debian install, 2.4 kernel problem

[db369]

i managed to install debian 3.0r1 with the 2.2 kernel without any problems... until i tried to upgrade to the 2.4 kernel.

since i didn't have much on this system, i decided to try installing fresh with the bf2.4. although, the rescue disk seems to work fine, the root.bin does not work at all. i think the the image may be bad because i've tried 3 floppies and used 2 different win32 utilities (rawrite2.exe & rawritewin.exe, i think those are the names) and i keep getting sector errors ("bogus sector....") after inserting the root disk (when the installer first asks for it...).

has anyone else experienced this? if not, can someone post where they got their images? perhaps i grabbed it from the wrong place ( i dunno and i can't seem to find them again!!)...

thanks!

[bandwidth_pig]

http://www.linuxiso.org is where I have always downloaded my Debian ISO images. But just as a thought, you could have just downloaded the kernel sources from kernel.org and compiled it yourself for the kernel upgrade, or you could have upgraded the kernel the debian way. For additional details on upgrading the kernel the debian way, you will find a detailed procedure on the debian page and for doing so from source, you can find a detialed procedure here in the library. I have used the procedure here in the library many times and it has never failed me. So...could your root.bin be bad? Sure. You could always go back and install the way you did prior and use one of the methods I have described for upgrading the kernel. If your new to debian, congrats on a excellent choice! :D

[db369]

thx for the link. i didn't know about that site -- you see, i am a n00b! unfortunately, i only have access to the floppy drive (i broke the cdrom some months back).

i tried bf2.4 again from a different source and same issue. so i'm installing deb3.0r1 (2.2.20) as i write this. i guess i'll try upgrading again (this time i won't be so stupid about it;) ).

thx again!

--db

[sharth]

install the old one, and then try apt-get install kernel-image-2.4.18bf2.4 or whatever that is. apt-cache search kernel-image for choices.

[db369]

sharth,

that's actually how i mucked it up before -- i used apt-get and didn't follow all the directions -- couldn't figure some stuff out (like how to log in to X as root so i can edit the lilo.conf file, etc..)....

i'll give it a try again. thx.

[sharth]

you can actually open up a terminal, and then use su to change to root.

[db369]

yeah, i know how to su to root, but for some reason, i still got "permission denied!" when trying to edit the lilo.conf...

i think i just gotta get better at using the terminal... sometimes, when frustrated, i'll turn to konqueror to sift through files... its ust easier for this windows boy. :)

but i'll get there. thx!

[motub]

Originally posted by db369
yeah, i know how to su to root, but for some reason, i still got "permission denied!" when trying to edit the lilo.conf...

SU to root does not give you global root access. It only means that commands you type into the terminal will be executed as root-- anything you do via the regular desktop will still be user-mode.

You need to open lilo.conf from the the terminal after su-ing to root. For example: "gedit /etc/lilo.conf". Lilo.conf will open in gedit in read-write mode.

Use whatever text editor you like in place of gedit, but for KDE text editors, you have to open Konqueror in SuperUser Mode (you should have an icon on the Kicker for this by default), then navigate to lilo.conf, then right-click it and 'open with' Kate, KWord, or KWrite, whichever you like.

[db369]

well, i gave it another shot.

i ran apt-get install kernel-image-2.4.18-686 (i'm running on a p2). i managed to alter the lilo.conf file (btw, motub, i think that's exactly what i was doing -- i got it right this time - thx!) with "initrd=/initrd.img", just as indicated. i let it create a symlink and allowed it to create the boot block. it appeared to test it and it passed.

so i rebooted. it gets up to LILO ....................... and it reboots. over and over.

i can get in with the boot disk, but i'm not sure how to fix this -- i've been searching this site and google for the past 1.5 hours (and i know i've seen a post like this before- just can't find it :( ).

what do you guys think it is?

if i figure it out soon, i'll post the fix.

thx!

[sharth]

well, you screwed up lilo, but i don't believe a p2 is a i686.

try installing kernel-image-2.4.18-bf2.4

[motub]

OK, please forgive me for asking, db369, but... did you run the command 'lilo' from the root prompt after you edited lilo.conf? Alternatively, the command '/sbin/lilo'?

This is necessary to inform LiLO that its configuration has changed.

I know it's like being asked "Is the unit plugged in?" when you call the cable company to say that your cable is out, but... sometimes it's not plugged in, after all.

Oh and sharth, apparently the P2 is part of the i686 set, I found this in a reply at Computing.net
i586 = Pentium CPUs
i686 = Pentium Pro, II, III, IV CPUs
makes sense, with i386 then being the pre-Pentium processors (386 and 486).

[db369]

hey guys,

i installed the bf2.4 kernel without a problem -- it actually boots up pretty quickly now. but no pcmcia support. when i searched for the kernel-image, i noticed the pcmcia-module for that kernel, but it wouldn't let me download it via apt-get. i didn't think to try grabbing it from packages.debian.org (at the time).

i booted with 2.2.20 boot disk, downloaded the modules to /tmp/, rebooted into 2.4.18, but i can't see them. i saw them from 2.2.20... so there's something here i don't quite understand.

motub -- no, i didn't run lilo -- the instructions didn't say that i should. i did find it in other documentation, but i didn't want to take a chance that it would screw something up. i wanted to follow the directions to the 'T'. after rebooting, i tried running lilo, but it didn't recognize the command. so i took sharth's advice and installed the bf variant.

it's hard to believe i managed to compile/install the kernel from source with nvidia drivers for an rh8 machine less than a year ago... i forgot a lot... :(

anyway, i will now try saving the pcmcia modules to a floppy.... hope that works. unless you have another suggestion.

thx!

[sharth]

pcmcia-modules-2.4.18-bf2.4?

[db369]

link to pcmcia-module info (http://packages.debian.org/stable/admin/pcmcia-modules-2.4.18-bf2.4.html)

don't know if that helps clear things up for ya...

anyway, i found it and tried to install it in 2.4.18, but i guess i have woody4 and that module is for woody3. so it didn't work.

i'm rifling through every pcmcia howto i can find, but so far they're not much use. i don't even appear to have some of the debug tools that are (i think) supposed to be installed with the pcmcia support.

any thoughts?

[edit: fyi, i'm running on a p2, 166MHz laptop. not sure if caused any confusion.]

[db369]

i got it working now! in case anyone else has the same issue, i'll post how i fixed it.

basically, i studied the differences between the start-up messages (fsck? / dmesg?) for the 2.2.20 boot disk and the 2.4.18-bf2.4 on the hdd. i noticed that the PCMCIA service wasn't finding files in the the /lib/modules/*bf*/pcmcia folder. i checked and it was blank.

1) so i downloaded the kernel-source for 2.4.18 and extracted to /usr/src.

2) downloaded latest pcmcia-cs drivers from pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net and extracted them.

3) su to root and run 'make install'. point to correct kernel-source folder (for me, it was '/usr/src/kernel-source-2.4.18'). then i answered all questions with 'yes'.

3a) the first time i tried this, i entered defaults and it didn't work. the 2nd time, answering 'yes' to all did work...

4) checked the /lib/modules/*bf*/pcmcia folder to make sure that the missing files are there... and they were for me.

5) reboot

and now it works! thx for everyone's help!!

[sharth]

coolies on the i686 thingie. I thought it was p3 and up for some reason or another. silly me :) but yay for getting it all fixed.