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Re: Mylex Controller, Tyan MB and SMP problems <- not simply initrd



hi ya john

i think you have the classic problem of the chicken and the egg
	- you cant read the disk till you have linux running
	- you cant get linux working till you can read the disk

	"linux --> the kernel"

- you need to create your own custom initrd.gz  file
  with your kernel you know boots the system

- you say your other kernel works ???
	# dd if=/boot/other_kernel  of=/dev/fd0 bs=1024
	# boot that floppy... if it works...  that is the kernel
	  you should put into the initrd.gz file

	# or simpler, to just boot off the floppy

- many ways to make an initrd.gz ..
	- mkintrd
	- uncompress a working boot floppy into "/dev/loop" file
	  and compress it into initrd.gz
	- you'd need /dev/ram, /dev/loop, cramfs, mimix and few
	other whacky stuff to get the new initrd.gz file...
	( fun and annoying stuff ...

- you might also be running into a problem of /  cannot be raid5
  partitions under some cases ( use raid1 mirroring instead for / )
	/ ==> /bin /lib /sbin /dev .. /etc...

c ya
alvin


On Tue, 17 Sep 2002, John wrote:

> Thanks Alvin, but I still havent got it to work.
> 
> I've tried using initrd and I still have a problem.
> 
> What is happening is that the kernel is trying to mount the root device 
> (/dev/rd/c0d0p1) before it's loaded the DAC960 driver.
> 
> Compiling the driver into the kernel doesnt help.
> 
> I've set DAC960 and reiserfs as modules to load before mounting the root 
> fs in /etc/mkinitrd/modules (I think it was there - different machine to 
> where I'm sitting).
> 
> I've RTFMd, rebuilt, reloaded and reconfigured. I've threatened the 
> machine with defenestration. My workmates are avoiding me as I get more 
> and more annoyed.
> 
> As much as it pains me I think I need a 'Jack and Jill meet the 
> keyboard' style walkthrough on building a smp initrd kernel to boot with 
> a root fs on RAID5 hardware.
> 



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