[SOLVED] trying to boot old disk in new computer

[snork]

My main computer died, won't boot past detecting the processor. Doesn't finish the POST. Pulled the HD and slapped it into another computer and tried to boot.

This is what I get:

cannot open file delete (stays on screen for about 1 minute.)
Mount: could not find filesystem '/dev/root'
Kernel Panic - not syncing attempted to kill init!
Pid 1, comm: init not tainted 2.6.38.8-pclos.bfs #1

Thinking this had something to do with the UUIDs, I edited the grub selection and tried putting in root=/dev/sda1, but almost the same errors. This time it said can't find /dev/sda1, looking for /dev/sda2. Then gave the rest of the error above.

Anyone have any ideas why it won't boot in the new computer or what I need to do in order to use my original disk in another computer?

Thanks

[AS]

My main computer died, won't boot past detecting the processor. Doesn't finish the POST. Pulled the HD and slapped it into another computer and tried to boot.

This is what I get:

cannot open file delete (stays on screen for about 1 minute.)

Not really (yes, the error is shown, but other activities are running in that minute).

Try to reboot again, at grub screen press F3 (options) then edit the parameters line to:
-remove the option "quiet", if any
-change "splash=silent" to "splash=verbose"

You will be able to have more info about the boot process.

Mount: could not find filesystem '/dev/root'

I would say ... (not 100% sure) ... that this is the initrd image, in /boot ...

Kernel Panic - not syncing attempted to kill init!
Pid 1, comm: init not tainted 2.6.38.8-pclos.bfs #1

Thinking this had something to do with the UUIDs, I edited the grub selection and tried putting in root=/dev/sda1, but almost the same errors. This time it said can't find /dev/sda1, looking for /dev/sda2. Then gave the rest of the error above.

Anyone have any ideas why it won't boot in the new computer or what I need to do in order to use my original disk in another computer?

Thanks

if you run a LiveCD, and then from a terminal console you run the command fdisk -l you should obtain a list of the partitions ... then probably you can see what each partition really is.

Also, when running from LiveCD, perform a fsck -f /dev/sdaX for each listed linux partition.

[jaydot]

you may need to go into the bios to tell it that the disk is there.  i had to do that with my swaps.  there's usually the option to auto find.  f2, or esc will usually get you into bios shortly after switching on, while it's doing post.

[snork]

Boot in verbose mode shows some modules getting loaded, no problems, then ...

Waiting for device sda1 to appear (timeout 1 min)
After a minute,
Waiting for device sda2 to appear (timeout 1 min)
After a minute,

Creating root device
Mounting root filesystem
mount : could not find filesystem '/dev/root'
Kernal Panic
etc.

You mention to run fdisk from livecd to find partitions. I know what the partitions are. What do I do with that information?

I have 3 partitions
sda1 = /
sda2 = swap
sda3 = /home

fsck partitions. all ok.

I believe this is a generic question about how to move a HD with Linux on it to a new computer.

I also believe this may have to do with initrd image. In Fedora, I can simply put the rescue disk in to boot from and chroot, then create a new initrd. I have no idea how to do it with PCLOS.

This also might have something to do with /etc/fstab and UUIDs.

I'm just not sure where to start chasing the problem. I'm sure this isn't just a problem with PCLOS.

The error 'waiting for device /dev/sda1' seems kind of strange to me. The partition is there and it identified it by /dev name, not UUID. fdisk shows /dev/sda1. What is it trying to do waiting for the device? Why can't it see it?

[Just18]

I also believe this may have to do with initrd image. In Fedora, I can simply put the rescue disk in to boot from and chroot, then create a new initrd. I have no idea how to do it with PCLOS.

Use the same method ....  with the PCLOS livecd.

There are threads describing the method 

[scoundrel]

personally.. I would have booted up pclos live cd with hard drive installed and done a RedoMBR /Restore MBR then rebooted into hard drive ..

[snork]

Is that 2 separate operations? RedoMBR and RestoreMBR? I need to do both?

What do you think this will do to correct the problem? It boots into GRUB and shows a menu. The errors come up only after the OS starts to boot. The MBR contains the partition table, etc. Those all seem fine. I wll try this, but I like to know what and why before doing something that may be harmful. The 'why' part is important because that's how I learn.

Edit;
I did RedoMBR and copied the UUID's reported by blkid to the editor and saved it. It asked me if I wanted to reset the bootloader. I answered yes. I then rebooted withe the same errors.

Edit;
Did it twice just to make sure. The second time I started RedoMBR, the correct UUIDs were already listed in the menu.lst
Actually, the error this time shows:

cannot open file delete
Could not find Resume Device (UUID=some hex number that I don't recognize)
Could not resolve resume device (UUID=same as above)
mount: could not find filesystem /dev/root
Kernel Panic.....

[Old-Polack]

I believe this is a generic question about how to move a HD with Linux on it to a new computer.

I also believe this may have to do with initrd image. In Fedora, I can simply put the rescue disk in to boot from and chroot, then create a new initrd. I have no idea how to do it with PCLOS.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,96077.msg818283.html#msg818283

[AndrzejL]

Moving hard drive from one machine to another can be hacky...

I wrote it (or should I say cloned from one of Old-Polack posts) sometime ago after trying to move HDD from one lappy to another . Maybe this will help.

Edit... Nevermind Old-Polack was faster !

Andy

[snork]

Old-polack, That was my original thought, that I needed to rebuild the initrd. As I mentioned, I've done it with Fedora and RHEL, but never with pclos. I went to eat dinner and came back to the forum just to see if anyone had any other suggestions before I searched the forum on how to rebuild the initrd. Lo and behold, you supplied a link to step-by step instruction (identical to RHEL) :-)

Thank you very, very much. It's gracious people like you that make working with Linux and especially pclos a joy.