This is somewhat of a part 2 thread for my Gentoo installation (part 1 can be found here). Thus far, I have managed to "install" a base system, however, it won't boot. By the time I finished setting up the bootloader it was like 11:30 PM Sunday night (and I had already rushed the kernel - built it before I really understood what was needed) so I had to shutdown and put it on hold. I didn't pay too much attention to why it wouldn't boot because it was so late, but IIRC grub didn't seem to recognize one of the partitions.

It could have been that the kernel didn't know what the LVM2 partition (/dev/sdb4) was, which wouldn't surprise me because I was pretty clueless about configuring modules in the kernel's make menuconfig, but if memory serves grub indicated the root (/) partition (/dev/sdb3) which is ext3. As you can tell, I'm not really sure where grub stands down and the kernel takes over, but after failing to boot whichever partition I was returned to the grub boot menu so I assume grub was still in control...

Either way, my current dilemma is kernel modules and determining which ones are required for my system and which ones may be used. As I understand it, certain modules need to be compiled into the kernel and others can be compiled separately and loaded after the kernel boots. I seem to be under the impression that modules built into the kernel will perform faster than those loaded outside of the kernel. If this is right should I compile all of the modules used by my system into the kernel (I guess in theory if something changed I could recompile the kernel)?

For the record, when told to add modules to /etc/modules.autoload.d/<kernel_version> I discovered that only one module existed for my kernel. I'm assuming that these were built along with the kernel, but since I didn't know what to select only the one ended up being built.

I could go the genkernel route, but I'd rather learn to understand and identify modules. When I get home tonight I'll probably reboot the installation CD, chroot back into my environment, and try again.

If you can't get past GRUB then I think that it cannot find a kernel to boot. Most common problem is a typo in grub.conf, anotherone is forgetting to do "make install" in kernel source dir while /boot is mounted

No, the kernel links them into the kernel in the same way a DLL is loaded. No penalties (except for loading times). In fact, you only need to store modules built into the kernel if the kernel needs those modules to access /lib/modules. In other words, you should build in your hard disk controller and filesystem, and the rest can be modules.

Genkernel won't save you form that. I actually don't really find the script that useful, it just creates a more heavyweight boot process.

Could you show what the message your system gave was, and please post /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/grub.conf?

I'll double check, but I'm 90% confident that grub.conf is accurate. The Gentoo Handbook doesn't actually make install the kernel. Instead, it does make && make install_modules and then manually copies the kernel image into /boot.

cd /usr/src/linux/
make menuconfig
make && make install_modules
cp arch/<arch>/boot/bzImage /boot/<kernel>

It's difficult to be confident that I did make && make install_modules at the appropriate time because I entered and reentered make menuconfig 3 or 4 times trying to make sense of which modules to build (and which ones were being built where). It's possible that I built at the wrong time, etc... It's also very likely that my kernel is missing modules and that my system itself is lacking modules.

That makes sense. Thanks. So perhaps the problem isn't the kernel, but the lack of external modules (because only one existed there was only one I could add to /etc/modules.autoload.d/<kernel_version> - which was scsi related, not that it necessarily matters ).

I definitely will as soon as I get home.

You should be using the correct make options for the kernel:;)

make menuconfig
make && make modules_install && make install

Also, post the output of:

cd /boot/
dir * -R

You can usually just use vmlinuz, but I prefer to actually fully qualify the name.8-)

As for modules, I prefer to find out which ones I need and build those into the kernel. Why keep these out? Granted there are times when you may need to do this, but I would imagine that building them into the kernel is more secure....it is in the kernel, so who can hack it?;)::)

Edit:
Also, when you chroot, be careful that everything is correct. You can think you are chrooted, but you are not. Just be careful. If you are using the same arch (say i686), you can chroot from any Linux distro that matches that arch....(I know you can't chroot into a 64bit environment from a 32bit environment though:-/).

Edit 2:
How grub uses the different drives is in the /boot/grub/device.map file
Example:

(hd0)     /dev/sda
(hd1)     /dev/sdb

Then when you reference a drive in grub (like the /boot/grub/grub.conf file):

root (hd1,0)      //really /dev/sdb1
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.22-gentoo-r2 root=/dev/sdb3 //set root= to your actual / directory

Yes, one thing that I realized ~10-30 minutes after chroot'ing into my new environment was that it only affected (effected? I should really clear those up... The xkcd comic made it clear how poorly I understood the differences...) the current terminal. It made sense, but didn't occur to me originally. Since I was switching between all 6 text-terminals it became a minor issue, though I mostly used the other terminals to browse the Web as a regular user.

I have updated my last post about grub...please re-read.::)

Edit:

Just one more reason to run a 64-bit environment!;D They better be 64-bit to chroot me!8-)
I remember when I first started with Gentoo and chrooted (well thought I was), I untarred the portage tarball on the livecd base system...didn't hurt anything, just a reboot...but boy, I felt stupid!;D

Gentoo will make you learn a lot of things about Linux...it is not the easiest distro by far, but that is why I like it so much.8-)

Edit 2:
What file system did you decide to take? I know that the xfs file system has some really powerful backup tools...saves the entire partition for you...and it doesn't bog down the system. You can't even tell when it is running.::)

oh, if you''re not well versed in kernel configuring, you can just borrow the config from the livecd, it should be in /boot/config*, which you copy to /usr/src/linux/.config then run "make oldconfig", and continue on. After compiling the kernel you may want to create the initrd image, especially if your root part is on lvm or md raid (unless you made sure those drivers were built into the kernel instead of being modules as the livecd config sets up).

You don't need an initrd...not normally anyway. The only time I have seen the need is when doing EVMS.:)

According to my interpretation of the Wikipedia article, my processor (Pentium D 940, IIRC) should be 64-bit (or at least supports the x86-64 instruction set? )... I thought it was 32-bit because the Windows version installed was 32-bit... Cool.

The Gentoo Handbook has us untar both the stage3 archive and portage snapshot before chroot'ing, making sure to untar them in /mnt/gentoo and /mnt/gentoo/usr, respectively. Also when we do chroot into the new environment we update the prompt with a (chroot) prefix.

(chroot) livecd /#

I guess that's why.

BTW, when you're running off of the Gentoo Installation CD where does it store files that are written to the filesystem...? I got the impression that "tmpfs" had something do with it, but wasn't sure... Are they all just kept in memory or does it find a piece of unallocated space somewhere and write to there?

I went with ext3 because it seems like a pretty common choice and it's what the Gentoo Handbook did. IIRC, they recommended not to use XFS unless you had a SCSI drive for whatever reason. Since I'm using a SATA HDD I figured that I should just stick to ext3.

That sounds like a viable option, though I would still prefer to understand the modules... One of the installation docs I was reading suggested that as well, but not until after I had chroot'd into the new environment. At the time, I didn't know it was possible to just exit back to the previous root (/) so I figured that the livecd[/"tmpfs"?]'s /boot partition was lost until I rebooted. Of course when it came time to actually reboot I was enlightened.

Apparently the genkernel script builds one... I don't have a clue what it is or why it's needed though.

If that is indeed the processor you have, then yes...you can run gentoo in 64-bit mode. It is a little more of a pain to get right, not something I recommend for you just starting Gentoo. If you want in the future, I will help you with that...it has to do with the way it deals with 32-bit and 64-bit libraries. Also, no 64-bit flash player yet...:(

Yes, but you do not NEED the initrd file. genkernel is just that...a generic kernel. You could have just copied the livecd kernel for that! It is a generic kernel...it has to support everything!;) You just:

cd /usr/src/linux
make menuconfig
make && make modules_install && make install
modules_update
mc -e /boot/grub/grub.conf // or use whatever editor you have (vi?)

A sample of the packages you may find useful (When we get you up and running.:P)

I would start with mc (midnight commander: awesome), gentoolkit, pciutils, eselect, and definately euses (helps with finding out what the use flags are used for).

An example of euses:

euses doc
doc - Adds extra documentation (API, Javadoc, etc)
dev-java/gjdoc:xmldoclet - Also build support for the xml doclet that generates output in xml instead of the traditional html javadoc.
sys-apps/portage:epydoc - Generate api documentation with epydoc.
www-apps/knowledgetree:opendoc - Allow to search in opendoc documents

tmpfs is a RAM filesystem, so they aren't saved to your disk.

And I think that's a good choice. If I were you, I would strip your kernel to the bare minimum needed to get to a login prompt, and everything should be compiled into the kernel. Then, once you are on your system, you can change the kernel modules and activate them without even restarting.

Not actually important, but genkernel is "generate kernel"

Anyways, I don't think we can really work on the problem any more until we know exactly what it is, so let us know what the boot messages are, what your /etc/grub/grub.conf is, and what you /etc/fstab is

Yeah...and stuff. Also, if you can post the output of lspci...we could probably help you pick the correct modules to build into your kernel, so you can actually boot into it.::)

Another package you may want is screen. I use it all the time when updating my system.

No, the problem is either the bootloader, or the kernel. Wether or not you have modules or if it's all compiled into the kernel, etc doesn't matter. The lack of modules won't affect your system's ability to boot, but missing modules that aren't compiled into the kernel can cause various hardware not to work.

Not true at all. If ext3 is a module, and/or lvm or your ide driver is a module, and they aren't loaded, it'll never get past the boot loader. Immediate fail.

I meant to say external modules. My point was the lack of stuff in his modules.autoload.d or actual external modules themselves do not affect the boot process at all (with the assumption you have the correct internal modules, but that has nothing to do with his theory that lack of external modules were causing the problem).

There is no such thing as "internal modules". You have modules, and you have "not modules". You assumption is flawed.

It appears instead to be having problems with the /boot partition, though it is somehow reading /boot/grub/grub.conf. While I was fetching the following information it occurred to me that lvm2 isn't even installed on my system... I'm sure that will help eventually.

/boot

/boot/grub/grub.conf

/etc/fstab

_{It would appear the pass numbers for /home, /opt, /usr, and /var should be something other than 1... :)}

When I try to boot the first listing (/dev/sdb)

Booting 'Gentoo Linux 2.6.22-r9'

root (hd1,0)
 Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7
kernel /kernel-2.6.22-gentoo-r9 root=/dev/sdb3 dolvm2

Error 17: Cannot mount selected partition

Press any key to continue...

I don't know anything about LVM, so I can't really help. I always just install straight up. Sounds like you need some LVM module or something, or maybe an initrd.

The Gentoo Wiki points here for info on installing with LVM. That should help.

Thanks for the link. I had combined this with the Gentoo Handbook to get my lvm2 partition created and to load it, etc. It seemed to be a little bit more disconnected from the Gentoo Handbook requiring me to fill in the gaps a little bit more. The one you link to seems to compliment the Gentoo Handbook so it will surely help.

Unfortunately, I'm still not sure which modules I should build into my kernel and which ones I should build into external modules. Also, grub doesn't seem to be getting as far as the lvm2 partition so I don't think that's the issue. If anything, those partitions would fail, but my base system would have booted successfully.

So I don't think lvm2 is my immediate problem.

back in the day, when i didnt know better and used gentoo, i'd geet annoyed of compiling the kernel...So, I'd copy the kernel from the livecd and the associate modules into my current install, and i'd be able to boot off of it with, saved a lot of time and effort and comes with all the modules that you would need.

Seriously dude, why don't you just go debian or ubuntu?

The only things you have to build into the kernel are your file systems and any drivers required to get access to your /boot partition. The rest can be external and loaded as needed for other hardware.

Booting 'Gentoo Linux 2.6.22-r9'

root (hd1,0)
 Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7
kernel /kernel-2.6.22-gentoo-r9 root=/dev/sdb3 dolvm2

Error 17: Cannot mount selected partition

Press any key to continue...

Partition type 0x7 is NTFS. Go back into cfdisk and set the type of the partition on your swap and root drives. If that is set correctly, then you need to verify your grub identifiers. You can do that from the grub console from within your chroot.

I gather that the second suggestion was to verify that (hd1,0) is pointing to my slave (Linux) drive and not my master (Windows) drive?

Yes, make sure that it is indeed pointing to the correct drive.8-)
You can also do this inside the grub menu. press e to edit that line. You will have to fix this in the grub.conf file, but it will at least allow you to boot.:P

Yes.

audo!? That can't be right! I wonder if I did that or if the template came like that...

This is the relevant part of my grub.conf

title Gentoo kernel-2.6.22-r9
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.22-r9 root=/dev/sdb3 vga=0x31B video=vesafb:mtrr:3,ywrap,1280x1024-32

I have 2 SATA disks, the one on the first channel has Windows, the one on the second has Gentoo. Go figure why I had to put (hd0,0) in it, but my box kept non-booting until I changed that from (hd1,0) to (hd0,0)

[edit]

Either way that's not preventing your booting process, it's auto BTW

Interesting... Thanks. I'll check it out when I get home. Does anybody have an explanation for why grub would interpret them that way?

** EDIT **

audo!? That can't be right! I wonder if I did that or if the template came like that...
</quote>
I know you probably thought it was my mistake, but here is /etc/fstab from the current releases/x86/2007.0/stages/stage3-i686-2007.0.tar.bz2 archive on the Tera-byte Dot Com Inc (Canada/http) Gentoo mirror.

I guess you could consider that a bug worth reporting...

having fun compiling gentoo night after night eh;D

There hasn't actually been a whole lot of compiling thus far... The little bit there has been was fast and pretty.

I made the following changes to /boot/grub/grub.conf and reinstalled grub.

Note: Emphasis on (hd0,0). I actually added both options for me to test each and the first partition on (hd0) began to successfully boot Linux. Note that I haven't actually attempted to boot my Windows system from this grub install, but I assume it is correct.

From the livecd (hd1) was correct so I stuck with those values when installing grub. Perhaps when booting my slave drive the BIOS switches them or something...

Unfortunately, booting my kernel didn't get too far and eventually the kernel panicked. I'm going to have to recompile the kernel. Hopefully I do it correctly this time...

So how do I determine which modules to build into the kernel and which ones to build as external modules? Should I just go through the entire make menuconfig checking out the help section for each node and guessing?

The easiest way to do it would probably be to go through every menu option and turn all compiled-in modules into external modules. Then, go through and find the options necessary for you to boot, and set those to be compiled-in.

What message did the kernel give you?

the panic may not be module related. First I'd make sure the "root=/dev/hdb3" is correct. and try and post the message you get when the kernel panics.

Yeah, starting from a stage3 isn't as cool as from a stage1

That's because you still haven't got X, KDE, OpenOffice, ...

Altough that's a good read, I decided to go for the all-in and module-when-needed. So, i.e., my nvidia driver is compiled as a module, because X was complaining it couldn't load it.

The reason I wouldn't consider doing this is because if a module has a problem it can't be unloaded, and because I can't change my kernel configuration without rebooting.

VFS: Cannot open root device "sdb3" or unknown-block(2,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available options:
0300      130528   hda driver:  ide-cdrom
0340     4194302   hdb driver:  ide-cdrom
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(2,0)

_{Keep in mind that this was written down and then typed. :)}

I have two guesses based on this output: either the kernel doesn't have appropriate support for my SATA hard drives/disc controller (I should note that my PC might also have a RAID controller) or Linux believes the slave drive is actually the master too and I need to indicate /dev/sda3. I'd guess it's the kernel modules.

Good call.

Now I'm intrigued... The Gentoo Handbook made it seem like stage1 and stage2 was obsoleted. Unfortunately, stage1 and stage2 installations are apparently no longer unsupported... Once I figure out the stage3 I'll probably attempt a stage2 and stage1.

Yeah, I expect a lot more compiling when I actually get a bootable system. I'd be disappointed if there wasn't.

Yeah, it sounds a lot better to build as little into the kernel as possible.

This sounds like the most likely option. If you can't find the right module, giving us the output of lspci will help us identify it.

See if your SATA controller is in raid mode, and turn it off. Try "enhanced" and "compatibility" mode, the latter will make the sata disk appear in the spot the first pata disk usually is.

The hard drives are not actually actively using RAID, but both drives' SATA mode is set to RAID... I read that it is the recommended setting regardless of whether you're actually using RAID or not for whatever reason... I don't know.

I have the same SATA controller. Verify that "Intel PIIX/ICH SATA support" is compiled in. You can find it in Device Drivers -> Serial ATA (prod) and Parallel ATA (experimental) drivers (kernel source 2.6.19-gentoo-r5).

I call bunk. I don't see why it'd be recommended.

I have a ICH9 version of that chip, and have the following modules loaded:

ata_generic             9988  0
ata_piix               20996  9

both are in the initramfs/initrd that "update-initramfs" generated (debian script).

in fact, everything is set to module..

moose@natasha:~/data/Anime$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
snd_rtctimer            5216  0
binfmt_misc            14860  1
coretemp                9856  0
w83627ehf              24464  0
i2c_isa                 6400  1 w83627ehf
i2c_dev                10248  0
i2c_i801               11036  0
cpuid                   5768  0
isofs                  39268  0
udf                    90024  1
nfs                   272728  2
lockd                  76336  2 nfs
sunrpc                198536  3 nfs,lockd
rfcomm                 47656  2
l2cap                  28672  11 rfcomm
bluetooth              63876  4 rfcomm,l2cap
vboxdrv              1649696  0
ppdev                  11272  0
acpi_cpufreq           10632  0
cpufreq_stats           8160  0
cpufreq_ondemand       10896  4
cpufreq_userspace       6048  0
cpufreq_conservative     9608  0
freq_table              6464  3 acpi_cpufreq,cpufreq_stats,cpufreq_ondemand
cpufreq_powersave       3072  0
button                 10400  0
sbs                    21520  0
ac                      7304  0
dock                   12264  0
container               6400  0
video                  21140  0
battery                12424  0
tun                    14080  0
af_packet              28172  2
bridge                 64168  0
ipv6                  317192  14
parport_pc             41896  0
lp                     15048  0
parport                44172  3 ppdev,parport_pc,lp
snd_hda_intel         337192  2
snd_pcm_oss            50048  0
snd_mixer_oss          20096  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                94344  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy           5380  0
snd_seq_oss            36864  0
snd_seq_midi           11008  0
snd_rawmidi            29824  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event      9984  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                62496  6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
nvidia               7013492  24
xpad                   11400  0
atl1                   40204  0
lirc_atiusb            21552  1
lirc_dev               18248  1 lirc_atiusb
mii                     7424  1 atl1
snd_timer              27272  3 snd_rtctimer,snd_pcm,snd_seq
i2c_core               30208  5 w83627ehf,i2c_isa,i2c_dev,i2c_i801,nvidia
snd_seq_device         10260  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd                    69288  13 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
psmouse                45596  0
soundcore              10272  1 snd
shpchp                 38300  0
pci_hotplug            36612  1 shpchp
snd_page_alloc         12560  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
serio_raw               9092  0
pcspkr                  4608  0
intel_agp              30624  0
evdev                  13056  3
usbhid                 32576  0
hid                    33408  1 usbhid
ext3                  146576  4
jbd                    69360  1 ext3
mbcache                11272  1 ext3
sg                     41384  0
sd_mod                 32512  8
sr_mod                 19876  1
cdrom                  41768  1 sr_mod
ata_generic             9988  0
ata_piix               20996  9
libata                138928  2 ata_generic,ata_piix
scsi_mod              172856  4 sg,sd_mod,sr_mod,libata
ehci_hcd               40076  0
uhci_hcd               29600  0
usbcore               161584  6 xpad,lirc_atiusb,usbhid,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
thermal                16528  0
processor              36232  2 acpi_cpufreq,thermal
fan                     6920  0
fuse                   52528  5
apparmor               47008  0
commoncap               9472  1 apparmor

I wouldn't go changing your RAID settings at this point, or it's going to fuck with your Windows install. At this point, I assume you had to install Windows with a RAID driver. Turning off RAID will likely make windows throw a blue screen pretty quickly on boot.

Just make sure you have the right drivers compiled IN to your kernel for the controller, and if anything is required for LVM to work, make sure that is compiled in as well. Remember, unless you mess around with initrd's and stuff, your kernel needs to be able to access your drives without loading any modules.

Don't need to. My servers run off LVM and/or MD raid (root as well), and they are all enabled as modules.

Thats the joy of initramfs, you just generate a new one, and wham, all the modules you need are loaded before linux even attempts to init the real root filesystem.

Are you even listening to me?!?:o I am trying to help you out...:P Read my post about the file: /boot/grub/device.map
This is also in the Gentoo handbook, in the section about installing grub.::) Also, when in the grub menu on boot, you can hand edit each line. You can use tab completion (limited, and sorta retarded...but doable) to find out what drive hd0 or hd1 is pointing to and what files are in the boot directory (actually where grub was installed).8-)

I believe I have said this in the beginning.:o It would be nice if you showed us the output of lsmod with the gentoo cd kernel running. That way you can get an idea of what modules you will need.:P

I am willing to help you, but if you are not going to listen, then I am not going to bother...:-/

With the kernel panic, it sounds as though it could not find the root drive. Most likely cause: invalid SATA controller module, or you are using an IDE controller module with causes your root to actually be /dev/hdb3 instead of /dev/sdb3::) There have been multiple references above about people with that same chipset, so use there SATA module. For something like the drive controller module, if that module fails...what else are you going to do? Compile that into the kernel.:P

Well, do not do it unless you like watching tons of compilation lines flow through the screen (like me ), because IIRC a stage1 implies compiling the whole toolchain (I guess that's the right name).

Not to fight you, but:

device.map

(fd0)   /dev/fd0
(hd0)   /dev/sda
(hd1)   /dev/sdb

mount output

/dev/sdb3 on / type reiserfs (rw,noatime)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,nosuid)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec)
/dev/sdb6 on /mnt/fat32 type vfat (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,noatime)
/dev/sda1 on /mnt/winxp type ntfs (ro,noatime,umask=0022)
/dev/sdb5 on /mnt/winxp-share type ntfs (ro,noatime,umask=0022)
shm on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,devmode=0664,devgid=85)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/sdb1 on /boot type ext2 (rw,sync,noatime)

grub.conf

title Gentoo kernel-2.6.22-r9
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.22-r9 root=/dev/sdb3 vga=0x31B video=vesafb:mtrr:3,ywrap,1280x1024-32

Going with stage1 will only mean you'll need to compile GCC, glibc, stdlibc++-v3, binutils and a few other packages. It doesn't take all that much time, actually. Though I haven't used the official handbook for ages, I usually just get some of the "experimental" guides from Gentoo forum. They mostly go with stage3 base but compile toolchain anyway to make sure that system is as stable as possible.

When making the first Gentoo install I wouldn't bother with anythinb tut stage 3. Get something to work and work on from there.

It is as I feared. Your kernel is compiled with the IDE modules...NOT your SATA modules.::) Also, are you using hd0,1 or hd1,0 for the root in your /boot/grub/grub.conf file?
This should be something like:

root (hd1,0)      //really /dev/sdb1, partition 1.
// If you installed boot on your third partition... use root (hd1,2) (3-1=2)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.22-gentoo-r2 root=/dev/sdb3 //set root= to your actual / directory

You can also use the new style ATA modules for your IDE CDROM drives as well...they would become: /dev/sr0 and /dev/sr1. I believe that the major push is towards this anyway, as quite a few distros are doing this. You may experience problems running both subsystems (the new style ATA and the old style).

Also, make sure you compiled in support for the filesystem you are using. If you did not compile in support for reiserfs and you are using reiserfs as your filesystem...well, no wonder it doesn't work!::)

I believe there have been a couple of people here that said they had that same chipset. Just find those in your kernel's menuconfig and make sure they are being compiled in.::)

Actually, you can change that file to say whatever you want after...but if you don't do the grub setup again...it does not take effect!:P

A-ha! I didn't know

I'm going to attempt to rebuild the kernel tonight (I hope). I wish there was a disable-all option so I could start with a bare kernel. IIRC, many of the modules are enabled by default. Thanks to CGamesPlay, Thomas Fjellstrom, BAF, [and anybody I forgot to mention] for the module help. I will try to identify the required modules tonight.

Yes, I'm listening to you! I appreciate your help. For whatever reason, booting my slave drive (/dev/sdb) from the BIOS makes grub believe that it is actually (hd0). This has been confirmed by creating a listing for each and attempting to boot both. I can't explain, but if you can then please do. Marco Radaelli has confirmed that grub works the same way for him. /dev/sdb should be (hd1), and while running from the livecd it truly is, but apparently when booting from the BIOS it becomes (hd0).

BTW, is there a reason that I don't have a /boot/grub/device.map?

Ah yes, lsmod! I was trying to remember what command that was and couldn't... I did a search of the thread and couldn't find it anywhere (maybe it was said in the last thread?). It was also in the Gentoo Handbook, but at the time I was too exhausted to continue looking for it. I will try to post that tonight.

I already posted my /boot/grub/grub.conf file and the bootable revision.

hahahahaha what a roller coaster of a thread, how many days have you been compiling gentoo with all these kids?:P

I guess I wasn't listening...::);D I will try to help you more...got to get back to my computer first.

In the mean time, try to
read this
Read the section on the grub shell. I believe that this is what I did because grub-install did not work for me.:o

If that does not create one for you, simple create the file /boot/grub/default.map Then fill it in like:

(hd0)     /dev/sda
(hd1)     /dev/sdb

And in the /boot/grub/grub.conf file: (using the above example from default.map)

root (hd1,0)      //really /dev/sdb1
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.22-gentoo-r2 root=/dev/sdb3 //set root= to your actual / directory

Any time that you change the /boot/grub/default.map file you should re-run:

>grub
grub> root (hd0,0)    #(Specify where your /boot partition resides)
grub> setup (hd0)     #(Install GRUB in the MBR)
grub> quit            #(Exit the GRUB shell)

Just remember that the number will be one less than the actual partition number, just like in fdisk. (/dev/sdb1 is really (hd1,0) and /dev/sdb4 is really (hd1,3)::)

Edit:

If you are using the BIOS to manually boot your second drive, then it will! If you properly installed grub, then you should not have to do that. You install grub in the mbr of the first drive and then from there, everything is relative to that. If you want to manually boot using your BIOS, then in your /boot/grub/grub.conf:

map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
root (hd1,0)      //really /dev/sdb1
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.22-gentoo-r2 root=/dev/sdb3 //set root= to your actual

This will swap the drives around.::)

Hi bamccaig...I edited my last post. Read the edit about the map command. Slow getting home.:'( Thanks for posting that...should help us figure that out for you.8-)

Edit:
Also, what are your modules that you have in your kernel? You can post your /usr/src/linux/.config file.::) This way we can see what you need compared to what you selected.:D

Yeah, but I've heard that Windows has a tendency to overwrite the MBR at it's own leisure, which for dual-booters can often require booting a rescue CD or something to reinstall their bootloader. I just find it easier to install grub on my slave drive and boot my slave drive from my BIOS.

I have done this and yet to have had a problem. The only time windows will try to rewrite the mbr is if you are reinstalling windows. Even then, a simple boot into you distro of choice, and do a grub-install. Simple.;) Even better, keep a backup of the mbr for situations like this.8-)

Am i the only one who finds le_y_mistar annoying? And I don't even use gentoo.

My god, there is not a single thread where you don't mention gentoo. It's almost like gentoo broke your heart at some point, and you are really really bitter about it.

I totally agree....if he doesn't like Gentoo...then go somewhere else...or at least shut the fuck up!;D

/usr/src/linux/.config

Ok...I am fixing this for you...
You may need to look at some of this to see if you need things like PCI Express support (I don't). Bump me after reading this so I can post the updated config and tell you how to use it.8-)

bamccaig, what is your current status?

Too exhausted to attempt to compile a kernel tonight... Tomorrow (or at the latest, the weekend) I will try again...

bamccaig: what kind of sound card and video card do you have...I almost have your .config done...::)

So this is your most recent kernel output? http://www.allegro.cc/forums/thread/594244/713620#target

Never mind...this should work!;D Do the following:

>cp config /usr/src/linux/.config
>cd /usr/src/linux
>make oldconfig
>make menuconfig
>make && make modules_install && make install

That should do ya!::)8-)

Edit:
I will check on you kiddies latter...gotta go shoppin.:'( Must..get..caffeine..;D

Just ignore him. If he doesn't get any attention for trolling, he will stop eventually.

Yep.

I've modified your config file. It should work for you. It is here, along with instructions on how to use it. Well...got to get some sleep. 6:00am comes early.:-/Will check in later tomorrow. Don't know if I will get a chance to at work, but hopefully.8-)

"Clear!" [Bzzzt!]

Uhm, we're waiting for output from you...

I was just keeping it alive until I could get around to...requiring output.

You could have made a part three.

Naw, trilogies never work out. Just look at the Matrix and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Or Star Wars.

still compiling gentoo with fellow neckbeards?