RAMDISK: Image too big

RAMDISK: Image too big

[Marcus Hardt]

Hi!

I'm trying xen-2.0.4 on a scientific-linux-3.0.4 dual PIII --
unsuccessfully.

I installed from the tarball 'xen-2.0.4-install.tgz'

The 2.4.29-xen0 kernel reboots after scrubbing some ram (sorry, I forgot
which one). Last line I see is:

 Serial Input -> DOM0 (type 'Ctrl-a' three times to switch input to Xen)

which does not change anything, if I press Ctrl-a however often.


The 2.6.10-xen0 kernel makes it a bit further. hda is recognized, but
unfortunately the root fs cannot be mounted. The last Lines here are:

RAMDISK: Image too big1     (some size info skipped)
panic: unable to mount root fs on unknown block(1,0)



I really don't care if I use 2.4 or 2.6, but one of both should work.

Help greatly appreciated.

Marcus.



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RE: RAMDISK: Image too big

[Ian Pratt]

> The 2.6.10-xen0 kernel makes it a bit further. hda is recognized, but
> unfortunately the root fs cannot be mounted. The last Lines here are:
> 
> RAMDISK: Image too big1     (some size info skipped)
> panic: unable to mount root fs on unknown block(1,0)

It sounds like you're trying to load some random ramdisk with the xen0
kernel, which is a recipe for disaster.

Do you actually need anything in the ramdisk? Our xen0 kernel has most
useful stuff compiled in.

Ian


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Re: RAMDISK: Image too big

[Marcus Hardt]

Quoting Ian Pratt
> > The 2.6.10-xen0 kernel makes it a bit further. hda is recognized, but
> > unfortunately the root fs cannot be mounted. The last Lines here are:
> >
> > RAMDISK: Image too big1     (some size info skipped)
> > panic: unable to mount root fs on unknown block(1,0)
>
> It sounds like you're trying to load some random ramdisk with the xen0
> kernel, which is a recipe for disaster.

Just tried without: Ramdisk too big message vanished. Still getting a 
kernel-panic as above, i.e. unable to mount root fs.

I have plain IDE, with ext3 formatted partitions. HDA gets properly detected 
while booting.

Why does the kernel reboot automatically btw? I'd love to read more about the 
error messages, but I forgot my digicam today.

> Do you actually need anything in the ramdisk? Our xen0 kernel has most
> useful stuff compiled in.

Reasonable. Will check what the original ramdisk is doing.... Maybe right 
after installing 2.0.5.

-- 
Marcus


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RE: RAMDISK: Image too big

[Ian Pratt]

 
> I have plain IDE, with ext3 formatted partitions. HDA gets 
> properly detected 
> while booting.
> 
> Why does the kernel reboot automatically btw? I'd love to 
> read more about the 
> error messages, but I forgot my digicam today.

Put 'noreboot' on the Xen command line.

Ian


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Re: RAMDISK: Image too big

[Marcus Hardt]

Quoting Ian Pratt
> > I have plain IDE, with ext3 formatted partitions. HDA gets
> > properly detected
> > while booting.
> >
> > Why does the kernel reboot automatically btw? I'd love to
> > read more about the
> > error messages, but I forgot my digicam today.
>
> Put 'noreboot' on the Xen command line.

Much better: thanks!

However, no delight yet. Please tell me, is it a problem, that there are three 
dead links in /boot?

roots -> ../../../xeno-roots/roots
usr -> ../../../xeno-roots/usr
xenoboot.sh -> /usr/groups/srgboot/iap10/xenoboot.sh

Meanwhile, I'll find the syntax for explicitly specifying the root device.

--
Marcus


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RE: RAMDISK: Image too big

[Ian Pratt]

 

> However, no delight yet. Please tell me, is it a problem, 
> that there are three 
> dead links in /boot?
> 
> roots -> ../../../xeno-roots/roots
> usr -> ../../../xeno-roots/usr
> xenoboot.sh -> /usr/groups/srgboot/iap10/xenoboot.sh
> 
> Meanwhile, I'll find the syntax for explicitly specifying the 
> root device.

These dead links are a harmless (if slightly embarassing) dropping from
the install tar ball build process, though it does tell me that you're
not using the latest 2.0.5 release, from which they've been removed...

Ian 


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Re: RAMDISK: Image too big

[Marcus Hardt]

Quoting Ian Pratt
> > However, no delight yet. Please tell me, is it a problem,
> > that there are three
> > dead links in /boot?
> >
> > roots -> ../../../xeno-roots/roots
> > usr -> ../../../xeno-roots/usr
> > xenoboot.sh -> /usr/groups/srgboot/iap10/xenoboot.sh
> >
> > Meanwhile, I'll find the syntax for explicitly specifying the
> > root device.
>
> These dead links are a harmless (if slightly embarassing) dropping from
> the install tar ball build process, though it does tell me that you're
> not using the latest 2.0.5 release, from which they've been removed...

Upgraded...

I've just happily booted 2.6.10-Xen0. Unfortunately I'm using an oldish 
distribution, that doesn't ship yet the newer modutils. So, trying the 
2.4.29-xen0 kernel, I don't get hardly as far as with 2.6:

(XEN) Scrubbing Free RAM: ..........done.
(XEN) *** Serial input -> DOM0 (type 'CTRL-a' three times to switch input to 
Xen).

Is there anything I can do about this?
-- 
Marcus


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RE: RAMDISK: Image too big

[Ian Pratt]

 > 
> I've just happily booted 2.6.10-Xen0. Unfortunately I'm using 
> an oldish 
> distribution, that doesn't ship yet the newer modutils. So, 
> trying the 
> 2.4.29-xen0 kernel, I don't get hardly as far as with 2.6:
> 
> (XEN) Scrubbing Free RAM: ..........done.
> (XEN) *** Serial input -> DOM0 (type 'CTRL-a' three times to 
> switch input to 
> Xen).
> 
> Is there anything I can do about this?

This is pretty odd. Are you able to build from source? Could you get a
serial line on the machine?

Ian


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Re: RAMDISK: Image too big

[Marcus Hardt]

Quoting Ian Pratt
> > I've just happily booted 2.6.10-Xen0. Unfortunately I'm using
> > an oldish
> > distribution, that doesn't ship yet the newer modutils. So,
> > trying the
> > 2.4.29-xen0 kernel, I don't get hardly as far as with 2.6:
> >
> > (XEN) Scrubbing Free RAM: ..........done.
> > (XEN) *** Serial input -> DOM0 (type 'CTRL-a' three times to
> > switch input to
> > Xen).
> >
> > Is there anything I can do about this?
>
> This is pretty odd. Are you able to build from source? 

Yes.

> Could you get a 
> serial line on the machine?

Puh, never done this.

-- 
Marcus


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Re: RAMDISK: Image too big

[Marcus Hardt]

Quoting Ian Pratt
> > I've just happily booted 2.6.10-Xen0. Unfortunately I'm using
> > an oldish
> > distribution, that doesn't ship yet the newer modutils. So,
> > trying the
> > 2.4.29-xen0 kernel, I don't get hardly as far as with 2.6:
> >
> > (XEN) Scrubbing Free RAM: ..........done.
> > (XEN) *** Serial input -> DOM0 (type 'CTRL-a' three times to
> > switch input to
> > Xen).
> >
> > Is there anything I can do about this?
>
> This is pretty odd. Are you able to build from source? 

Building from scratch didn't help at all. Everything the same as before

> Could you get a 
> serial line on the machine?

I can get one, but rather on Thursday or Friday.

Another issue with 2.6.10-xen0: mounting the root partition fails, because it 
is already mounted. I can't get post the mount step when booting. Didn't find 
anything in the docs. This would be a distribution related bug, if it didn't 
disapper when booting the normal kernel.

-- 
Marcus


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RE: RAMDISK: Image too big

[Ian Pratt]

> > This is pretty odd. Are you able to build from source? 
> 
> Yes.

Build from src by adding Linux-2.4 to the KERNELS line in the top-level
Makefile, then 'make DEBUG=y world'.

Next, add an early printk hack to linux 2.4 by edditing
linux-2.4.29-xen0/kernel/printk.c to add the following call after the
va_end:

 HYPERVISOR_console_io(CONSOLEIO_write, sizeof(printk_buf), printk_buf)

Then, 'make dist'.

When you boot the kernel you should see kernel output much earlier on.

Ian


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Re: RAMDISK: Image too big

[Marcus Hardt]

Quoting Ian Pratt
> > > This is pretty odd. Are you able to build from source?
> >
> > Yes.
>
> Build from src by adding Linux-2.4 to the KERNELS line in the top-level
> Makefile, then 'make DEBUG=y world'.
>
> Next, add an early printk hack to linux 2.4 by edditing
> linux-2.4.29-xen0/kernel/printk.c to add the following call after the
> va_end:
>
>  HYPERVISOR_console_io(CONSOLEIO_write, sizeof(printk_buf), printk_buf)
>
> Then, 'make dist'.
>
> When you boot the kernel you should see kernel output much earlier on.

Well. I don't see more. I hope it's not due to that I changed printk before 
"make world" and not before "make dist".

I haven't seen anything on the serial console either.

I think I'd rather go on with the 2.6 kernel. Or any more hints?
-- 
Marcus


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RE: RAMDISK: Image too big

[Ian Pratt]

 > Well. I don't see more. I hope it's not due to that I changed 
> printk before 
> "make world" and not before "make dist".

Are you sure the printk change is still there? 'make world' blows away
and reconstructs the kernel trees.

Ian 


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Re: RAMDISK: Image too big

[Marcus Hardt]

Quoting Ian Pratt
>  > Well. I don't see more. I hope it's not due to that I changed
> >
> > printk before
> > "make world" and not before "make dist".
>
> Are you sure the printk change is still there? 'make world' blows away
> and reconstructs the kernel trees.

Yes, it's still there. I'm not sure if I misunderstood: I didn't activate the 
serial console to check for messages. I assumed that console_io refers to any 
console.

I don't want to drive your patience too far. I can arrange myself with 2.4 not 
working on this machine. However, if I can help you finding that bug, I'd be 
happy to do so.
-- 
Marcus


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