# Problem mounting one partition [Partially solved]

## NoName

Hi all,

So far have been able to solve all my installation problems just by lurking and searching on this forum. However, now I am stumped.

I have 4 sata-drives, 3 of which make up a RAID 5-array (/dev/sdb, /dev/sbc and /dev/sdd). After a hardware failure, I replaced my motherboard with a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L and recompiled the kernel to include (what I think are) the correct drivers for my new hardware:

```
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) 4 port SATA IDE Controller

        Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device b002

        Kernel driver in use: ata_piix

00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) 2 port SATA IDE Controller

        Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device b002

        Kernel driver in use: ata_piix

03:00.0 IDE interface: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB368 IDE controller

        Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device b000

        Kernel modules: pata_jmicron

```

Note: The JMicron controller hosts a DVD and a Tape drive. For troubleshooting, I do not load this module.

The kernel boots fine and the raid is correctly recognised, however, I cannot mount the first partition of the stand-alone drive (/dev/sda). Other partitions on this disk mount without problem during boot. 

```
fsnefro ~ # mount /dev/sda1 /boot

mount: you must specify the filesystem type

fsnefro ~ # mount -t ext2 /dev/sda1 /boot

mount: special device /dev/sda1 does not exist

```

When booting from the live-dvd, this partition can be mounted correctly, so it has to be related to my kernel, rather than an error with the partition or the hardware. I have tried recompiling the kernel using the .config file of the live-dvd, however, the problem remains  :Crying or Very sad: 

Some additional info:

```

fsnefro ~ # uname -a

Linux fsnefro 2.6.31-gentoo-r6 #4 SMP Mon Mar 8 13:59:29 CET 2010 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU    Q8300  @ 2.50GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

```

```
fsnefro linux # grep EXT._FS .config

CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y

CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XATTR=y

CONFIG_EXT2_FS_POSIX_ACL=y

CONFIG_EXT2_FS_SECURITY=y

# CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XIP is not set

CONFIG_EXT3_FS=y

CONFIG_EXT3_FS_XATTR=y

CONFIG_EXT3_FS_POSIX_ACL=y

CONFIG_EXT3_FS_SECURITY=y

CONFIG_EXT4_FS=y

CONFIG_EXT4_FS_XATTR=y

CONFIG_EXT4_FS_POSIX_ACL=y

CONFIG_EXT4_FS_SECURITY=y

```

```
fsnefro ~ # cat /etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.

/dev/md5                /               ext3            defaults,noatime        0 1

#/dev/sda1              /boot           ext2            noauto,noatime          1 2

/dev/sda2               /tmp            ext3            defaults,noatime        0 2

/dev/sda5               /srv/backup     ext3            defaults,noatime        0 2

/dev/md1                /var            ext3            defaults,noatime        0 2

/dev/sda6               /var/log        ext3            defaults,noatime        0 2

/dev/md2                /home           ext3            defaults,noatime        0 2

/dev/md6                /bonehist       ext3            defaults,noatime        0 2

/dev/sda3               none            swap            sw                      0 0

/dev/cdrom              /mnt/cdrom      auto            noauto,ro               0 0

/dev/fd0                /mnt/floppy     auto            noauto                  0 0

# NOTE: The next line is critical for boot!

proc                    /proc           proc            defaults                0 0

# glibc 2.2 and above expects tmpfs to be mounted at /dev/shm for

# POSIX shared memory (shm_open, shm_unlink).

# (tmpfs is a dynamically expandable/shrinkable ramdisk, and will

#  use almost no memory if not populated with files)

shm                     /dev/shm        tmpfs           nodev,nosuid,noexec     0 0

```

```
fsnefro ~ # cat /proc/partitions

major minor  #blocks  name

   8       16  244198584 sdb

   8       17    9775521 sdb1

   8       18  175791262 sdb2

   8       19          1 sdb3

   8       21   24418768 sdb5

   8       22   34210386 sdb6

   8       32  244198584 sdc

   8       33    9775521 sdc1

   8       34  175791262 sdc2

   8       35          1 sdc3

   8       37   24418768 sdc5

   8       38   34210386 sdc6

   8       48  244198584 sdd

   8       49    9775521 sdd1

   8       50  175791262 sdd2

   8       51          1 sdd3

   8       53   24418768 sdd5

   8       54   34210386 sdd6

   8        0  244197527 sda

   8        1     506016 sda1

   8        2    9775552 sda2

   8        3    1959930 sda3

   8        4          1 sda4

   8        5  224620798 sda5

   8        6    7333641 sda6

   9        6   68420608 md6

   9        5   48837376 md5

   9        2  351582336 md2

   9        1   19550848 md1

```

Obviously, my kernel config is not what it should be.  Any ideas??Last edited by NoName on Tue Mar 09, 2010 10:21 am; edited 1 time in total

----------

## bobspencer123

might help if you post

```

# fdisk -l

```

----------

## NoName

Many thanks for the quick reply.

```
fsnefro linux # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sdb: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdb1               1        1217     9775521   fd  Linux raid autodetect

/dev/sdb2            1218       23102   175791262+  fd  Linux raid autodetect

/dev/sdb3           23103       30401    58629217+   5  Extended

/dev/sdb5           23103       26142    24418768+  fd  Linux raid autodetect

/dev/sdb6           26143       30401    34210386   fd  Linux raid autodetect

Disk /dev/sdc: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdc1               1        1217     9775521   fd  Linux raid autodetect

/dev/sdc2            1218       23102   175791262+  fd  Linux raid autodetect

/dev/sdc3           23103       30401    58629217+   5  Extended

/dev/sdc5           23103       26142    24418768+  fd  Linux raid autodetect

/dev/sdc6           26143       30401    34210386   fd  Linux raid autodetect

Disk /dev/sdd: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdd1               1        1217     9775521   fd  Linux raid autodetect

/dev/sdd2            1218       23102   175791262+  fd  Linux raid autodetect

/dev/sdd3           23103       30401    58629217+   5  Extended

/dev/sdd5           23103       26142    24418768+  fd  Linux raid autodetect

/dev/sdd6           26143       30401    34210386   fd  Linux raid autodetect

Disk /dev/md6: 70.0 GB, 70062702592 bytes

2 heads, 4 sectors/track, 17105152 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 8 * 512 = 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/md6 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/md5: 50.0 GB, 50009473024 bytes

2 heads, 4 sectors/track, 12209344 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 8 * 512 = 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/md5 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/md2: 360.0 GB, 360020312064 bytes

2 heads, 4 sectors/track, 87895584 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 8 * 512 = 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/md2 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/md1: 20.0 GB, 20020068352 bytes

2 heads, 4 sectors/track, 4887712 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 8 * 512 = 4096 bytes

Disk /dev/md1 doesn't contain a valid partition table
```

Something is quite strange here:

```
fsnefro ~ # fdisk /dev/sda

Unable to open /dev/sda

```

 yet some of the partitions are mounted:

```
fsnefro ~ # df

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/md/5              46G   13G   32G  29% /

udev                  2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /dev

cachedir              4.0M   52K  4.0M   2% /lib64/splash/cache

/dev/sda2             9.2G  1.3G  7.5G  14% /tmp

/dev/sda5             211G   73G  128G  37% /srv/backup

/dev/md/1              19G  8.0G  9.5G  46% /var

/dev/sda6             6.9G  2.3G  4.4G  34% /var/log

/dev/md/2             331G  222G   93G  71% /home

/dev/md/6              65G   20G   42G  33% /bonehist

shm                   2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /dev/shm
```

----------

## NoName

Hi all,

The problem appears to be udev-related. If I make the device node manually

```
mknod -m 660 /dev/sda1 b 8 1
```

the partition mounts normally. 

I noticed I have a very outdated version of udev, so I will take this opportunity to perform the long overdue complete system update, and see if the problem is resolved.

----------

## Evil-Fish

I ran into this too recently,  I had an older kernel that was running and updated udev. A reboot later this happened.  In my case it was:

CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRECATED

CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRICATED_V2

being turned on in the kernel.  I turned them off recompiled, rebooted and my volumes where back like they should have been.

----------

