[Voyage-linux] ALIX: grub hangs with Grub loading, please wait...

[Bart Jooris]

Hi SeRum,

Sorry for my late reponse.
For some weird reason my CF was "kaput" when I used the combination

"voyage-linux version 0.4 using voyage.update" - "Scandisk ImageMate CF 
SDDR-91" - "CF512MB" .

This combination changed the CHS (Cylinders-Heads-Sectors) of my CF from 
1007-16-63 to 1023-16-62.
Which conflicts of course with the values in the BIOS which are still 
1007-16-63, I think this is the reason why grub hangs.
Anyway my ALIX was dead, I checked activity on both serial and Ethernet 
interface, like for an hour...

> BTW: There are several possible sources of error, connecting to a 
> serial console (most commonly     conflicting  configuration of flow 
> controll), so  don't wonder, that you can't detect any life there. 

Ok thanks, I will keep this in mind. But I should have seen some 
activity on the Ethernet then, like DHCP broadcast, or when I configured 
a fixed IP, it should be pingable....


The combinations that worked for me are (I still configured Voyage for 
connecting it by serial console)

"voyage-linux-0.4 via PXE <voyage.update>" - "MiniITX board with CF on 
board (7F4K1G2E-PB)" - "CF512MB"

<<This is the one I use now and I love it :-) It would even be more fun 
if the ALIX would support PXE...>>



and surprisingly with the older version voyage-linux-0.2!!!

"/KNOPPIX/voyage-0.2/voyage.update>" - "Scandisk ImageMate CF SDDR-91" - 
"CF512MB"


So I can conclude that something has changed during the versions of 
voyage-linux that brings my CF - using the scandisk thing- in an 
unusable state.

thanks,

Bart


Sebastian Rumpel wrote:

> Hello Bart,
>
> just mount your CF as /dev/sda again and open the file
> <mountpoint_of_sda>/etc/inittab
> with your favorite editor.
> Search for a text block starting with:
> #1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1
> #2:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty2
> ...
> and remove at least in the first line the leading '#'
>
> The next time you boot your ALIX with this CF it will take some time 
> after 'Grub loading, please wait...' (cause its waiting for a DHCP 
> reply for some time), but finaly you'll end up with a login promt at 
> your screen.
>
> have fun,
> SeRum
>
>
> Short explanation:
> You configured Voyage for connecting it by serial console, so every 
> other interactiveness is disabled and after 'Grub loading, please 
> wait...' it wont output anything on screen.
> You can configure init, to start getty for prompting on the virtual 
> consoles (= on your screen) by uncommenting the corresponding line in 
> /etc/inittab, like I described above.
> You can edit <mountpoint_of_sda>/boot/grub/menu.lst to see the grub 
> menu and the boot messages on screen instead of serial line.
>
> Alternatively you can install voyage on the CF again and answer 
> 'console interface' as terminal type:
>
> What would you like to do?
>   1 - Specify Distribution Directory
>   2 - Select Target Profile
>   3 - Select Target Disk
>   4 - Select Target Bootstrap Loader
>   5 - Configure Target Console
>   6 - Copy Distribution to Target
>   7 - Exit
>        (default=5 [Configure Target Console]):
>
> Select terminal type:
>   1 - Serial Terminal
>   2 - Console Interface
>        (default=1 [Serial Terminal]): 2
>
> to get a configuration like this:
>
> Configuration details:
> ----------------------
>
> Distribution directory:   /root/voyage-0.4.1
>
> Disk/Flash Device:        /dev/sdc
> Installation Partition:   /dev/sdc1
> Bootstrap Partition:      /dev/sdc1
>
> Will be mounted on:       /mnt/cf
>
> Target system profile:    ALIX
> Target console:           standard
>
> Bootstrap installer:      grub
> Bootstrap partition:      /dev/sdc1
>
>
> BTW: There are several possible sources of error, connecting to a 
> serial console (most commonly     conflicting  configuration of flow 
> controll), so  don't wonder, that you can't detect any life there.