:
chroot: cannot change root to /dev/hda3: Not a directory

[Choozo]

Never had any success with Gentoo myself, but what does the documentation say about creating partitions, creating the fstab file, and finally do a chroot?

Follow those instructions carefully...

[Parcival]

Originally posted by zeromaint
i typed in:

chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash

and my next prompt looks like this:

livecd / #


am i still writing in ram and not the hdd?

Hmm, yes, you typed in everything correctly (code listing 4 (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=1&chap=6#doc_chap1)), so that's not the problem, but your livecd/ # prompt bothers me, that should not happen after the chroot. I wonder if the mistake has been made earlier.

When you boot from your Gentoo livecd, the CD creates a RAMDisk containing the whole Linux system from /boot to /var. Now what you do after booting is getting your disks ready with fdisk, up to that point they are solely accessable through /dev/whateveryourdisk. When you have your disk ready you need to mount the root partition of your future gentoo-system into /mnt/gentoo (Mounting (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=1&chap=4#doc_chap5)) . The /mnt folder will still be in your RAMDisk, but the /mnt/gentoo is the point where you leave the RAMDisk and start writing onto your future harddisk.

The whole trick behind chrooting is to make bash do all changes to the harddisk (the future / ) instead of the RAMDisk (the current / until you chroot).

I hope this explanation helps; please check again your partitioning and how you mounted it into your system.