Re: Rescue disk?

[Sylvain Briole <sbriole.mls@free.fr>]

Hi Kent,

>>The problem : the new hard disk is too big to be correctly recognized by the
>>BIOS, so I disabled it in the BIOS configuration. I have burned Sarge 3.1
>>netinst CD, and ran the install without any problem, with Grub on /dev/hda
>>(the new hard disk). This computer has no floppy drive : only CD-ROM drive.
>>I booted the computer on the CD-ROM drive, using the well known (for me, under
>>Woody) commando by lilo prompt : rescue root=/dev/hda1
>>But this time, it does not function.
>>Is there any rescue possibility in Sarge?
>>I have read there about Tomsrbt or Damn Small Linux to repair problem with
>>MBR/Grub : but I am not looking for such a solution, but only a convenient
>>method to boot on a CD and then use /dev/hda1 as root.
> I'm confused by your description.

Sorry : my english knowledge is a little bit old : it is difficult for me to be
completely clear!

> First you say the problem is that your hard drive is not recognized by
> the BIOS.

Exactly.

> Then you imply that's not a problem, because the install proceeded
> without a problem.

Exactly : I boot from the Netinst Sarge CD, then install Sarge without any
problem till the first reboot (after Grub install on MBR).

> Then you indicate you're trying to boot via CD. Why? Is it because the
> machine can't find the hard drive and boot from it? What CD are you
> booting from? The Sarge installer?

The machine can not find the hard drive : I must boot from the CD (this is the
only other peripheral that I may use).
The CD I am booting from : the Netinst Sarge CD.

> What is not working about "rescue root=/dev/hda1"? What errors/symptoms
> are you getting? Does this CD use lilo, or Grub?

AFAIK, it uses Isolinux:
- when I try : rescue root=/dev/hda1
  I become : "Could not find kernel image: rescue"
- then, I have tried :
  linux root=/dev/hda1
  and also :
  linux root=0301 (that should be /dev/hda1)
  and the boot process functions till the error message :

  VFS : Cannot open root device "0301" or unknown block(3,1)
  Please append a correct "root=" boot option
  Kernel panic : VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown block(3,1)
  
Thanks,

Sylvain.