[SLE] "Boot failed:" trying to upgrade to 6.3
I didn't get very far trying to upgrade my VA Research VARstation 28 from SuSE 5.3 (which came preinstalled from VA); the first attempt, after inserting the 6.3 bootdisk and doing "init 6" after the usual shutdown messages, I got the colorful linuxrc screen, and in a text area below the color, a message said "initdisk.gz..." or something like that. Then after maybe ten seconds, the next message was: "SYSLINUX 1.48 0x3812e44a Copyright (C) 1994-1999 H. Peter Anvin Boot failed: please change disks and press a key to continue" All subsequent attempts have gone straight to the syslinux message without any of the linuxrc screen. I only saw the "initdisk.gz" message the first time. Maybe that sequence is useful info; I don't know. The box is a SCSI system, using a Symbios 8951 Ultra-2 controller, and in the /boot directory are a bunch of kernels named things like "va-generic-2.0.35-3.single.vmlinuz" and "va-monolithic-2.0.35-3.single.vmlinuz" and corresponding config and map files. The working kernel, vmlinuz, is a symlink to that generic kernel mentioned above. Can someone give me a clue as to the meaning of the error message, does it mean my floppy disk is damaged, or that I need a special kernel on it to upgrade this box? I can read an old ext2-formatted floppy with this drive, so I assume the drive is ok. Is there a backup disk image I can dd onto a new floppy on the 6.3 CDs somewhere, and if so, where? The manual hints at being able to supply "SYSLINUX (supplied bootdisk)" with kernel parameters, but I don't seem to be offered a prompt, or any other obvious place to enter parameters. I damaged the 5.3 YaST on this machine by suffering a power failure while YaST was running, so I was hoping to use this upgrade process to get a new, working YaST into the system. But if I can't even boot from the floppy, that plan seems kaput. I suppose now that SuSE 6.4 has been announced, I've dawdled around with 6.3 too long to get real, official installation support. If I need to compile a special kernel, and build a special boot disk with linuxrc and YaST and who-knows-what-all on it, I really don't know quite where to begin. I'd sure appreciate any help. jimo@eskimo.com Reg code: AMB366 -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/
I got that message when I was dealing with the newly aquired 486 from school for firewalling, and when I have the hd in the wrong place (instead of the end of the ide cable, I had it at the mid section while the cdrom is at the end of the ribbon) It, or Storm Linux, gave me such error after that syslinux thing by Peter Alvin. You might want to read the part about setting the scsi disk because it might be refering to a harddisk, instead of a bootable floppy. Hope this helps Calyth -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/
Jim Osborn wrote:
I didn't get very far trying to upgrade my VA Research VARstation 28 from SuSE 5.3 (which came preinstalled from VA); the first attempt, after inserting the 6.3 bootdisk and doing "init 6" after the usual shutdown messages, I got the colorful linuxrc screen, and in a text area below the color, a message said "initdisk.gz..." or something like that. Then after maybe ten seconds, the next message was:
"SYSLINUX 1.48 0x3812e44a Copyright (C) 1994-1999 H. Peter Anvin
Boot failed: please change disks and press a key to continue"
All subsequent attempts have gone straight to the syslinux message without any of the linuxrc screen. I only saw the "initdisk.gz" message the first time. Maybe that sequence is useful info; I don't know.
The box is a SCSI system, using a Symbios 8951 Ultra-2 controller, and in the /boot directory are a bunch of kernels named things like "va-generic-2.0.35-3.single.vmlinuz" and "va-monolithic-2.0.35-3.single.vmlinuz" and corresponding config and map files. The working kernel, vmlinuz, is a symlink to that generic kernel mentioned above.
Can someone give me a clue as to the meaning of the error message, does it mean my floppy disk is damaged, or that I need a special kernel on it to upgrade this box? I can read an old ext2-formatted floppy with this drive, so I assume the drive is ok. Is there a backup disk image I can dd onto a new floppy on the 6.3 CDs somewhere, and if so, where? The manual hints at being able to supply "SYSLINUX (supplied bootdisk)" with kernel parameters, but I don't seem to be offered a prompt, or any other obvious place to enter parameters.
I damaged the 5.3 YaST on this machine by suffering a power failure while YaST was running, so I was hoping to use this upgrade process to get a new, working YaST into the system. But if I can't even boot from the floppy, that plan seems kaput. I suppose now that SuSE 6.4 has been announced, I've dawdled around with 6.3 too long to get real, official installation support.
If I need to compile a special kernel, and build a special boot disk with linuxrc and YaST and who-knows-what-all on it, I really don't know quite where to begin.
Well, I would try creating a new boot disk. The boot disks can be found in the disks/ directory on the first CD. There's a README file there to tell you what they all are (you should normally only need the eide1 disk image). Bye, Chris -- Sorry everybody - all the servers at the ISP I use for email have been down for the past four days. They've come back up again, so now I have to catch up on all that mail... __ _ -o)/ / (_)__ __ ____ __ Chris Reeves /\\ /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ / ICQ# 22219005 _\_v __/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\ -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/
participants (3)
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calyth＠home.com -
chris.reeves＠iname.com -
jimo＠eskimo.com