**** BEGIN LOGGING AT Sat Aug 08 02:59:57 2009 Aug 08 04:27:38 is there anyone here than can help me with a U-Boot USB hard drive issue? Aug 08 04:27:52 my USB hard drive enclosure shows up as a storage device Aug 08 04:28:04 but I get "invalid partition" errors when I try to load anything from it Aug 08 04:28:35 in Linux, sda is the hard drive and sda1 is a 100MB ext2 partition Aug 08 04:28:45 it's flagged as bootable, but that doesn't seem to make a difference Aug 08 13:22:26 I have my sheevaplug root filesystem setup how I want it, what is the recommended way of backing it up to a mounted external HDD? Aug 08 13:22:57 so in the event the worst happens, I can restore the whole lot again, or also have the ability to restore single files I may have messed up. Aug 08 16:56:29 MarkG - much better distro for you would be http://www.mandriva.com/en/download/free Aug 08 16:57:08 for a desktop / server Aug 08 16:57:31 unfortunately no ARM port Aug 08 17:24:52 tinker-f595: do you have any idea what could be going on with my hard drive enclosure? Aug 08 17:25:38 why? Aug 08 17:25:44 what is it doing? Aug 08 17:28:11 debio264: my battery is nearly dead....need to find soemwhere to plugin in Aug 08 17:28:41 maybe dieter is around and can help you Aug 08 17:32:21 hrmmm? Aug 08 17:32:35 well Aug 08 17:32:42 U-Boot recognizes it as a storage device Aug 08 17:32:47 then tells me it can't read the partition table Aug 08 17:38:19 tinker-f595: I posted a log of what's going on at http://plugcomputer.org/plugforum/index.php?topic=569.0 Aug 08 17:40:17 how did you partition it? Aug 08 17:40:29 sda1 is a 100MB ext2 partition Aug 08 17:40:38 sda2 is the rest of the drive in ext4 Aug 08 17:40:52 the output of fdisk -l is on that post as well Aug 08 17:40:54 no - what tool Aug 08 17:40:56 sda1 is flagged as bootable Aug 08 17:40:58 oh Aug 08 17:41:01 GParted Aug 08 17:41:14 and then CFDisk when I need to set sda1 as bootable Aug 08 17:41:15 try fdisk Aug 08 17:41:21 okay... Aug 08 17:44:01 it's whining that the cylinders count is greater than 1024, but I guess U-Boot doesn't have a problem with that... Aug 08 17:44:46 normal warning Aug 08 17:46:41 and gah, I'm seriously starting to hate KDE 3.4 Aug 08 17:46:43 errr Aug 08 17:46:45 4.3 Aug 08 17:47:03 I switched to it from Gnome, and it randomly crashes when I try to enter a command in a terminal Aug 08 17:50:01 which distro you using on your desktop? Aug 08 17:50:46 Arch Aug 08 17:51:07 sounds like something built wrong with gnome Aug 08 17:51:19 I dunno, I may wind up switching to a WM like I did on my laptop Aug 08 17:51:23 I prefer kde myself Aug 08 17:51:41 yea, I do as well Aug 08 17:51:41 or one of the lighter wait uis Aug 08 17:51:54 gnome is buggy Aug 08 17:51:58 KDE is nice because it makes all sorts of things easier Aug 08 17:52:03 but it's quite heavy on resources Aug 08 17:52:22 and gnome isn't haha Aug 08 17:52:22 okay Aug 08 17:52:31 Gnome isn't as bad Aug 08 17:52:40 don't believe it Aug 08 17:52:50 I used to run Gnome on my laptop Aug 08 17:52:55 it has 512MB of RAM Aug 08 17:53:02 and where KDE would freeze and choke Aug 08 17:53:06 Gnome ran fairly well Aug 08 17:53:08 so i run kde on 512 Aug 08 17:53:13 heh Aug 08 17:53:25 gnome has problems on that system for me Aug 08 17:53:27 well, I also run Eclipse Aug 08 17:53:33 which uses GTK for a UI Aug 08 17:53:59 so in KDE, it has to launch a lot of support services Aug 08 17:54:04 it runs better in Gnome Aug 08 17:54:12 but now I run Awesome on my laptop, so it doesn't really matter Aug 08 17:54:28 eclipse should be written better Aug 08 17:54:39 need to go breakfast.... Aug 08 17:54:44 ah Aug 08 17:54:46 k Aug 08 17:54:55 I have the partition table written Aug 08 17:55:00 I just have to format the partitions Aug 08 17:55:07 should I use mkext2fs -i? Aug 08 17:55:18 sorry, mke2fs Aug 08 17:57:38 ext2 for the boot partition Aug 08 17:57:51 going now Aug 09 00:31:32 if I have bad erase block on my Sheeva plug, does that mean the flash ram is bad? Aug 09 00:31:40 hi- got my plug yesterday- i just changed the root fs to an 8gb sd card- i don't have a serial port on my mac laptop. can i set the plug to boot off the card? Aug 09 00:40:46 hello? Aug 09 00:53:01 jeff1: you do not need a serial port, the serial console is exposed as USB Aug 09 00:54:01 Thanks Md. I'll try that now. Aug 09 01:01:35 i'm having trouble getting to the serial console- any links with instructions? Aug 09 01:02:50 running os x leopard. Aug 09 01:13:03 debio264: how goes it? Aug 09 01:13:31 tinker-f595: well, U-Boot still tells me my partition table is invalid Aug 09 01:13:42 but I've gotten Linux to use the usb drive as root Aug 09 01:13:43 hmmmm Aug 09 01:13:54 it would be nice to load the kernel from the drive Aug 09 01:14:00 but it's not a huge problem Aug 09 01:14:17 debio264: but not able to boot the kernel from the hdd? Aug 09 01:14:28 yea Aug 09 01:14:34 U-Boot loads the kernel from flash Aug 09 01:14:41 then the kernel uses the hard drive as root Aug 09 01:14:47 debio264: seems a mystery waiting to be solved Aug 09 01:15:20 it's probably something about hardware support for USB -> SATA controllers Aug 09 01:15:40 by the way did you use dd to 0 out the partition table area before using fdisk? Aug 09 01:16:14 no Aug 09 01:16:36 is that standard procedure? Aug 09 01:17:04 debio264: might be that usb ---> sata. If I felt like ruining my uptime I could try that with another enclosure and sata drive Aug 09 01:17:17 nah Aug 09 01:17:22 it works as root and I'm happy Aug 09 01:17:30 as long as I'm not wearing out the flash Aug 09 01:18:04 well I am wondering if parted put something there that u-boot does not like and fdisk did not overwrite that Aug 09 01:18:22 I tend to zero out drives and am reusing with dd Aug 09 01:19:28 well. that would be `dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda size=[something]`, right? Aug 09 01:19:38 yes Aug 09 01:19:46 do you zero the whole drive or just the partition table? Aug 09 01:19:53 or just let it go until it 0 everything Aug 09 01:20:04 whichever you prefer Aug 09 01:20:11 well, I'd prefer to just wipe the partition table Aug 09 01:20:22 because then I can restore it the same way and I don't have to reformat everything in creation Aug 09 01:20:27 hopefully, anyway Aug 09 01:20:41 well, not "restore" it, but recreate it Aug 09 01:20:49 you spend your money and you take your chances ;) Aug 09 01:21:04 does not take long to format and put the sofware back Aug 09 01:21:38 good practice, soon you will be able to do it with your eyes closed; Aug 09 01:21:40 ;) **** ENDING LOGGING AT Sun Aug 09 02:59:57 2009