FW: New Thread - Getting "Block 0 not valid bootblock" error

From: Jim Hoepner (jhoepner@tvsw.org)
Date: Wed Jun 14 2000 - 09:16:16 PDT

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    From: "Jim Hoepner" <jhoepner@tvsw.org>
    Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 11:16:16 -0500
    Message-ID: <000a01bfd61b$dea04650$921f43a7@pc01319.emd.com>
    Subject: FW: New Thread - Getting "Block 0 not valid bootblock" error
    

    Hi, I made a few changes and now I get to a "aboot>"
    prompt.
    In short, I re-did the BSD disk label to:
                                            a: = /boot (started at cyl 3)
                                            b: = swap (cyl 4-270)
                                            c: = / (cyl 271-8347)
    and I did not create DOS partitions 1-4 because my swap is
    recognized when I go in/out of YaST.

    Here's the install sequence:
    ************************************************************
    CONSOLE COMMAND DESCRIPTION
    SRM >>>set boot_file ""
    SRM >>>set bootdef_dev ""
    SRM >>>set boot_osflags ""
    SRM >>>boot dka200 -fl 0 (boot from CD)

    fdisk b enter BSD mode
    fdisk n create partition tbl
            a:Cyl 3-13, type ext2 (d) ( mount to /boot)
            b:Cyl 14-270, type swap (8) ( swap )
            c:Cyl 271-8347, type ext2 (8) ( mount to / )
    fdisk w write partition to disk
    fdisk q quit fdisk
    fdisk ALT-F1 go back to YaST
    YaST ABORT go back to YaST's main
                                                    menu and go back in so
                                                    the swap partition is
                                                    recognized

    When YaST starts choose 'DO NOT PARTITION' and it finds
    the partitions created in step 6. I just hit <CONTINUE>
    to move out of the 'EDITING THE PARTITIONTABLE' menu to
    the 'CREATING FILESYSTEMS' menu.

    YaST F5 Set /boot and /
                                                    "block size" to 1024
    YaST F4 Set mount points
                                                    sda1 /boot
                                                    sda3 /
    YaST F6 Choose 'NORMAL' format
                                                    sda1 and sda3

    YaST Press <CONTINUE> format and boot to
                                                    'Installation' screen.
    YaST Select 'Load Configuration'
    YaST - SuSE Default
    YaST Install AXP kernel to /boot
    YasT Install .config to /usr/src/linux
    YaST Yast reboots
                                                    Input config settings.
              Set 'TIMEZONE'
              Set 'HOSTNAME'
              Set 'SENDMAIL CONFIGURATION'
              Set 'MODEM CONFIGURATION'
              Set 'MOUSE CONFIGURATION'

    YaST Yast boots system.

    SuSE jed /etc/aboot.conf
                    Create Entry:
                            0:1/boot/vmlinuz.gz ro root=/dev/sda3
    SuSE swriteboot -fl 1/dev/sda /boot/bootlx

            SHUTDOWN / RESTART
            NOTE: When YaST restarts it stops at SRM menu.

    SRM >>>boot dka0 -file "/boot/vmlinux.gz"
                    -flags "ro root=/dev/sda3"

    Now it stops at the 'aboot>' prompt asking for kernel and
    arguments which would be ok but I don't know what to enter?
    Do I need to run "abootconf" to move on?

    Once I can boot from SRM I will update the "AUTO_ACTION"
    system variable to 'boot'. I think it's set to HALT now.
    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    Thanks Again and Again!
    jrh

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Ruediger Oertel [mailto:ro@suse.de]
    Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2000 3:58 PM
    To: Jim Hoepner
    Subject: RE: [suse-axp] FW: [suse-axp] Getting "Block 0 not
    valid
    bootblock"error

    On Tue, 13 Jun 2000, Jim Hoepner wrote:

    > Thanks Ruediger, this is good stuff! I'm gonna try a fix
    > tonight. I know what you mean about trying to format sda1
    > with ext2. I erased my disklabel two times but had no
    idea
    > why it was happening!
    >
    > When I quit last night I was stuck at the SRM prompt.
    Would
    > the following procedure work?
    >
    ************************************************************
    > >>>set boot_file /boot/vmlinux.gz
    > >>>set bootdef_dev dka0
    > >>>set boot_osflags "ro root=/dev/sda2"
    > >>>boot dka0 -file "/boot/vmlinux.gz" -flags "ro
    root=/dev/sda2"

    > Now hopefully it will boot to Linux?
    It should.
    Note, that you can either specify ''set boot_osflags "abcd"
    ''
    or use the command-line switch ''boot ... -flags "abcd" ''
    where the command-line switch will override.
    The same goes for boot_file and bootdef_dev.

    >
    > Then verify /etc/aboot.conf has:
    > 0:2/boot/vmlinuz.gz ro root=/dev/sda2
    This line is the third way to set the above parameters.
    If boot_osflags and/or boot_file are empty and no "-flags
    ..."
    and or "-file ..." are given on the command-line,
    aboot will read this from /etc/aboot.conf.
    It is looking for this file on a given partition,
    configurable
    with "abootconf /dev/sda" (for query) and
         "abootconf /dev/sda [number]" for setting.

    For completeness, all commands on the SRM can be
    abbreviated,
      boot dka0 -file "aa" -flags "bb"
    can also be
      b dka0 -fi "aa" -fl "bb"

    >
    > Now write to block 1?
    > # swriteboot -fl /dev/sda /boot/bootlx
    Correct.
    >
    > Done. Assuming SuSE will auto-boot now?
    Auto-boot is a different story, this is configured with the
    SRM environment variable "auto_action" (or "AUTO_ACTION" ,
    I'm not sure here), which you can set to "boot" to make the
    machine automatically boot from disk after power-on and
    initialisation.
    >
    ************************************************************
    >
    > Thanks very much!
    > jrh
    >
    >

    --
    with kind regards (mit freundlichem Grinsen),
                                  Ruediger Oertel (ro@suse.de)
    ----------------------------------------------------------
              does "DONT PANIC" give a hint ?
    



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