Gentoo installation help

[frontwards]

i'm getting these errors after installing gentoo....

attempt to access beyond end of device
01:00: rw=0, want=4163, limit=4096

BusyBox v1.00-pre7 (2004.07.04-02:48+0000) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of commands

/bin/sh:can't access tty; job control turned off
attemt to access beyond end of device
01:00: rw=0, want=4171, limit=4096
attemt to access beyond end of device
01:00: rw=0, want=4171, limit=4096
/#

this happened right after i had gotten done compiling my Gentoo system. I get this message after the GRUB boot screen. the computer starts to boot normally (i think, but this is my first time, so i don't know for sure) and then comes to a stop giving me those errors. my kernel is 2.4.25-gentoo-r1.

 

[oniq]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=+attempt+to+access+beyond+end+of+device&btnG=Google+Search

 

[LavrentiBeria]

Try adding ramdisk=8196 to the kernel line in grub.conf. If you don't know how to do that, write again.

LavrentiBeria

 

[lowpost]

the gentoo forum is a much better help desk than AT when dealing with gentoo specific errors

 

[frontwards]

Originally posted by: LavrentiBeria
Try adding ramdisk=8196 to the kernel line in grub.conf. If you don't know how to do that, write again.

LavrentiBeria

i'll try this. i do know how to edit the file when i am at the boot screen, but i'm not sure how to make perminant changes to it at this point. i mean, i did it when i was following the instruction manual, but i'm still a bit confused about all the mounting and such that i will need to do to open the file using nano.

here is what my grub.conf file looks like...

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.4.25-r1
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.4.25-gentoo-r1 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/hda3
initrd /initrd-2.4.25-gentoo-r1

also, i want to be able to boot windows from the grub screen, but i'm not sure what gentoo recognises my HDD that contains windows as. i have linux on a IDE HDD and windows xp is on a SATA HDD. any ideas?

 

[silverpig]

Shouldn't you have

kernel /boot/kernel-2.4.25-gentoo-r1 ?

Or do you have all of your kernel stuff in / ?

If you want to boot windows from the grub screen, then you have to add that into grub.conf

titles=Windows XP
chainloader(0,1)

or something like that. It's all in the gentoo online install manual in the bootloader section.

And the gentoo forums are a MUCH better resource than AT for this type of thing.

And in order to have linux recognize your sata hd, you have to compile sata support in the kernel. There are a number of different kernel options which will allow this. Again, gentoo forums for help.

 

[LavrentiBeria]

Well, if I'm right about adding the ramdisk entry to the kernel line in grub.conf you should be up and running very quickly. Reboot and as soon as the grub splashscreen appears, hit "e". You'll see a couple of lines there that you can edit on the spot. We're looking to edit the kernel line. To that line simply add an entry "ramdisk=8196" (without the quotation marks, of course). Make sure you give that entry one space after the end of the "real_root=/dev/hda3 entry, in this fashion:

kernel /kernel-2.4.25-gentoo-r1 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/hda3 ramdisk=8196.

From there Esc and Enter to finish booting.

Now, as to the further editing of grub.conf to accomodate the dual boot, the Gentoo installation instructions cover that matter exhaustively, I believe. Once you're at run level three and have logged on as root and given your password, if you've elected to use a separate /boot partition, run mount /dev/xxxx /boot, then nano -w /boot/grub/grub.conf, and edit your file according to those instructions. If you've not used a separate boot partition the mounting step will not be necessary. When you're done with the edit, run umount /boot and you're on your way.

Let me know if this approach gets you started. It would be a shame indeed after all that work getting Gentoo installed successfully that something along these lines would keep you away from the end product. I was new once too, frontwards, and not knowing your way around can be very frustrating. I only hope I've understood the underlying problem adequately.

LavrentiBeria

 

[frontwards]

setting "ramdisk=8196" in the kernel line did the trick for getting past that step. thanks a lot LavrentiBeria.

oh, and thanks for directing me to the gentoo forums everyone. that was a no-brainer, i just didn't ever think of it.