Cannot open root device "341"?

Forum: HD Install
Topic: Cannot open root device "341"?
started by: chickenman

Posted by chickenman on April 19 2005,03:23

The error I am getting is:

"VFS: cannot open root device "341" or 03:41"

I have no clue what this means. I am trying to boot off a HDD install I transplanted into a Ppro (200Mhz), 64mb RAM, 20Gb HDD. The install ation runs on a diffrent computer of mine but I get that error when the Ppro tries to boot it. Does this have anything to do with the amount of hard-disk the old motherboard can take?

I really dont have the slightest clue what this error message is supposed to mean, any help would be greatly appreiated at this point.

note: The computer WILL boot off a live CD but only if I use a strange MBR, its an ISOLINUX problem so I used the alternative recomended by the project "Smart Boot Loader" or something. But this MBR dosent seem to boot anything except CD's as when I tell it to boot HDD it just loops back to its own menu!

Thanks in advance...

Posted by stumped on April 19 2005,14:16

OK, the installation DOSENT run on the other system, I must have left the CD/flashdrive in or at least it wont work now...

anyway, I think it is lilo thats having problems I think its in the

"root=/dev/hda1"
Line of lilo.conf, because I also get an error message reqesting that I change such a value. But /dev/hda1 should be the correct directory!

Is there a way I can check what my devices are being recognised as?

And how do I change lilo.conf if I am not in the actual operating system that the file applies to. Running live CD dosent seem to allow editing even when root -and even if it did, would running the "lilo" command still work?

Posted by chickenman on April 19 2005,14:41

Could I use the Extlinux bootloader insted of lilo?

I have NO idea how to set this up, or if it is possable (but i've been trying anyway to no success)

...

Posted by chickenman on April 20 2005,07:27

I get the following error when I do a HDD install on the drive:

The copying of system files has been completed.
Setting up /root/
Setting up /home/dsl/
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
mount: No medium found
cp: cannot stat `/mnt/bootimg/boot/isolinux/linux24': No such file or directory
umount: /mnt/bootimg: not mounted

Any ideas?, anyone?

Posted by Grim on April 21 2005,12:05

Quote

mount: No medium found
cp: cannot stat `/mnt/bootimg/boot/isolinux/linux24': No such file or directory
umount: /mnt/bootimg: not mounted

The installer script can't find the CD. Usually when mount gripes about `No medium found' it's when somebody tries to mount a non-existant device.

I bet you have two optical drives.

Just as a excercise, try putting a copy of DSL into both optical drives and do the install again. I bet it finds `/mnt/bootimg/boot/isolinux/linux24' this time.

Posted by chickenman on April 22 2005,08:22

I dont have two optical drives (pluged in at the moment) but i do have a flash drive that i was booting from and a cd rom drive...

Anyhow, i will try with a cd in the drive at a later time as i have work soon (10 min)

thanks for your reply.

Posted by chickenman - not loged in on April 24 2005,12:45

Yep, that did the trick on the install error

AND i've fixed my other problem;

you see lilo was originally configured where hda1 was the primary master so "root=/dev/hda1" was in the configuration file. But on the other compter i was accidentally pluging the drive into the secondary master IDE channel so lilo would then need "root=/dev/hdc1" (not what it had of corse)

so plugging the drive into the other IDE channel fixed it strange as it might seem.

I am posting not logged in because firefox had an error and dillo seems just too crappy to handle loging in (althogh i do seem to recal it working a long time ago, it dosent matter.