Help on Installing Mandrake Linux 8.1

Harmo

Hey I need a bit of help can any1 help me i hav a copy of linux mandrake v8.1 im trying to install it and i keep getting the error

"Could not uncompress second stage Ramdisk. This is Probably an hardware error while reading the data. (This may be caused by a hardware failure or a Linux Kernel bug)"

The computer im using is a
1.4 AMD T-Bird
512SD Ram
o.s Windows xp pro

As im new to Linux i would be gratefully for any help thanks

Typedef

Make a rootdisk and bootdisk on 1.4mb floppy disks and boot the Mandrake install from these.
It sounds like you are having an issue with your cdrom...?
Ergo use rawrite supplied and the floppy images to circumnavigate this problem.
Typedef.

Harmo

How would i make a rootdisk and a bootdisk?

Frank Grimes

On the main installation cd there's a folder with different images of bootdisks for different types of installations. Use one of those to make the bootdisk, there should be a readme on the cd too about creating the disk from the image.

Also, did you buy the cds? or did you burn them from an iso? Could be a dodgy iso/burn in that case.

sisob

Originally posted by Harmo
Hey I need a bit of help can any1 help me i hav a copy of linux mandrake v8.1 im trying to install it and i keep getting the error

Firstly mdk 8.2 will be out in a few days - If i were you I'd save myself the hassle of upgrading - and just wait a week or 2 till you can get your hands on 8.2 - its a much better product.

"Could not uncompress second stage Ramdisk. This is Probably an hardware error while reading the data. (This may be caused by a hardware failure or a Linux Kernel bug)"

What is happening here is the installer is trying to load the install program off the CD. For that reason making a boot disk won't help - only the first stage ramdisk is on the boot disk.

It is very likely that you cd's are foobard . Check then by trying to boot it in another pc. If it doesn't boot then you need new cd's.

If it boots in another machine then you might have a faulty cd-rom drive - this happened with a friend of mine and we just stuck in my 52x cd-rom drive and took it out when the install was finished.

Also check the erata page on the mandrake website. Pretty much all major problems are there by now and if you hardware is causing problems then you should be able to find out how to fix do a work-around.

Mark

Frank Grimes

Same thing happened when I installed it on this box. I had to swap drives as for some reason the installer wouldn't read from the CD on this drive (there's nothing wrong with either the drive or the disk).
I made a copy of the CD and that works perfectly *shrugs*

Harmo

Thanks for your help ive got another bit of a problem now. Im after getting version 8.0 it installs ok but when it try to enter liunx the computer freezes and i get the message

Kernel paniac: VFS:Unable to mount Root Fs on 03:45


Linux is installed on a 2gig hd a second drive could this hav anything to do with it im open to any suggestions and any way on dealing with this prob thanx

Typedef

First off.

Open explorer
click on dosutils dir
open rawriten

Mandrake 8.1 images readme

xxxxx.image is the boot image :

---

DrakX (graphical) install

---

Default images

---

cdrom.img:
install from CD-ROM
hd.img:
install from hard-disk (linux, windows, or reiserfs
partition)
network.img:
install from ftp/nfs/http
pcmcia.img:
install from pcmcia devices
other.img:
install that needs "less popular" drivers, mostly NET and
SCSI drivers; try this one if your default boot image seems
to not provide the driver you need
blank.img:
install with a home-made kernel : you need to copy this
image on a floppy, then copy the kernel as a file named
"vmlinuz" on the floppy (be careful, modules support is
disabled so please include all needed network card drivers
and everything in your kernel)
memtest-x86.bin:
allow you to check the memory of your system.

If the cdrom image does not work then copy the directory called Mandrake directly to your C drive an retry the install with hdd.img ok?

Else
If you are getting the error message that Mandrake can't mount the root fs, that could be perhaps becuase you have formated it with reiserfs and the kernel image that Mandrake installed via lilo/grub does not support that file system.
Use 8.1 eof else is muppetry.
Typedef.

sisob

Originally posted by Harmo
Thanks for your help ive got another bit of a problem now. Im after getting version 8.0 it installs ok but when it try to enter liunx the computer freezes and i get the message

Kernel paniac: VFS:Unable to mount Root Fs on 03:45


Linux is installed on a 2gig hd a second drive could this hav anything to do with it im open to any suggestions and any way on dealing with this prob thanx

Ok, 2 things:

1. how are your hard-drives partitoned?
2. when you boot, what are the few lines printed above the one you mentioned above.

Harmo

It come up wit a blue screen saying welcome the computers activity stops and anfter about 2mins the message

Kernal paniac:VFS:Unable to mount root fs on 03:45

I used mandrake setup to set the partitions i cleared the drive first and then clicked auto allocation

everything wrks until i try to boot it

Trojan

Originally posted by Harmo

everything wrks until i try to boot it

quote of the month?

Al.

sisob

Originally posted by Harmo
It come up wit a blue screen saying welcome the computers activity stops and anfter about 2mins the message

Kernal paniac:VFS:Unable to mount root fs on 03:45

I used mandrake setup to set the partitions i cleared the drive first and then clicked auto allocation

everything wrks until i try to boot it

It would be useful if you could, choose failsafe when you boot -then you should be able to write down the last few lines spewed out by the system.

Other than that I would reinstall, remove all the old linux partitions, then manually partition:

with one swap partition - 100 to 200 mb depending on how much ram you have.
and one / partition using the rest of the space.

sisob

and use grub not lilo

Harmo

I tryed to boot up in failsafe and this is what i got i also get this when i try boot up a floppy

VFS:MOunted Root (ext 2 filesystem)
[] intrd_helper v1.1.1
[] Loading module /Lib/scsi_mod.0
scsi subsystem driver revision :1:00
[] Loading module /Libsd_mod.0
Ext2-fs: Unable to read super bloack
Kernal Panic :VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:46

Typedef

Sounds as if the line in /etc/fstab for your root filesystem may actually be incorrect.....
Download small linux, then mount your root filesystem... next check /mnt/etc/fstab and make sure the line for your / filesystem correcponds to the same partition that you mounted.
-else ?
Typedef

sisob

Originally posted by Typedef
Sounds as if the line in /etc/fstab for your root filesystem may actually be incorrect.....
Download small linux, then mount your root filesystem... next check /mnt/etc/fstab and make sure the line for your / filesystem correcponds to the same partition that you mounted.

This is a good idea - but unfortunately wrong ;-)

When the kernel is mounting the root filesystem how is it supposed to read fstab ? it only uses fstab when remounting as rw.

Anyway the problem -reinstall but this time manually partition and choose reiserfs as the file system - and use grub as a boot loader.

Typedef

Actually no, you are wrong too
here is my lilo.conf file

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
lba32 # Allow booting past 1024th cylinder with a recent BIOS
boot = /dev/hda
#compact # faster, but won't work on all systems.
prompt
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
#vga = 791
# Normal VGA console
# vga = normal
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
# vga=791
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x32k
# vga=790
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
# vga=773
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x64k
# vga=788
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x32k
# vga=787
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x256
# vga=771
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x64k
# vga=785
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x32k
# vga=784
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x256
# vga=769
# ramdisk = 0 # paranoia setting
# End LILO global section
# Linux bootable partition config begins

image = /kernel
root = /dev/hda6
label = SlackDVD
#vga=791
append="video=tdfx:1024x768-32@62"
read-only # Non-UMSDOS filesystems should be mounted read-only for checking

image=/kernel
root=/dev/hda6
label=SlackCDRW
append="hdc=ide-scsi hdd=ide-scsi video=tdfx:800x600-16@56"
read-only

image=/testkernel
root=/dev/hda6
label = SLACK_AthArch
#append="video=tdfx:1024x768-32@56"
vga=791
read-only
#other=/dev/hda7
#label=gnu_hurd

other=/dev/hda9
label = Debian

other = /dev/hda1
label = WinXp
table = /dev/hda
# DOS bootable partition config ends

other = /dev/hdb3
label = FreeBSD

other = /dev/hdb1
label = Solaris

other=/dev/hdb2
label=OpenBSD
table=/dev/hdb


image=/kernel
label=test
root=/dev/hda1

And as I am sure people can probably tell the last entry 'test' gets all the way to where the kernel would mount /dev/hda1 'my 2k' partition and then errors out as it is unable to mount this partition.
Therefore in /etc/lilo.conf change the line that points to your root filesystem.... so the small linux fix will work but instead of 'just' checking /etc/fstab check /etc/fstab and /etc/lilo.conf to make sure that 'both' point to the partition that root resides on, as sisob rightly points out it would be init that would crap out if it were /etc/fstab misallocated
/My Bad\ and his.
Typedef

sisob

actually one's fstab can contain a totally fscked up reference to / - as I learned when I was making a version of mandrake that boots of cd, the fstab read:

/mnt/cdrom / iso9660 notail 1 1

and it still booted off the hard-drive. The most important reference to / is in lilo or grub.

Lilo loads the kernel, the kernel detects the file system and mounts / and then passes over to INIT - it doesnt really matter if INIT has the right info in fstab.

but now I'm waffling ...