On Tue, Jan 04, 2005 at 11:42:45AM +0100, Steffen Grunewald wrote: > Hi, > > did a fresh installation (with unchanged configuration, just to update > the set of packages on the machine), and ended up with an unbootable > system. (The last successful attempt dates back to 20041221; I'm using > sarge.) > > Looking through the log files, and trying to re-do the failed kernel > installation step, I found that the message > > /usr/sbin/mkinitrd: device /dev/hda1 is not a block device > > has been caused by an almost empty /dev/ directory below /tmp/target: > > xxx:/dev# ls > MAKEDEV fd loop net nvram pts shm stderr stdout > core initctl mouse null ppp scsi sndstat stdin xconsole
Since a pure MAKEDEV also didn't work from the command line, I digged somewhat deeper and found that the /.dev directory would be used if it is mounted. (This seems to be a 2.6 feature which I don't know how to handle yet, so any hints are appreciated.) Unmounting /.dev would make the devices in the correct place. So everything boils down how to avoid the /tmp/target/.dev tree being mounted... who knows how? (Note that I didn't change anything. The vmlinuz-install is dated Sep 11, and there have been no significant changes to neither the /fai tree nor the setup of the server while I was on vacation. So it must be a new feature of one or more upgraded packages...) CHeers, Steffen -- Steffen Grunewald * * * Merlin cluster admin (http://pandora.aei.mpg.de) Albert-Einstein-Institut (MPI Gravitationsphysik, http://www.aei.mpg.de) Science Park Golm, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam, Germany e-mail: steffen.grunewald(*)aei.mpg.de * +49-331-567-{fon:7233,fax:7298}