[NTLUG:Discuss] Boot from SATA drive

[Rob Apodaca]

The most common reason I get kernel panic when moving root partitions
around is no support for the drive interface in the kernel (for example;
moving the root partition from and ide disk to a scsi disk). This
support must be compiled in - not as module. I'm guessing since you can
access the disk from your original setup, the kernel might have the sata
device support loaded as module. During your original install, Fedora
likely detected that your root partition was on the ide interface and
therefore, compiled support for the sata device as module. Installer
programs will usually try to compile only what is necessary to boot the
system and the rest get compiled as modules.

To check, you can look for your device in dmesg and look for a loaded
module. Do dmesg|less and look for the name/type of sata device. Then
mount your sata drive and run lsmod. Look for the module that is likely
being autoloaded when you mount the drive.

If you find it is being loaded as a module, you'll need to recompile
your kernel with the sata device (not module). If you are unsure how to
do this, google around for kernel compile howto's (look for
redhat/fedora specific ones). Or you might just do a fresh install on
the new disk...the installer should compile your kernel with the correct
support if you are putting your root partition on the sata drive. If you
are the adventurous type, I suggest learning and trying kernel
compiling...it's a great way to get to know your hardware. In the end,
you can strip out uneeded stuff from your kernel.

Cheers,
-Rob


On Sat, 2005-02-26 at 16:05 -0600, Jack Snodgrass wrote:
> Two more things... 
> 1). I did change me /etc/fstab to use /usr/local and swap on the 
> sata (/dev/sda5 and /dev/sda2 )drive  so I know that the drive is
> recognized and supported. It's only boot time that is trying to 
> access the root partition that has the issue. I wonder if the 
> kernel has sata support or if it's supposed to be in the initrd 
> thing that loads at boot and is not in there.... 
> 
> 2) I didn't see this get to my gmail account I sent it from. 
> Has anyone had any problems with mail not showing up on gmail
> from the list server? 
> 
> jack
> 
> 
> On Sat, 2005-02-26 at 12:53 -0600, Jack Snodgrass wrote:
> > I have a Fedora FC3 system that I intalled on to a standard, ide, /dev/hda 
> > drive. I've just installed a 160GB SATA drive and rsync'd my partions 
> > to the /dev/sda, SATA drive. 
> > 
> > So far so good....  file wise.... now.... what do I need to do to get the 
> > system to boot off of the sata drive? I think that I can 
> > leave in the /dev/hda drive and boot off of it's MBR... but what
> > if I want to remove the drive alltogether and just boot off of 
> > the SATA drive? 
> > 
> > I changed the /etc/fstab file on the /dev/sda drive to point to the
> > /dev/sda partions ( /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, /dev/sda5, etc ) and 
> > added a grup.conf entry that had root=/dev/sda3 instead of 
> > root=/dev/hda3. I got a kernel panic  when I tried to boot using 
> > root=/dev/sda3.
> > 
> > If anyone has any info, let me know. 
> > 
> > Jack
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > https://ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> > 
> 
> 
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