backup/restore fails upon reboot

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: backup/restore fails upon reboot
started by: stevesr0

Posted by stevesr0 on Sep. 25 2007,03:16

I configured my wireless card running the live CD and wanted to backup this up and restore to automatically configure when I boot up.

I didn't get any error message when I mounted the pen drive and told the backup/restore tool to use sda1 as the backup device. However, when I rebooted, the system provided error messages relative to the usb drive and I didn't have wireless function. Then, when I reran the configuration with ndiswrapper, it reported problems with usb.

I reviewed this in my copy of the Official Damn Small Linux Book and don't find any suggestions for what I am doing wrong.

Appreciate advice, suggestions...

Thanks.

Steve

Posted by stevesr0 on Sep. 29 2007,00:00

This is only a "bump", since no one responded to the original post.

Thanks

Steve

Posted by roberts on Sep. 29 2007,03:02

If you have an invalid device then perhaps the pendrive is corrupt.
But lets look at a few items...

Post the results of the following commands:

showbootcodes

lsusb

lsmod | grep usb

fdisk -l /dev/sda

Posted by stevesr0 on Sep. 29 2007,13:25

Thanks.

The output for those four commands is listed below.

Note a complicating factor; I got the invalid device with the flash (pen) drive that DSL had previously copied the backup.tar.gz file onto. Today, I realized that it was not mountable under DSL (haven't tried under other linux distros, Mac OS X or Win XP yet). Therefore, I switched to another one and this one was mountable, and DOESN'T give an invalid drive error. However, it still doesn't autoconfig wireless at reboot (It is plugged in before I boot and I am using "dsl nodhcp dsl restore=sda" bootcodes.).

So, perhaps the question is can I setup the backup and restore to autoconnect to my WEP secured wireless home network or even autodetect my Broadcom card (using ndiswrapper) or at this time does this require manual steps at each boot. Is it possible to use the backup/restore tool to auto configure the relevant init or config files at boot, perhaps with a "trick" to delay the timing of one or another processes or services or... (sorry, I am nontechie).

Anyway, the output you suggested I report is below (with the pen drive that DOESN't yield an invalid device error).

Steve
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[/ramdisk/home/dsl]# lsusb
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0781:7104 SanDisk Corp.

[/ramdisk/home/dsl]# showbootcodes
ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off vga=791 initrd=minirt24.gz nomce noapic quiet BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix BOOT_IMAGE=linux24 nodhcp dsl restore=sda1
[/ramdisk/home/dsl]# lsmod | grep usb
usb-storage 61952 1
usb-uhci 21516 0 (unused)
usbcore 58016 1 [ndiswrapper hid usb-storage usb-uhci ehci-hcd]

[/ramdisk/home/dsl]# fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 262 MB, 262144000 bytes
32 heads, 33 sectors/track, 484 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1056 * 512 = 540672 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 485 255984 6 FAT16
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(0, 1, 1) logical=(0, 0, 33)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(254, 31, 33) logical=(484, 27, 5)

Posted by roberts on Sep. 29 2007,13:48

Seems that your pendrive issue is resolved and so now your question is concerning backup/restore and autoconfiguration of your wireless using ndiswrapper.

If you used the ndiswrapper GUI then the script has created a /opt/myndis.sh script with your settings. You may manually run (sudo /opt/myndis.sh) that script to setup wireless. If you wish that this script be run everytime upon boot up then add that script to /opt/bootlocal.sh. But if you had used the ndiswrapper GUI you would have been prompted for such saving and autorun.

Likely you manually entered the ndiswrapper commands at a shell prompt. You may then wish to enter those commands directly into /opt/bootlocal.sh. Commands in /opt/bootlocal.sh are run as root and do so upon each boot.

Posted by stevesr0 on Sep. 29 2007,18:14

Thanks; that sounds quite sensible and I will try it.

I did use the ndiswrapper gui (in the dsl panel) and I was not prompted to save the information anywhere. There is a separate shortcut icon to ndiswrapper in the system folder; does that invoke the same ndiswrapper gui app as the DSL panel button? I will try that to see if the behavior is different.

I was not asked for the addresses for the wireless static ip, gateway, broadcast or DNS name servers addresses (unlike the netcard method). As the static IP assigned was different from the one I usually use with this machine, I wonder if there is a way to specify a specific ip address when using this gui?

this go around I will look at the bootlocal files to see if I understand how to save the info to it for an upcoming reboot.

Thanks again.

Steve