Newbie with Boot up issues

[tdp]

Hello all,

I have downloaded and burnt 3.3. I md5sum checked the dl, and burnt it slowly. So, I firmly believe that the dvd I'm using is good.

When I select to boot in Sabayon (vis the grub menu), the dvd starts to boot up as expected, and then it just hangs. Pressing Alt-F1 shows the following:-

...
Activating mdev
Activating Device-Mapper RAID(s)
No RAID disks
Loading unionfs module
Mounting ramdisk to /memory for unionfs support...
Attempting to mount media:- /dev/sda
Attempting to mount media:- /dev/sda1
Attempting to mount media:- /dev/sda2
Attempting to mount media:- /dev/sda3
No bootable medium found. Waiting for new devices...
Attempting to mount media:- /dev/sda
Attempting to mount media:- /dev/sda1
Attempting to mount media:- /dev/sda2
Attempting to mount media:- /dev/sda3
umount: Couldn't umonut /newroot: Invalid argument
!!Could not find CD to boot, something else needed!
Determining root device...
The root block device is unspecified or not detected.

I'm able to install other distro's without any problems (elive, ubuntu, pclinuxos). The disc works perfectly on my main pc (amd fx-60/8800GTX/2gb ram - wish there we're xfi drivers in the linux world) and my Acer Ferrari 4000 laptop. Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated.

BTW - I'm installing on my mom's Sony PCG-K415b (3ghz Celeron/512Mb/40GB hd)

Thanks in advance - TDP

[podiboq]

Same problem here only difference is that I have a PCG-K315Z and used the last release; 3.4a. Seems to be an incompatiblity with Vaio Laptops. Too bad, I would have liked to use it... Guess I have to stick with Pardus 2007.2

[tdp]

It looks like it's a Bios issue then. Maybe Sabayon is not campatible pwith the PCG-JK series bios. The problem is that the Vaio bios is so cut down that I have very few options that I can change to see if I can reverse the situation.

Maybe there are additional switches that need to be added to the grub option before execution?

[podiboq]

I sorry tdp but it's not a BIOS problem. It's a sabayon problem sadly enough. sabayon states that it's optimized for use with laptops, however excepting for Vaio I guess. And howcome other distro's work fine? Of course their should be some kind commendline option but me beeing a n00b I wouldn't know where to start....

[wolfden]

I had same problem, switched DVD drive and it worked. It's frustrating and there seems to be no clear cut solution for this yet.

[podiboq]

Changing a DVD drive on a laptop isn't really a solution imo. I'd rather know how to get it running with somekind of switch or so. I bet there is a way but I have no f*&%ing clue as to how. Maybe one of the Guru's can and will help us out

[totedati]

can be true things like this!?

for me look like that real dvd device can not be married with the virtual part, aka /dev/sd?, after first successful step ... kernel is really readed from dvd, then device recognize and initialization part begin, all ok, then all machinery need to swith to the virtual part of livedvd magic ... here the dvd device need to be maried with a /dev/sd? thing, via unionfs magic, real squash dvd image i think is readed then bang ... where is the dvd, i din't find one that look like a dvd device, yell to all of us hal daemon !? damn !!! stupid hardware vendors, so happy to stuff in all possible and impossible way any standards ....

[tdp]

I sorry tdp but it's not a BIOS problem. It's a sabayon problem sadly enough. sabayon states that it's optimized for use with laptops, however excepting for Vaio I guess. And howcome other distro's work fine? Of course their should be some kind commendline option but me beeing a n00b I wouldn't know where to start....

I guess you are right. It's a real shame, as this is the first linux that really does work. The hardware detection on my main system and Ferrari laptop was excellent (I was stunned when I realised that my 8800gtx was setup automatically and Co0ld War worked without an issue. And the selection of software off the bat is great - including codecs.

Like you, I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to linux, so I'm not sure which boot switches for grub could resolve the problem. I checked in the Bugzilla list and there is nothing about this. If mopre Vaio uses could confirm that this is an issue for them, then I could create a bug entry for this. What do you think?

[tdp]

Okay - some quick research shows that this is a very well known issue in the Gentoo world (this is the platform that Sabayon is built on). I will check more to see if I can find any work arounds.

[podiboq]

@ totedati

I think you could be right but than again I'm a n00b.

[offtopic] I've been in your city and liked [/offtopic]



@ tdp

I've seen that too, the original Gentoo has the same problem however I've tried that distro and it ran except for wireless network (Atheros chipset). Keep me posted as I will to asa I find something about it.