[mythtv-users] ZOTAC IONITX-B-E installation/configuration...

Nick Rout nick.rout at gmail.com
Sun Jan 3 20:33:37 UTC 2010


On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 9:12 AM, Andrew Close <aclose at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 1:54 PM, Nick Rout <nick.rout at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 8:34 AM, Andrew Close <aclose at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 10:31 PM, R. G. Newbury <newbury at mandamus.org> wrote:
>>>> I ran into a funny problem on an Asus board with an AMI BIOS. It would not
>>>> save the setting to boot from USB first (as HDD) unless there was a USB key
>>>> mounted. It is possible that it is not saving that setting...
>>>
>>> the setting does appear to persist as it shows up in the BIOS settings
>>> when i return after a failed boot.
>>>
>>>> However it sounds more like the install *to* the usb stick. I presume you
>>>> used unetbootin (sp?) or live-cd-tools on another box, to install from the
>>>> CD, to the USB stick. Which raises three possibilities: the MBR was not
>>>> properly initialized (doesn't sound like that however) OR the grub.conf is
>>>> pointing to the wrong place (sounds kinda like that, but ?no error
>>>> message???) or possibly, somehow the OS partitions were not properly
>>>> formatted...still vfat?? or is /boot on ext4, which some setups choke on?
>>>
>>> this problem is more likely, a bad install to the USB key.  i just
>>> stuck the key in anther linux box and ran 'sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc' on
>>> it.  there is one Linux (83 = ext3) partition on the key taking up the
>>> whole key (8GB) and it is listed as bootable.
>>>
>>> [mythtv at MythBackend ~]$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc
>>>
>>> Disk /dev/sdc: 8015 MB, 8015282176 bytes
>>> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 974 cylinders
>>> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
>>> Disk identifier: 0x5641431b
>>>
>>>   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
>>> /dev/sdc1   *           1         637     5116671   83  Linux
>>> [mythtv at MythBackend ~]$
>>>
>>> the USB key is the only 'storage' attached to the IONITX aside from
>>> the USB CD-ROM.  so i originally booted from CD and installed to the
>>> USB key all on the IONITX.  ejected the cd when the install was
>>> complete and the system attempted to reboot from the key (which was
>>> the first boot device, CD was second).  the boot just hangs at
>>> 'initializing kernel'.  the really weird thing is that my USB keyboard
>>> and mouse go dead at this point.  it's like all USB access is dead.
>>> but for the install boot i was booting off the USB CD drive...
>>>
>>> i 'assumed' that installing to the USB key would be the same as
>>> installing to a harddisk.  just pick your target and install.  is
>>> there some other magic that needs to be done at install time to get
>>> the installed kernel to 'know' that it's booting off a USB key?
>>>
>>> thx for the reply :)
>>
>> May be a linHES issue, try their forum? http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/
>
> i'm not sure it's a distro specific issue, unless i'm doing something
> incorrectly with the overall install.  i've also tried installing
> MythBuntu on this USB key with the same results - USB access
> disappears as kernel initializes.
>
> minor breakthrough.  i figured out how to boot without the splash
> screen and can now see the error messages.  unfortunately i don't know
> how to stop/pause the msg's scrolling by so i can only see the final
> screen as things stop.
> so here's what i see:
>
> ::Loading root filesystem module...
> Attempting to create root device '/dev/disk/by-uuid/6be47...'
> ERROR: Failed to parse block device name for '/dev/disk/by-uuid/6be...'
> ERROR: root fs cannot be detected. Try using the rootfstype= kernel parameter.
> Waiting for devices to settle...done.
>
> Root device '/dev/disk/by-uuid/6be...' doesn't exist, attempting to create it
> ERROR: Failed to parse block device name for '/dev/disk/by-uuid/6be...'
> ERROR: Unable to create/detect root device ...
> Dropping to a recovery shell... type 'exit' to reboot
> NOTE: klibc contains to 'ls' binary, use 'echo *' instead
>
> If the device '/dev/disk/by-uuid/6be...' gets created while you are
> here, try adding 'rootdelay=8' or higher to the kernel command-line
> ramfs
> $
>
> on the other machine that i had mounted the USB key i confirmed that
> the UUID listed above (not typed out cause i'm lazy) is the same as
> the UUID assigned to the USB key.  so at least the UUID appears to be
> correct, but for some reason it can't be started/found upon boot, even
> though the Linux kernel loaded on it 'is' booting.  :)
> i can't do anything in the shell i'm dropping into (as mentioned
> above) because all USB devices are disabled at this point.
>
> so does anyone know how to go about getting the USB key block device
> recognized/parsable as it is booting?  or have a clue as to what else
> i can try?
>
> thanks again

Like it says: try adding 'rootdelay=8' or higher to the kernel command-line

To do this on a one off go into the grub command line and add the
magic words to the kernel line, on a more permanent basis edit
/boot/grub/menu.lst


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