<solved> added a 5th OS and now having boot issues

[Nish]

Alrighty, I added the line to fstab and had the exact same result on boot, we are still waiting for sdb2 to appear.  It shows up pretty quick but it is still late to the ball.

I has a swaps:
[root@AMD nish]# cat /proc/swaps
Filename                                Type            Size    Used    Priority
/dev/sdb1                               partition       8434088 0       -1
[root@AMD nish]#


why is the root partition still hanging?

OP - I did redo mkinitrd after renaming the original image old and that has helped too.  Still something is not right but it is serviceable.  

And can someone please tell me what went awry with my little venture into installing debian?  I had a disaster a few months back installing the dreaded double u's, same deal with the grub2 but had followed an OP post about always using chainloader after only installing the thing to its own partition and was OK.  I thought I had tried out some others with grub2 with no ill effects.

I am having to play with some other distros that have mature 64bit version to troubleshoot what might be a problematic unlocked in my CPU.  I would never leave PCLOS but need to know if I have to relock this second core and then it is a really really modest machine.

[Nish]

You still have two swap partitions?   Really not necessary. But, if you want to differentiate them with their own labels,

# mkswap -L LabelName /dev/sdXX

I guess you could make the label names SWAP1 and SWAP2, or whatever you choose.

If they do have their own labels, you can change the entry in fstab.

LABEL=SWAP1 swap swap defaults 0 0

Only created a new swap because I was going to reformat the second drive completely which including my preexisting linux swap and wanted my new install of LXDE on first drive not to be affected.  I think it will be ok if I just comment out the line in its fstab? 

[Old-Polack]

You still have two swap partitions?   Really not necessary. But, if you want to differentiate them with their own labels,

# mkswap -L LabelName /dev/sdXX

I guess you could make the label names SWAP1 and SWAP2, or whatever you choose.

If they do have their own labels, you can change the entry in fstab.

LABEL=SWAP1 swap swap defaults 0 0

Better to use;

[root@localhost ~]# swaplabel -L <new swap name> /dev/<whatever>        <Enter>

Using swaplabel will not change the existing UUID, but mkswap will.

[root@fatman ~]# blkid |grep -i swap
/dev/sda2: LABEL="swap1000" UUID="8b44f813-fd45-4f94-b519-28300b4791ad" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdb2: LABEL="swap750" UUID="0ccd09b0-ebb4-4f78-8c73-632232adf438" TYPE="swap"

[djohnston]

Only created a new swap because I was going to reformat the second drive completely which including my preexisting linux swap and wanted my new install of LXDE on first drive not to be affected.  I think it will be ok if I just comment out the line in its fstab? 

Having two swap partitions isn't going to hurt anything. It's just redundant, that's all. Use them both, or comment out the one you don't want to use.

Old-Polack's mkinitrd instructions are here. It sounds to me as if you still have a problem there, regardless of whether you've already done it once. I would read his instructions carefully, even print them out for reference.

As for what happened with your Debian install, no details to go on. Need to get your PCLinuxOS installation squared away first.

[djohnston]

Better to use;

[root@localhost ~]# swaplabel -L <new swap name> /dev/<whatever>        <Enter>

Using swaplabel will not change the existing UUID, but mkswap will.

Thanks. I figured you'd pick up on this thread. Does this sound like an initrd problem to you?

[Old-Polack]

Better to use;

[root@localhost ~]# swaplabel -L <new swap name> /dev/<whatever>        <Enter>

Using swaplabel will not change the existing UUID, but mkswap will.

Thanks. I figured you'd pick up on this thread. Does this sound like an initrd problem to you?

The delay is. The present, correct, UUID= or LABEL= must already be listed on the resume= part of the menu.lst stanzas, and the fstab entries, when the new initrd is created, otherwise it will have to be done yet again.

[Nish]

OK, folks.  This is where we stand now.  

Boot time for faithful old PCLOS greatly improved but still waiting for its root partition to appear (sdb2) "waiting for sdb2 (typo) to appear, timeout one minute".  It now has identified its swap partition (sdb1) and I don't get any messages about that.  The wait for sdb2 to time out and make a new root is not interminable but wonder if it can be repaired.

I overwrote the deb squeeze that caused all this with an install of PCLOS LXDE flavor in err, beginning with 6 and ending with 4 because I had the CD handy. So far so good there.

My data is copied over mostly to that LXDE install and an external harddrive so it is basically safe - I can function if I totally format this second hard disk.  If I can save this old PCLOS install would be nice but not necessary.  I would, however, like to know where I went wrong when I installed the deb squeeze.  

Let me know you want to know.  I had been following an old post here of OP's that is too old to directly link to but was paraphrased here: http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?topic=83032.5;wap2

And I did redo initrd and it was a lot better.  The only thing I have not done is re-label swap(s).  But not sure if that could be the problem when the timeout is for root partition?  Will give it a try.  Let me know

[Nish]

I think you are right, have to back to beginning - one change and I have to start over again. 

[djohnston]

I would, however, like to know where I went wrong when I installed the deb squeeze.  

What immediately comes to mind is the possibility that it changed the existing UUIDs. I can try this out in VirtualBox, but it'll have to be done at a later time.

[Old-Polack]

I think you are right, have to back to beginning - one change and I have to start over again.  

Were it me, I'd change the LABEL on the second, unused at present, swap partition. Having two identical LABEL names may still be confusing the system. LABEL names, like UUID numbers, must each be unique on a given computer, and that also applies to network mounted partitions as well.

Example:

[root@fatman ~]# blkid

Code: [Select]

/dev/sda17: LABEL="kde2012" UUID="47504384-f9be-4bb1-aec8-9773164bee86" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="swap1000" UUID="8b44f813-fd45-4f94-b519-28300b4791ad" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="boot750" UUID="985efd35-13a4-4279-8129-0f9552d95ccb" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb2: LABEL="swap750" UUID="0ccd09b0-ebb4-4f78-8c73-632232adf438" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdb3: LABEL="750pclos" UUID="ace4498d-cd4b-458b-9b0c-853c0679fe70" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb5: LABEL="Documents2" UUID="d9550e51-e2e6-4b48-b382-d491ab0bc1ea" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb6: LABEL="share9" UUID="3abe7220-57d1-40c8-acb3-b8d13585577f" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb7: LABEL="Documents" UUID="6c984560-d3bc-4ea9-b2ad-62586c662bcf" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb8: LABEL="750mm" UUID="b512d57e-3c7a-4226-96ea-98ba93d5d486" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb9: LABEL="movies" UUID="90ae3f6a-46b2-485a-886d-e4c203491907" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb10: LABEL="120backup" UUID="3dff9abc-88c0-47dc-bd2c-f3f991acab69" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb11: LABEL="storage00" UUID="f0320f20-48d5-4ddb-89ed-9da4676aefa4" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda1: LABEL="boot1000" UUID="10165aee-8b41-4c52-aa7e-c6b0d6d17eeb" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda3: LABEL="TR5" UUID="6ae6cf37-7fd2-4b9c-86dc-f037141745bb" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda5: LABEL="TR5-Documents" UUID="9c1bbdf4-5f3c-4d70-b03a-983504da6c15" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda6: LABEL="tmpback" UUID="dcf02721-aca8-494f-8182-cc8ab1df8430" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda7: LABEL="TR6" UUID="36feb97d-2f61-4709-b6f5-8e8d8fee3370" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda8: LABEL="kde2011" UUID="8c17ff68-f606-4148-98ac-1e85324e7bc6" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda9: LABEL="kde64-2" UUID="a8fdfcab-c52a-4de2-adce-28738e49f388" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda10: LABEL="st-backup" UUID="7b1f293e-8deb-49de-adbf-db9173fd2599" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda11: LABEL="os-backups" UUID="3d1692bb-afe0-4648-b5be-d30f1eca32e7" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda12: LABEL="movies2" UUID="fad35a11-5738-401e-88b6-56b78dfeb15a" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda13: LABEL="share1" UUID="9c1c0b28-b24c-40ed-8c90-e5c704021548" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda14: LABEL="minime2010" UUID="ab32e99a-5bb8-4360-b75d-e13df5412608" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda15: LABEL="kde64-4" UUID="15788c3a-2767-4c9e-8ebf-a0a488c1820c" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda16: LABEL="minime12" UUID="d31989a1-48f3-4875-848b-a66db2e86f09" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"

[root@fatman ~]# cat /etc/fstab

Code: [Select]

# Entry for /dev/sda17 :
LABEL=kde2012           /                       ext4    defaults,noatime                1 1
LABEL=TR5-Documents     /home/polack/Documents  ext3    rw,user,noauto,exec,noatime     0 0
LABEL=Documents2        /home/polack/Documents2 ext3    rw,user,noauto,exec,noatime     0 0
# LABEL=share7          /share7                 ext3    rw,user,noauto,exec,noatime     0 0
LABEL=share1            /share1                 ext4    rw,user,auto,exec,noatime       0 0
LABEL=share9            /share9                 ext3    rw,user,auto,exec,noatime       0 0
LABEL=movies            /movies                 ext3    rw,user,auto,exec,noatime       0 0
LABEL=movies2           /movies2                ext3    rw,user,auto,exec,noatime       0 0
# LABEL=TV-1            /tv                     ext3    rw,user,noauto,exec,noatime     0 0
LABEL=storage00         /zstorage00             ext3    rw,user,noauto,exec,noatime     0 0
LABEL=120backup         /zbackup                ext3    rw,user,noauto,exec,noatime     0 0
LABEL=boot1000          /mnt/boot               ext3    rw,user,noauto,exec,noatime     0 0
#LABEL=part17           /mnt/17                 ext4    rw,user,noauto,exec,noatime     0 0
none                    /proc                   proc    defaults                        0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda2 :
#LABEL=swap200          swap                    swap    defaults                        0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda2 :
#LABEL=swap300          swap                    swap    defaults                        0 0
# Entry for /dev/sdc2 :
LABEL=swap1000          swap                    swap    defaults                        0 0
# Entry for /dev/sde2 :
LABEL=swap750           swap                    swap    defaults                        0 0
none                    /dev/pts                devpts  mode=0620                       0 0
/dev/fd0                /mnt/floppy             auto    rw,user,noauto,exec             0 0
/dev/sr0                /mnt/cdrom              auto    ro,user,noauto                  0 0
/dev/sr1                /mnt/dvd                auto    ro,user,noauto                  0 0
# none                  /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults                        0 0

Those Items commented out # are partitions on hard drives on another computer that I also connect the external drives to. All my OS are on the external drives, and all use the same /etc/fstab, with only the / partition entry LABEL=<whatever> edited to show the proper partition to use.

[root@fatman ~]# cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

Code: [Select]

timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd0,16)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0

title KDE2012
kernel (hd0,16)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=KDE2012 root=LABEL=kde2012 nokmsboot acpi=on resume=LABEL=swap1000 splash=verbose vga=791
initrd (hd0,16)/boot/initrd.img

title KDE2012-nonfb
kernel (hd0,16)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=KDE2012-nonfb root=LABEL=kde2012 nokmsboot acpi=on resume=LABEL=swap1000 splash=verbose
initrd (hd0,16)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,16)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=LABEL=kde2012 nokmsboot failsafe acpi=on
initrd (hd0,16)/boot/initrd.img

title memtest-4.20
kernel (hd0,16)/boot/memtest-4.20 BOOT_IMAGE=memtest-4.20

Note that only LABEL=<whatever> is all that's used here too, no UUID=<number> to be found.

[Nish]

well, I booted with gparted and labelled this install's swap as swap2.  Booted into the install (only waiting on sdb2, root) and did mkinitrd again.  On reboot, I am now waiting on both sdb1 and 2 but really is like no wait at all - doesn't take any time.  Is this a normal thing that you only take note of when it does hang, maybe?

I no longer have this install's grub in the mbr.  I load it from the new LXDE install on the first hard disk instead.  Here are all the particulars as done from this install.

Code: [Select]

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x26132612

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          63   512007614   256003776    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2       512010198   976768064   232378933+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5       512010240   530212863     9101312   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6       530214912   940910984   205348036+  83  Linux
/dev/sda7       940911048   976768064    17928508+  83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0001b338

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1              63    16868249     8434093+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb2        16868250   836070794   409601272+  83  Linux
/dev/sdb3       836070795   976768064    70348635   83  Linux

[root@AMD nish]# blkid
/dev/sdb2: LABEL="Linux" UUID="8c42e187-fc24-4216-b576-d79d50381c59" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="swap2" UUID="96630cec-04b4-4526-a344-f578130defd9" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sda1: UUID="A0F0F425F0F40378" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdb3: LABEL="Spare" UUID="5c07fd18-3a4f-4c00-999e-65e78d0ec473" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda6: UUID="fe6c6834-c4a5-48e8-a6fd-b2460b5f83fd" TYPE="ext4" LABEL="PCLOS64"
/dev/sda7: UUID="0fdccad5-b3c4-4029-8351-a273d55e01f8" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda5: LABEL="swap" UUID="5277c74f-ad1a-424a-91a7-1df2658dd2c0" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdc1: LABEL="for_windows" UUID="3A8CC9623518C3AD" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdc2: LABEL="for_linux" UUID="cc19e321-ce15-4d36-a2d3-62cef923636c" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"

[root@AMD nish]# cat /proc/swaps
Filename                                Type            Size    Used    Priority
/dev/sdb1                               partition       8434088 0       -1
[root@AMD nish]#

[root@AMD nish]# cat /etc/fstab
# Entry for /dev/sdb2 :
UUID=8c42e187-fc24-4216-b576-d79d50381c59 / ext3 defaults 1 1
# Entry for /dev/sdb3 :
UUID=5c07fd18-3a4f-4c00-999e-65e78d0ec473 /64bit ext3 user 1 2
# Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=ecc26673-0f33-4d67-a422-ca3244ce4acd /debian ext4 defaults 1 2
none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
UUID=96630cec-04b4-4526-a344-f578130defd9 swap swap defaults 0 0

[root@AMD nish]# cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
timeout 20
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd1,1)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0

title linux
kernel (hd1,1)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=8c42e187-fc24-4216-b576-d79d50381c59 resume=UUID=96630cec-04b4-4526-a344-f578130defd9 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd1,1)/boot/initrd.img


If I am following you, I should remove the refs to UUID's in grub and fstab and just use the label(s) instead?

[Old-Polack]

well, I booted with gparted and labelled this install's swap as swap2.  Booted into the install (only waiting on sdb2, root) and did mkinitrd again.  On reboot, I am now waiting on both sdb1 and 2 but really is like no wait at all - doesn't take any time.  Is this a normal thing that you only take note of when it does hang, maybe?

I no longer have this install's grub in the mbr.  I load it from the new LXDE install on the first hard disk instead.  Here are all the particulars as done from this install.

Code: [Select]

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x26132612

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          63   512007614   256003776    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2       512010198   976768064   232378933+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5       512010240   530212863     9101312   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6       530214912   940910984   205348036+  83  Linux
/dev/sda7       940911048   976768064    17928508+  83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0001b338

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1              63    16868249     8434093+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb2        16868250   836070794   409601272+  83  Linux
/dev/sdb3       836070795   976768064    70348635   83  Linux

[root@AMD nish]# blkid
/dev/sdb2: LABEL="Linux" UUID="8c42e187-fc24-4216-b576-d79d50381c59" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="swap2" UUID="96630cec-04b4-4526-a344-f578130defd9" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sda1: UUID="A0F0F425F0F40378" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdb3: LABEL="Spare" UUID="5c07fd18-3a4f-4c00-999e-65e78d0ec473" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda6: UUID="fe6c6834-c4a5-48e8-a6fd-b2460b5f83fd" TYPE="ext4" LABEL="PCLOS64"
/dev/sda7: UUID="0fdccad5-b3c4-4029-8351-a273d55e01f8" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda5: LABEL="swap" UUID="5277c74f-ad1a-424a-91a7-1df2658dd2c0" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdc1: LABEL="for_windows" UUID="3A8CC9623518C3AD" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdc2: LABEL="for_linux" UUID="cc19e321-ce15-4d36-a2d3-62cef923636c" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"

[root@AMD nish]# cat /proc/swaps
Filename                                Type            Size    Used    Priority
/dev/sdb1                               partition       8434088 0       -1
[root@AMD nish]#

[root@AMD nish]# cat /etc/fstab
# Entry for /dev/sdb2 :
UUID=8c42e187-fc24-4216-b576-d79d50381c59 / ext3 defaults 1 1
# Entry for /dev/sdb3 :
UUID=5c07fd18-3a4f-4c00-999e-65e78d0ec473 /64bit ext3 user 1 2
# Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=ecc26673-0f33-4d67-a422-ca3244ce4acd /debian ext4 defaults 1 2
none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
UUID=96630cec-04b4-4526-a344-f578130defd9 swap swap defaults 0 0

[root@AMD nish]# cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
timeout 20
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd1,1)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0

title linux
kernel (hd1,1)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=8c42e187-fc24-4216-b576-d79d50381c59 resume=UUID=96630cec-04b4-4526-a344-f578130defd9 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd1,1)/boot/initrd.img


If I am following you, I should remove the refs to UUID's in grub and fstab and just use the label(s) instead?

It's what I do, because it's a lot easier to quickly grasp where you are, and what you're doing, with short LABEL names, than long random number strings,  especially when troubleshooting boot problems.

Also, the LABEL=<name> can be used by mount, and fsck/e2fsck, which is helpful when USB devices often scramble /dev/sdxx designations.

[root@fatman ~]# e2fsck -fy LABEL=boot1000
e2fsck 1.42 (29-Nov-2011)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
boot1000: 325/78312 files (20.9% non-contiguous), 236433/313236 blocks

[root@fatman ~]# ls -l /mnt/here
total 0
[root@fatman ~]# mount LABEL=kde2011 /mnt/here
[root@fatman ~]# ls -l /mnt/here

Code: [Select]

total 280
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jan  3 22:26 bin
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root   4096 Jan 30 15:10 boot
drwxr-xr-x  33 root root 135168 Jul  9  2011 dev
drwxr-xr-x 134 root root  12288 Jan 31 04:14 etc
drwxr-xr-x   5 root root   4096 Jul 30  2011 home
drwxrwxr-x   2 root root   4096 Apr 17  2010 initrd
drwxr-xr-x  17 root root  12288 Jan  3 22:26 lib
drwx------   2 root root  16384 Jul  6  2011 lost+found
drwxrwxr-x   2 root root   4096 Jul  9  2011 media
drwxr-xr-x   9 root root   4096 Nov 16 08:23 mnt
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   1100 Dec 27 12:09 Module.symvers
drwxrwxr-x   2 root root   4096 Jul  9  2011 movies
drwxrwxr-x   2 root root   4096 May  9  2010 movies2
-rw-rw-r--   1 root root      0 Jul 16  2011 null
drwxr-xr-x   8 root root   4096 Oct 23 20:52 opt
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jul  9  2011 proc
drwxr-x---  32 root root   4096 Jan 31 04:13 root
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  12288 Dec  1 10:02 sbin
drwxrwxr-x   2 root root   4096 Mar 28  2011 share1
drwxrwxr-x   2 root root   4096 May  9  2010 share7
drwxrwxr-x   2 root root   4096 May  9  2010 share9
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Feb 22  2010 swap
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jul  9  2011 sys
drwxrwxrwt 102 root root   4096 Jan 31 04:14 tmp
drwxrwxr-x   2 root root   4096 May  9  2010 tv
drwxr-xr-x  14 root root   4096 Feb 21  2011 usr
drwxr-xr-x  17 root root   4096 Jul  9  2011 var
drwxrwxr-x   2 root root   4096 May  9  2010 zbackup
drwxrwxr-x   2 root root   4096 May  9  2010 zstorage00


[Nish]

   OMG, every linux installed on this PC, both disks, including failsafe is unbootable.  Error 13.

This is what I did this morning and one or a combination has wrought disaster.  Posting from windows.

I took back grub control from LXDE install to the old PCLOS install.  
root (hd1,1)
setup (hd0)

I then rebuilt my menu.lst as I had pared it down to just the one entry was I was chainloading it from LXDE's menu.lst

Since I had noted that the failsafe or non-fb had an incorrect resume UUID I figured I would need to do the mkinitrd again.  I searched for the post I had used before and brought up a different one. Perhaps this is where I went wrong but AS had given the mkinitrd with two things I don't remember using the other times I made an image I believe they were -f and -v

When I ran this there was a lot of output (I didn't get any output from previous mkinitrd except for the error about an icon) but didn't see any errors in the output

Rebooted and got error 13, tried every other item and only windows works.  This leads me to believe it is not the mkinitrd but something to do with either the reinstall of grub or menu.lst

I am going to go in with a liveCD and reinstall grub using LXDE as root and its menu.lst

I am an idiot, should have left it with the "waiting for" since it didn't appear to wait for long was fine with me.

Back on the PCLOS liveCD and just like before, it is seeing the two hard disks flipflopped - this is the output from fdisk -l and I am not going to attempt any repairs from a state where it is seeing the drives in the wrong spots.  Will have to boot up from the LXDE CD.

Code: [Select]

[guest@localhost guest]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0001b338

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1              63    16868249     8434093+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2        16868250   836070794   409601272+  83  Linux
/dev/sda3       836070795   976768064    70348635   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x26132612

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *          63   512007614   256003776    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2       512010198   976768064   232378933+   5  Extended
/dev/sdb5       512010240   530212863     9101312   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6       530214912   940910984   205348036+  83  Linux
/dev/sdb7       940911048   976768064    17928508+  83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x44fdfe06

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1              63   307692944   153846441    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdc2       307692945   625137344   158722200   83  Linux
[root@localhost ~]#

Booted up a LXDE Live CD that begins with 6 and ends with 4 and fdisk -l shows the disks in their correct places.  I have run grub with root (hd0,5) which is the LXDE install on sda and setup on (hd0).  I am starting to think I should have run fdisk -l from my PCLOS install before attempting to reinstall grub from there.  Possibly the hd install has the disks flipflopped too.  Don't know.
fdisk -l from the LXDE cd:

Code: [Select]

[guest@localhost ~]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x26132612

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          63   512007614   256003776    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2       512010198   976768064   232378933+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5       512010240   530212863     9101312   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6       530214912   940910984   205348036+  83  Linux
/dev/sda7       940911048   976768064    17928508+  83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0001b338

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1              63    16868249     8434093+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb2        16868250   836070794   409601272+  83  Linux
/dev/sdb3       836070795   976768064    70348635   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x44fdfe06

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1              63   307692944   153846441    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdc2       307692945   625137344   158722200   83  Linux
Ok, posting from the install of LXDE on sda and all is well, fdisk -l is correct as it was from the LXDE LiveCD.  I am going to try and boot my old PCLOS from this grub menu and think it might work. No, it didn't.  I get error 11 unrecognized device string.  Using this:
title PCLinuxOS (PCLinuxOS)
kernel (hd1,1)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux
root=UUID=8c42e187-fc24-4216-b576-d79d50381c59
resume=UUID=96630cec-04b4-4526-a344-f578130defd9 splash=verbose vga=788
initrd (hd1,1)/boot/initrd.img
[root@biostar ~]#

and this is the result of blkid, the UUID(s) are correct

Code: [Select]

[root@biostar ~]# blkid
/dev/sda6: LABEL="PCLOS64" UUID="fe6c6834-c4a5-48e8-a6fd-b2460b5f83fd" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda1: UUID="A0F0F425F0F40378" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda5: LABEL="swap" UUID="5277c74f-ad1a-424a-91a7-1df2658dd2c0" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sda7: UUID="0fdccad5-b3c4-4029-8351-a273d55e01f8" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="96630cec-04b4-4526-a344-f578130defd9" TYPE="swap" LABEL="swap2"
/dev/sdb2: LABEL="Linux" UUID="8c42e187-fc24-4216-b576-d79d50381c59" TYPE="ext3" SEC_TYPE="ext2"
/dev/sdb3: LABEL="Spare" UUID="5c07fd18-3a4f-4c00-999e-65e78d0ec473" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdc1: LABEL="for_windows" UUID="3A8CC9623518C3AD" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdc2: LABEL="for_linux" UUID="cc19e321-ce15-4d36-a2d3-62cef923636c" TYPE="ext3" SEC_TYPE="ext2"

The problem all along likely was something about the debian squeeze install caused PCLOS 2011 on sdb to see the two hard disks flipflopped.  It somehow gamely carried on and found itself and booted but even after all this UUID fixing and mkinitrd anew, that install and even the PCLOS 2011 LiveCD sees the drives as flipflopped.  That is why installing grub back from there failed miserably. It put the setup and root on the wrong disks because it saw them wrong.

OP - you are the expert in all things partitioning and multibooting to me.  Have you ever heard of such a thing?  I will go do some laundry and see if there is something you might want me to look at but at this point I need to get back my sdb where it belongs.  I will wait a little bit before writing zeros to it (and maybe sprinkling it with holy water) and repartitioning.  What in the world could I have done with debian squeeze to cause this?

I need a stable PCLOS on here rather than the testing I am using but if a PCLOS 2011 CD sees the drives incorrectly, I have to wipe that drive and repartition, hoping for the best, no?

[Phil]

Hi Nish,

I am lurking and enjoying this thread. No cheating and doing a wipe and re-install, too much fun. O-P and DJ will help.
(No good asking me)

You said "I do solemnly swear that if somebody helps me fix this I won't ever play with another OS as long as live."

Don't be silly. Playing helps you learn, especially when you have to fix things. While you are waiting watch this guy installing debian via Virtualbox (which is in the repos):
Raspberry Pi Tutorial 1 - An Introduction to Debian Linux

Raspberry Pi Tutorial 1 - An Introduction to Debian Linux

[Nish]

Hi Phil - me and deb are old friends. I was running sid from ten years ago and installed more times than I can remember like even before there was a graphical installer.  Though there is a soft spot in my heart for the ncurses dialogues  

Not sure what happened here, grub2 - only thing I can think of is the device map. Checked current map in the grub on my poor ruined PCLOS and it is correct. Why has it gotten into its head that is sda?  And even the PCLOS 2011 liveCD thinks it is sda?  that is scary

I will have to wipe it in a few hours. Need to get back to business and I can't be messing about with this testing distro, need my stable OS back. 

Still would love to know what happened.