(SOLVED) bootloader or device issues after dual boot install xp and pclos

[Old-Polack]

Well, It defaults to ext3 and I let that go every time except once (about 3 installs ago) when I chose Reiser. But I'm sure I went with ext3 on this last try. It only takes like 15 minutes to reinstall, so if you would like to give me some guidelines ( like, use ext3 for sure ) I can just do that again. No biggy. Also, I can start over and reinstall xp pro, then pclos again, but MAN I hate that windows update crapola. Whatever you think is best. Lemmy no.
Thank You,
jaybee

I wouldn't want to feel responsible for having anyone reinstall Windows, of any variety. That's inhumanly cruel.  

How about if you give the full specs for your machine instead? Also exactly which version of PCLinuxOS you are installing.

[jaybee]

Well, the windows is for Age of Empires - still my favorite game - and the occasional windows-only site. Anyway, I'm using the latest download: pclos 2009.2 switching from Mepis 6.5 (old!).

OS Name   Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version   5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer   Microsoft Corporation
System Name   MUSIC
System Manufacturer   System Manufacturer
System Model   System Name
System Type   X86-based PC
Processor   x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 4 GenuineIntel ~1614 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date   Award Software, Inc. ASUS P4S533-E ACPI BIOS Revision 1007, 9/18/2002
SMBIOS Version   2.3
Windows Directory   C:\WINDOWS
System Directory   C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device   \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale   United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer   Version = "5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)"
User Name   MUSIC
Time Zone   Eastern Standard Time
Total Physical Memory   512.00 MB
Available Physical Memory   137.30 MB
Total Virtual Memory   2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory   1.96 GB
Page File Space   1.22 GB
Page File   C:\pagefile.sys

[jaybee]

I'm beginning to think I have an issue with my hard drive.

[Old-Polack]

I'm beginning to think I have an issue with my hard drive.

Don't know about that yet, still trying to figure out exactly what you have for equipment. From the liveCD;

[root@localhost ~]# uname -a            <Enter>

[root@localhost ~]# lspci                <Enter>

Post your results.

Did you run an md5sum check of the *.iso image you downloaded, before burning it to disk? What speed did you burn the disk at? Did you do the Media Check on the liveCD, from the boot menu, before doing the installation?

[Was_Just19]

This seems to have been separated from its thread ......  gremlin?   

[Old-Polack]

This seems to have been separated from its thread ......  gremlin?   

Only your imagination. 

[jaybee]

I'm booting up to the live cd for your info now. Yes, I always do an MD5SUM check - Well, K3b does this automatically. I've been using pclos for years and like to swap drives and experiment. Also, I used the same CD on this Dell C610 as well as another C610 and a Dell GX260. They all worked fine. I'm pretty sure the CD is good. Be back shortly with the info.

[jaybee]

Here's the info from the desktop in question:

[root@localhost root]# uname -a
Linux localhost 2.6.26.8.tex3 #1 SMP Mon Jan 12 04:33:38 CST 2009 i686 Intel(R)
Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.60GHz GNU/Linux
[root@localhost root]# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS645DX Host & Memory & AGP Controller
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge (AGP)
00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS962 [MuTIOL Media IO] (rev 04)
00:02.1 SMBus: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS961/2 SMBus Controller
00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE]
00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet (rev 91)
00:05.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738 (rev 10)
00:0b.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6306 Fire II IEEE 1394 OHCI Link Layer Controller (rev 46)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] (rev b2)

By the way - This is really cool the way you are trying to figure this out for me. Open Source and the Community Rock!!!!  Thanks Man,
    Jaybee

[Old-Polack]

Here's the info from the desktop in question:

[root@localhost root]# uname -a
Linux localhost 2.6.26.8.tex3 #1 SMP Mon Jan 12 04:33:38 CST 2009 i686 Intel(R)
Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.60GHz GNU/Linux
[root@localhost root]# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS645DX Host & Memory & AGP Controller
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge (AGP)
00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS962 [MuTIOL Media IO] (rev 04)
00:02.1 SMBus: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS961/2 SMBus Controller
00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE]
00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet (rev 91)
00:05.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738 (rev 10)
00:0b.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6306 Fire II IEEE 1394 OHCI Link Layer Controller (rev 46)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] (rev b2)

By the way - This is really cool the way you are trying to figure this out for me. Open Source and the Community Rock!!!!  Thanks Man,
    Jaybee

The controller for your IDE hard drive is a SIS 5513. SIS chips have always been a bit problematic with Linux. Some of the newer SIS chip sets do have better drivers, but they are still not first rate with Linux. Doing a quick Google search isn't exactly encouraging, but here's the link.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Linux+SIS+5513&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

[jaybee]

Hmmm, odd since I've had SimplyMepis 3.4.3 on up to 6.5 on that PC over the past few years. Well, I can keep trying. And maybe I have to go back to an old Mepis. It does run quite fast on it. I just really wanted to standardize with pclos. That machine is mostly used as a music server and I thought the whole sharing thing would be better than using two different systems and having smb4k issues all the time.
     So, I've noticed your posts on other issues. You seem to be quite busy. Should we close this one out or do you still want to explore other possibilities? Either way, I really want to thank you for your time on this.
 Jaybee

[Old-Polack]

Hmmm, odd since I've had SimplyMepis 3.4.3 on up to 6.5 on that PC over the past few years. Well, I can keep trying. And maybe I have to go back to an old Mepis. It does run quite fast on it. I just really wanted to standardize with pclos. That machine is mostly used as a music server and I thought the whole sharing thing would be better than using two different systems and having smb4k issues all the time.
     So, I've noticed your posts on other issues. You seem to be quite busy. Should we close this one out or do you still want to explore other possibilities? Either way, I really want to thank you for your time on this.
 Jaybee

It's really up to you. If you can see exactly what driver is being used with the older kernel, the next thing would be to get it included in the initrd image of the current kernel, if it still exists, or see if a newer replacement still works with the older chip set. Most modules try to be backwards compatible, but that doesn't always work.

From the liveCD, open PCC --> Hardware --> Browse and configure hardware --> IDE/ATA controllers, click on the controller shown in the left pane, and at the bottom of the right pane, see what is listed after Module: ‎

[jaybee]

Okay my friend, I have some info for you this time. First of all, Module for both Mepis and PCLOS install are the same: "pata_sis". Secondly, after installing Mepis this morning, I found that it would no longer boot either. It did have a kernel panic - does sound like a drive issue - what do you think? Here's what Mepis displayed at first boot after install:

[17179576,028000] Buffer i/o error on dev hda, logical block 0
[17179576,092000] ldm_validate partition table (): disk read failed
[17179576,752000] Kernel panic-not syncing: vfs: unable to mount root fs on unknown block (3,2}
[17179576,028000]

 Jaybee

[Old-Polack]

Okay my friend, I have some info for you this time. First of all, Module for both Mepis and PCLOS install are the same: "pata_sis". Secondly, after installing Mepis this morning, I found that it would no longer boot either. It did have a kernel panic - does sound like a drive issue - what do you think? Here's what Mepis displayed at first boot after install:

[17179576,028000] Buffer i/o error on dev hda, logical block 0
[17179576,092000] ldm_validate partition table (): disk read failed
[17179576,752000] Kernel panic-not syncing: vfs: unable to mount root fs on unknown block (3,2}
[17179576,028000]

 Jaybee

That's not looking good. BIOS and therefore grub, can't read the MBR code, (logical block 0) which includes grub and the partition table. It's not the driver, but the drive disk itself that is the problem.

One could try wiping the MBR, then rewriting the partition table, if one had a copy of the previous partition table saved as a backup. Any chance that you have such a backup?

If not, you could try a complete disk wipe, partition and format the partitions, then do a complete reinstall of both OS, or replace the hard drive altogether, then do the partitioning, formatting and installing. I've managed to save quite a few drives with a total wipe and repartition, but the cost of drives is relatively cheap these days, so a new drive could be possibly larger, if the BIOS supports larger drives, and probably more reliable for a longer time, than a rescued drive. Your money, so your decision.

[Was_Just19]

Is there any possibility that   testdisk   could recreate the partition table?

[Old-Polack]

Thanks for responding! I've had bad luck with other distro forums before:

Disk /dev/hda: 164.6 GB, 164696555520 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 20023 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xac74ac74

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1       11099    89152686    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2           11100       19896    70661902+  83  Linux
/dev/hda3           19897       20023     1020127+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

Here's the backup information we need, in your Reply #2.  

So, one can wipe the MBR, recreate the partition table, then reinstall grub, without doing a complete installation of either OS. Worst case scenario is that there's a bad block within the fist logical block, and the procedure fails, dictating a new drive. Best case scenario, we do the procedure and everything works properly again. It seems worth a shot, to me.