On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 6:24 PM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi all, > > (This is both an install report and a help request, so I'm cross-posting on > debian-boot and debian-user.) > > I'm trying to install Debian on a late 2008 MacBook Pro. > > I had no luck with Debian Etch 4.0r5 (AMD64): the keyboard couln't be set > correctly (it reacted as if the control key was continuously pressed) and > the CD drive was not recognized ("No common CD-ROM drive was detected", said > the installer). > > With Debian Lenny RC1 (AMD64), everything was correctly detected. I > formatted the third partition (/dev/sda3) as a LVM physical volume and > volume group. I splitted that volume group into two logical volumes, one > for the root filesystem and one for swap. I had to reboot to sync the MBR > and GPT tables (in rEFIt), and the install process finished without any > problems; LILO installed its boot record on /dev/sda3 without complaining, > and the Linux partition is recognized by rEFIt. However, when I booted the > system, LILO loaded the kernel, but it failed miserably at the very > beginning of the boot process (it's the fifth line it prints): > > Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs or > unknown-block(253,1) > > I rebooted with the install disk in rescue mode to debug the problem. My > first idea was that the LVM module was not build into the kernel, which > could prevent Linux to access the LVM partition. I was right, so I compiled > a new kernel: > > apt-get install linux-source-2.6.26 > cat /boot/config-2.6.26-1-amd64 | sed -e > 's/CONFIG_BLK_DEV_DM=m/CONFIG_BLK_DEV_DM=y/' > .config > make-kpkg --initrd --revision foo kernel_image > dpkg -i kernel-image-2.6.26_foo.deb > > The boot process indeed goes a few steps further, but fails again: > > RAMDISK: Couldn't find valid RAM disk image starting at 0 > VFS: Cannot open root device "fd01" or unknown-block(253,1) > Please append correct "root=" boot option; here are the available > partitions: > Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs or > unknown-block(253,1) > > I then tried to add the ext2, ext3 and cramfs modules in the system, but > with no more luck. > > I also tried various configurations for LILO, again with no luck: > - root=/dev/mapper/vg-root (default setup by Debian installer) > - append="root=/dev/mapper/vg-root" > - root=/dev/ram0 append="lvm2root=/dev/mapper/vg-root" > - append="root=/dev/ram0 lvm2root=/dev/mapper/vg-root" > > When the "root=/dev/ram0" option is passed to the kernel, I get IIRC the > following error: > > RAMDISK: Couldn't find valid RAM disk image starting at 0 > VFS: Cannot open root device 100 or unknown-block(0,0) > Please append correct "root=" boot option; here are the available > partitions: > Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs or > unknown-block(0,0) > > and with "root=/dev/mapper/vg-root" I get: > > RAMDISK: Couldn't find valid RAM disk image starting at 0 > VFS: Cannot open root device "mapper/vg-root" or unknown-block(0,0) > Please append correct "root=" boot option; here are the available > partitions: > Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs or > unknown-block(0,0) > > Any ideas?
By no means an expert, but if the installer boots, have you tried breaking out into a shell / rescue mode, finding out what modules are loaded, and compiling them in? Dirty, but may just work... What is your lilo config? Are you sure your initrd is being found? M -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]