July 2004 - WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Re: [Wlug] Partition table blues

by Gregory Avedissian

Doug, That was linux fdisk I was talking about. It only shows the windows partition. sfdisk -l shows four partitions - one windows, and three empty ones, with no start or end cylinders. I'm not sure what that's about. Here's the output for fdisk and sfdisk when that drive is hooked up as slave: fdisk -l Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hdb1 * 1 1123 9020466 c Win95 FAT32 (LBA) sfdisk -l Disk /dev/hdb: 1123 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0 Device Boot Start End #cyls #blocks Id System /dev/hdb1 * 0+ 1122 1123- 9020466 c Win95 FAT32 (LBA) /dev/hdb2 0 - 0 0 0 Empty /dev/hdb3 0 - 0 0 0 Empty /dev/hdb4 0 - 0 0 0 Empty Here's what I tried. I went into yast2 partitioning tool, setup the drive the way I did the first time, wrote down the cylinder numbers, then hit ABORT, so it wouldn't write to the disk. Then ran "parted -i /dev/hdb", then used the cylinder numbers for the "rescue partitions near START and END" function. It scanned, returned no errors, and made no changes. I don't get it, and I'm out of ideas for now. OK, one more idea. Can I use the partition tool to set the partitions again without formatting them, and then be able to access them? Thanks for all your help, Greg doug waud wrote: > Hi again > > Gregory Avedissian wrote: > >> Hi Doug, >> >> I tried fdisk /mbr and it worked easily. As expected, I only have a >> windows partition (verified by fdisk). I suspect that I'm less than >> halfway there. > > > I'm glad you finally tried that! At least the easy part is taken care of > so you can now focus on a smaller problem. > > I admit to some guessing here, but I would suggest you try both the > Windows fdisk (just because I am a bit anal; I don't expect it to know > about the linux partitions) and the Linux fdisk. (You may have done this > but I can't tell since you say just "fdisk".) > >>> However, once that is working, you can boot into your linux system >>> (by one of the ways I mentioned in an earlier post, and run LILO >>> which is smart enough to leave the Windows part working and simply >>> add the stuff for other things you want to boot (as specified in >>> lilo.conf --- which I assume is OK if it was working earlier and you >>> have not edited it). >> >> >> No, there's no lilo.conf and never was one on that installation. > > > Oops! Sorry about that; I misread an earlier email. :-( > >> There is (was) a grub/menu.lst, which serves the same function, but as >> far as I understand it, the partition table needs to contain >> information about linux partitions for either of these to work. > > > I suspect that is true (can't recall off hand). If so, then remember to > pray when you run the Linux fdisk! :- > > And do run the linux fdisk, i.e. > fdisk /dev/hda > and then chose option p (as in *P*rint the partition table. If you get a > nice listing, then don't screw around with parted! > > >> I went ahead and booted the rescue system and tried a grub-install >> /dev/hda, and it returned a message saying that no /dev/root was found. >> >> Maybe I'll try parted again, now that I can find where hda1 ends. > > > But do try both Windows fdisk and Linux fdisk (with the P option) first! > > doug > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

July 26, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Partition table blues

by doug waud

Hi again Gregory Avedissian wrote: > Hi Doug, > > I tried fdisk /mbr and it worked easily. As expected, I only have a > windows partition (verified by fdisk). I suspect that I'm less than > halfway there. I'm glad you finally tried that! At least the easy part is taken care of so you can now focus on a smaller problem. I admit to some guessing here, but I would suggest you try both the Windows fdisk (just because I am a bit anal; I don't expect it to know about the linux partitions) and the Linux fdisk. (You may have done this but I can't tell since you say just "fdisk".) >> However, once that is working, you can boot into your linux system (by >> one of the ways I mentioned in an earlier post, and run LILO which is >> smart enough to leave the Windows part working and simply add the >> stuff for other things you want to boot (as specified in lilo.conf >> --- which I assume is OK if it was working earlier and you have not >> edited it). > > No, there's no lilo.conf and never was one on that installation. Oops! Sorry about that; I misread an earlier email. :-( > There > is (was) a grub/menu.lst, which serves the same function, but as far as > I understand it, the partition table needs to contain information about > linux partitions for either of these to work. I suspect that is true (can't recall off hand). If so, then remember to pray when you run the Linux fdisk! :- And do run the linux fdisk, i.e. fdisk /dev/hda and then chose option p (as in *P*rint the partition table. If you get a nice listing, then don't screw around with parted! > I went ahead and booted the rescue system and tried a grub-install > /dev/hda, and it returned a message saying that no /dev/root was found. > > Maybe I'll try parted again, now that I can find where hda1 ends. But do try both Windows fdisk and Linux fdisk (with the P option) first! doug

July 26, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Partition table blues

by Gregory Avedissian

Hi Doug, I tried fdisk /mbr and it worked easily. As expected, I only have a windows partition (verified by fdisk). I suspect that I'm less than halfway there. > >> This morning, I read that it shouldn't be used on disks that have more >> than four partitions. I have five partitions and some unclaimed space. >> I might try it later today. > > > I don't know where that came from. It came from ms. Maybe they're just playin' with our heads. > > However, once that is working, you can boot into your linux system (by > one of the ways I mentioned in an earlier post, and run LILO which is > smart enough to leave the Windows part working and simply add the stuff > for other things you want to boot (as specified in lilo.conf --- which > I assume is OK if it was working earlier and you have not edited it). No, there's no lilo.conf and never was one on that installation. There is (was) a grub/menu.lst, which serves the same function, but as far as I understand it, the partition table needs to contain information about linux partitions for either of these to work. I went ahead and booted the rescue system and tried a grub-install /dev/hda, and it returned a message saying that no /dev/root was found. Maybe I'll try parted again, now that I can find where hda1 ends. Thanks, Greg

July 26, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Partition table blues

by doug waud

Hi all (again!) J Schonberg wrote: > I know that the original question was based on a suse8.2 installation > but I'm guessing this is the Linux 2.6 kernel bug that has been > discussed at length in other places. Have you tried sfdisk? I don't follow your logic. Since Greg is using SuSE 8.2, he is a long way from a 2.6 kernel. So I don't see how you can diagnose his problem as a 2.6 not-ready-for-prime-time bug. doug

July 25, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Partition table blues

by Gregory Avedissian

Hi Doug, I haven't tried fdisk /mbr because I don't really fully understand what it does and have never seen a good explanation of how it will affect linux partitions. This morning, I read that it shouldn't be used on disks that have more than four partitions. I have five partitions and some unclaimed space. I might try it later today. Beside that, anything of value is on the linux side of the disk. (That's not a microsoft slur, it's just where I have my files.) So, while I would like to be able to get the whole thing back to its original working order as a learning exercise, I'm more motivated to get to the linux partitions. Thanks again, Greg doug waud wrote: > Hi again > > This time, let's try focussing on one thing to try. > > I don't see that you have ever tried the standard way to restore the MBR > for Windows --- boot a Windows floppy with fdisk on it and type > fdisk /mbr > and, if you still cannot boot windows, add a > sys c: > > It is not clear from here why you did not try this. > > doug > > > Gregory Avedissian wrote: > >> doug waud wrote: >> >>> Hi again Greg >>> >>> Gregory Avedissian wrote: >>> >>>> There were three backups of the mbr. One made under dos with >>>> debug.exe, and the others made with linux as, >>>> >>>> dd if=/dev/hda of=/boot/boot.MBR bs=512 count=1 >>>> dd if=/dev/hda of=/boot/boot.446.MBR bs=446 count=1 >>>> >>>> I restored with: >>>> >>>> dd if=/boot/boot.MBR of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 >>>> I think maybe I picked the wrong one. >> >> >> >> > I admit I would have used the second, safer (since it does not >> touch the >> > partition table), but I don't see why the 512 bs variant would not >> have >> > worked unless you had changed the partition table since making that >> > boot.MBR file. >> >> No, I didn't change the partition table. I made these backups within >> days of installing, so that I would have copies of a new, working mbr. >> >>> >>> It is hard to tell what went wrong until you tell us what you were >>> doing just before the system no longer would boot. (Those two lines >>> creating the boot.xyz files would only read from the first 512 or 446 >>> bytes not do any writing there so they cannot be the cause of your >>> troubles.) >>> >>> >>> Why don't you boot from a bootable floppy? Alternatively, start the >>> SuSE recovery mechanism which includes "boot an installed system" as >>> an option. If all that is screwed up it the MBR, you could then >>> simply run LILO to refresh it. >>> >> >> I had a new win98 installation working ok, then I installed suse8.2 >> and set it up so that it would boot with GRUB from floppy. I don't recall >> if I ever tried to boot from the harddrive to get into windows after I >> installed suse, but I know I could get there from the floppy. >> >> When I did try to boot off the hard drive two days ago, it hung with >> the message, "Disk boot failure. Insert system disk." >> >> I could still boot to win or linux from the grub floppy at this point. >> I tried restoring the mbr in dos with debug.exe, and that didn't help. >> I could still boot to linux with the floppy, and I can't remember if I >> could still boot to windows. Then I tried restoring with >> dd if=/boot/boot.MBR of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 >> >> After that, I couldn't boot from the grub floppy anymore. Trying to >> boot the installed system from the rescue disk also failed. I then >> booted to the rescue system. Output of sfdisk -l looked like this: >> >> Disk /dev/hda: 3737 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track >> /dev/hda: unrecognized partition >> No partitions found >> >> Repeating the restore procedure with debug.exe didn't help, either. >> >> >> Thanks, >> Greg >> > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

July 25, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Partition table blues

by J Schonberg

I know that the original question was based on a suse8.2 installation but I'm guessing this is the Linux 2.6 kernel bug that has been discussed at length in other places. Have you tried sfdisk? Details and a solution here : http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2004-May/msg00908.html Cheers. Jason. --- doug waud <douglas.waud(a)umassmed.edu> wrote: > Hi again > > This time, let's try focussing on one thing to try. > > I don't see that you have ever tried the standard way to restore > the MBR > for Windows --- boot a Windows floppy with fdisk on it and type > fdisk /mbr > and, if you still cannot boot windows, add a > sys c: > > It is not clear from here why you did not try this. > > doug > > > Gregory Avedissian wrote: > > doug waud wrote: > > > >> Hi again Greg > >> > >> Gregory Avedissian wrote: > >> > >>> There were three backups of the mbr. One made under dos with > >>> debug.exe, and the others made with linux as, > >>> > >>> dd if=/dev/hda of=/boot/boot.MBR bs=512 count=1 > >>> dd if=/dev/hda of=/boot/boot.446.MBR bs=446 count=1 > >>> > >>> I restored with: > >>> > >>> dd if=/boot/boot.MBR of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 > >>> I think maybe I picked the wrong one. > > > > > > > I admit I would have used the second, safer (since it does not > touch the > > > partition table), but I don't see why the 512 bs variant would > not have > > > worked unless you had changed the partition table since making > that > > > boot.MBR file. > > > > No, I didn't change the partition table. I made these backups > within > > days of installing, so that I would have copies of a new, working > mbr. > > > >> > >> It is hard to tell what went wrong until you tell us what you > were > >> doing just before the system no longer would boot. (Those two > lines > >> creating the boot.xyz files would only read from the first 512 > or 446 > >> bytes not do any writing there so they cannot be the cause of > your > >> troubles.) > >> > >> > >> Why don't you boot from a bootable floppy? Alternatively, start > the > >> SuSE recovery mechanism which includes "boot an installed > system" as > >> an option. If all that is screwed up it the MBR, you could then > simply > >> run LILO to refresh it. > >> > > > > I had a new win98 installation working ok, then I installed > suse8.2 > > and set it up so that it would boot with GRUB from floppy. I > don't recall > > if I ever tried to boot from the harddrive to get into windows > after I > > installed suse, but I know I could get there from the floppy. > > > > When I did try to boot off the hard drive two days ago, it hung > with the > > message, "Disk boot failure. Insert system disk." > > > > I could still boot to win or linux from the grub floppy at this > point. I > > tried restoring the mbr in dos with debug.exe, and that didn't > help. I > > could still boot to linux with the floppy, and I can't remember > if I > > could still boot to windows. Then I tried restoring with > > dd if=/boot/boot.MBR of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 > > > > After that, I couldn't boot from the grub floppy anymore. Trying > to boot > > the installed system from the rescue disk also failed. I then > booted to > > the rescue system. Output of sfdisk -l looked like this: > > > > Disk /dev/hda: 3737 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track > > /dev/hda: unrecognized partition > > No partitions found > > > > Repeating the restore procedure with debug.exe didn't help, > either. > > > > > > Thanks, > > Greg > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 50x more storage than other providers! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

July 25, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Partition table blues

by doug waud

Hi again This time, let's try focussing on one thing to try. I don't see that you have ever tried the standard way to restore the MBR for Windows --- boot a Windows floppy with fdisk on it and type fdisk /mbr and, if you still cannot boot windows, add a sys c: It is not clear from here why you did not try this. doug Gregory Avedissian wrote: > doug waud wrote: > >> Hi again Greg >> >> Gregory Avedissian wrote: >> >>> There were three backups of the mbr. One made under dos with >>> debug.exe, and the others made with linux as, >>> >>> dd if=/dev/hda of=/boot/boot.MBR bs=512 count=1 >>> dd if=/dev/hda of=/boot/boot.446.MBR bs=446 count=1 >>> >>> I restored with: >>> >>> dd if=/boot/boot.MBR of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 >>> I think maybe I picked the wrong one. > > > > I admit I would have used the second, safer (since it does not touch the > > partition table), but I don't see why the 512 bs variant would not have > > worked unless you had changed the partition table since making that > > boot.MBR file. > > No, I didn't change the partition table. I made these backups within > days of installing, so that I would have copies of a new, working mbr. > >> >> It is hard to tell what went wrong until you tell us what you were >> doing just before the system no longer would boot. (Those two lines >> creating the boot.xyz files would only read from the first 512 or 446 >> bytes not do any writing there so they cannot be the cause of your >> troubles.) >> >> >> Why don't you boot from a bootable floppy? Alternatively, start the >> SuSE recovery mechanism which includes "boot an installed system" as >> an option. If all that is screwed up it the MBR, you could then simply >> run LILO to refresh it. >> > > I had a new win98 installation working ok, then I installed suse8.2 > and set it up so that it would boot with GRUB from floppy. I don't recall > if I ever tried to boot from the harddrive to get into windows after I > installed suse, but I know I could get there from the floppy. > > When I did try to boot off the hard drive two days ago, it hung with the > message, "Disk boot failure. Insert system disk." > > I could still boot to win or linux from the grub floppy at this point. I > tried restoring the mbr in dos with debug.exe, and that didn't help. I > could still boot to linux with the floppy, and I can't remember if I > could still boot to windows. Then I tried restoring with > dd if=/boot/boot.MBR of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 > > After that, I couldn't boot from the grub floppy anymore. Trying to boot > the installed system from the rescue disk also failed. I then booted to > the rescue system. Output of sfdisk -l looked like this: > > Disk /dev/hda: 3737 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track > /dev/hda: unrecognized partition > No partitions found > > Repeating the restore procedure with debug.exe didn't help, either. > > > Thanks, > Greg >

July 25, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Partition table blues

by Gregory Avedissian

doug waud wrote: > Hi again Greg > > Gregory Avedissian wrote: > >> There were three backups of the mbr. One made under dos with >> debug.exe, and the others made with linux as, >> >> dd if=/dev/hda of=/boot/boot.MBR bs=512 count=1 >> dd if=/dev/hda of=/boot/boot.446.MBR bs=446 count=1 >> >> I restored with: >> >> dd if=/boot/boot.MBR of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 >> I think maybe I picked the wrong one. > I admit I would have used the second, safer (since it does not touch the > partition table), but I don't see why the 512 bs variant would not have > worked unless you had changed the partition table since making that > boot.MBR file. No, I didn't change the partition table. I made these backups within days of installing, so that I would have copies of a new, working mbr. > > It is hard to tell what went wrong until you tell us what you were doing > just before the system no longer would boot. (Those two lines creating > the boot.xyz files would only read from the first 512 or 446 bytes not > do any writing there so they cannot be the cause of your troubles.) > > > Why don't you boot from a bootable floppy? Alternatively, start the SuSE > recovery mechanism which includes "boot an installed system" as an > option. If all that is screwed up it the MBR, you could then simply run > LILO to refresh it. > I had a new win98 installation working ok, then I installed suse8.2 and set it up so that it would boot with GRUB from floppy. I don't recall if I ever tried to boot from the harddrive to get into windows after I installed suse, but I know I could get there from the floppy. When I did try to boot off the hard drive two days ago, it hung with the message, "Disk boot failure. Insert system disk." I could still boot to win or linux from the grub floppy at this point. I tried restoring the mbr in dos with debug.exe, and that didn't help. I could still boot to linux with the floppy, and I can't remember if I could still boot to windows. Then I tried restoring with dd if=/boot/boot.MBR of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 After that, I couldn't boot from the grub floppy anymore. Trying to boot the installed system from the rescue disk also failed. I then booted to the rescue system. Output of sfdisk -l looked like this: Disk /dev/hda: 3737 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track /dev/hda: unrecognized partition No partitions found Repeating the restore procedure with debug.exe didn't help, either. Thanks, Greg

July 25, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Partition table blues

by doug waud

Hi again Greg Gregory Avedissian wrote: > There were three backups of the mbr. One made under dos with debug.exe, > and the others made with linux as, > > dd if=/dev/hda of=/boot/boot.MBR bs=512 count=1 > dd if=/dev/hda of=/boot/boot.446.MBR bs=446 count=1 > > I restored with: > > dd if=/boot/boot.MBR of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 > I think maybe I picked the wrong one. I admit I would have used the second, safer (since it does not touch the partition table), but I don't see why the 512 bs variant would not have worked unless you had changed the partition table since making that boot.MBR file. > also tried restoring with > debug.exe, according to a long set of instructions that I could provide > but not explain. Unfortunately, the only copies of the linux versions > were on the hard drive, so I couldn't repeat that unless (until) I can > suck the files off the lost drive. Why don't you boot from a bootable floppy? Alternatively, start the SuSE recovery mechanism which includes "boot an installed system" as an option. If all that is screwed up it the MBR, you could then simply run LILO to refresh it. > There's a good possibility of retrieving those files, along with the > data files I want, thanks to a friend. Or see above. > And I probably won't even keep > the drive as a win/linux combo, but start over again with two drives. While I agree that's a good idea in general, it will still not prevent you blowing away something if you put your mind to it! :-) > But I'd still like to know where I went wrong and if there's a way to > reverse it. It is hard to tell what went wrong until you tell us what you were doing just before the system no longer would boot. (Those two lines creating the boot.xyz files would only read from the first 512 or 446 bytes not do any writing there so they cannot be the cause of your troubles.) Note that generally, when you are asking for help, providing your diagnosis (i.e. "I blew away the MBR") is not very helpful. Rather your should provide an objective description of what is not happening correctly, like "I can no longer boot linux" etc. The point is that, since you are in over your head (or you would not be posting a query), your diagnosis is not going to be very reliable so anyone trying to help you will need to know what your were actually doing just before the problem arose not what you think you did. They can then make their diagnosis and/or prognosis/treatment. doug

July 25, 2004

Problem with mount command

by Andy Stewart

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI Everybody, I have a problem with 'mount' between versions 2.11x and 2.12. Under 2.11x, this command worked just fine: mount -o port=3049,intr localhost:/null /crypt However, with the 2.12 version of mount, the command hangs and never returns. I have to kill the mount process to recover. Strace reports that the process is hanging at the "mount" call. Also, under 2.12, I do see entries in /var/log/messages indicating that a successful request was made to export /null: Jul 24 18:51:58 tux mountd[1843]: NFS mount of /null attempted from 127.0.0.1 Jul 24 18:51:58 tux mountd[1843]: /null has been mounted by 127.0.0.1 However, in another window, the "mount" command by itself does not show the NFS mount. All other NFS exporting/importing operations work just fine. The difference seems to be the two versions of mount and the use of the "port" option. I've downloaded the util-linux sources but so far cannot find a change that would effect this behavior. In case you are wondering what brought all of this about, I am trying to get my cryptographic file system (CFS by Matt Blaze) working under SuSE 9.1. I found a version of /bin/mount from another Linux system, and using that, I can access my files, but I really want to know why version 2.12 of util-linux broke/changed things. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks! Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFBAwW9Hl0iXDssISsRAiB6AJ0fLoy8/P0GXccouoAvJA5PhclAVACcCv2J 13io+TWed0PHS0xYQpZV7fE= =Dufw -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

July 25, 2004