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Author Topic: A computer that won't run TIny Core  (Read 3706 times)

Offline perthie

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A computer that won't run TIny Core
« on: October 25, 2009, 08:56:23 AM »
I have a machine that dual boots WinXP and Linux that has never been able to launch a TC Live CD. It gets as far as looking for swap partitions, then aborts with a hex dump.

I eventually discovered that if I used the NOFSTAB option, it would boot successfully and work fine in cloud mode.  But if I tried PPR mode, it would report that the Linux partition was invalid (because it was not registered in fstab?). However commands like fdisk and e2fsck reported no problems with the Linux partition and I could mount it manually.

I also found that running "sudo rebuildfstab" from a terminal would completely lock up the machine.  This command terminates gracefully on my other TC machines.

It seems like the rebuildfstab binary is detecting something non-standard with the hardware or maybe the NTFS partition and aborts at that point instead of allowing the boot process to continue.  

TC is the only Linux Live CD I have seen that has this problem.  I can appreciate that this is a difficult situation to debug and it may be unique to my particular machine.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2009, 09:35:27 AM by perthie »
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Offline roberts

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Re: A computer that won't run TIny Core
« Reply #1 on: October 25, 2009, 09:50:31 AM »
Have you tried with v2.5rc1 as there was a change to rebuildfstab?
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Offline perthie

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Re: A computer that won't run TIny Core
« Reply #2 on: October 25, 2009, 10:30:32 AM »
Quote from: roberts on October 25, 2009, 09:50:31 AM
Have you tried with v2.5rc1 as there was a change to rebuildfstab?
Yes, and it aborted too.
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Offline roberts

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Re: A computer that won't run TIny Core
« Reply #3 on: October 25, 2009, 11:13:56 AM »
What does blkid /dev/xxx display, where xxx is the device partition in question?
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Offline perthie

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Re: A computer that won't run TIny Core
« Reply #4 on: October 25, 2009, 11:39:47 AM »
blkid /dev/sda1 reports TYPE="ntfs"

blkid /dev/sda2 reports UUID=.... SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"

There is nothing out of the ordinary.
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Offline roberts

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Re: A computer that won't run TIny Core
« Reply #5 on: October 25, 2009, 11:47:04 AM »
Does the command fstype /dev/sda1 and fstype /dev/sda2 return the correct file system type?
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Offline perthie

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Re: A computer that won't run TIny Core
« Reply #6 on: October 25, 2009, 12:25:59 PM »
Quote from: roberts on October 25, 2009, 11:47:04 AM
Does the command fstype /dev/sda1 and fstype /dev/sda2 return the correct file system type?
yes
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Offline roberts

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Re: A computer that won't run TIny Core
« Reply #7 on: October 25, 2009, 02:40:45 PM »
Last step to try...

Become root.
$ sudo -s
# sh -x /usr/sbin/rebuildfstab

Post the last few lines of this script before it hangs.
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Offline perthie

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Re: A computer that won't run TIny Core
« Reply #8 on: October 25, 2009, 03:47:39 PM »
It appears to have dumped the contents of /sys/block

... /sys/block/loop50 /sys/block/loop51.....

followed by (approximately)

+ dirname /sys/block/hda/device
+ basename sys/block/hda
+sed s/\!\/g
+DEVNAME=hda
+FSTYPE=
+MASTERADDED=/dev/hda
+fstype /dev/hda

Seeing how there were all the references to hda, I rebooted with NOFSTAB and tried to mount a CD in hda. It promptly locked up. 


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Offline roberts

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Re: A computer that won't run TIny Core
« Reply #9 on: October 25, 2009, 03:55:55 PM »
Can you disable hda in your BIOS?
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Offline perthie

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Re: A computer that won't run TIny Core
« Reply #10 on: October 25, 2009, 04:15:32 PM »
Quote from: roberts on October 25, 2009, 03:55:55 PM
Can you disable hda in your BIOS?

I tried, but then it wouldn't boot the Live CD ;)

I think that we can chalk this up to the eccentricities of this particular machine and quit there.

Thanks.

« Last Edit: October 25, 2009, 04:17:40 PM by perthie »
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Offline ^thehatsrule^

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Re: A computer that won't run TIny Core
« Reply #11 on: November 17, 2009, 03:42:15 PM »
If you still have access to the system, could you post the hdd controller model for future reference?

Not to drag this back up, but I think there were some problems with some mode for some Intel chip.
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