# How to avoid error 18...

## Venoms

Hi guys.

I have tried to install three times now, and not one error during install.

When I reboot...Error 18: Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS.

I have a Maxtor 40gb ata-133 partitioned like this:

This hard drive are recogized as /dev/hdc

 /dev/hdc1: Boot: 50mb

 /dev/hdc2: Swap: 1500mb (same as ram)

 /dev/hdc3: Root: 7gb

 /dev/hdc4: Home: the rest avaible space

All partitions have reiserfs filesystem

In Bios for this drive, LBA supported for this drive if formated with LBA first time.

Also, I have a 80 thread flat cable instead of a 40 thread flat cable to run in ata-100 mode (Udma5). I don't know if this is relevant but still some info to you wizards...

I have never installed a Linux system in my life before and I want the best system avaible.

Oh, the other drives are two sata disks, /dev/sda & /dev/sdb

Please help me to get the system running, you can't see this, but i'm on my knees here...

----------

## NeddySeagoon

Venoms,

It looks link yo have an error in your grub.conf file and your BIOS suffers from eithr the 33Gb or 8Gb limit, depending on its age.

More info on the mothrboard and CPU would be useful.

You don't say how many hard drives you have, so I'll assme its two and /dev/hdc is the second, Your grub.conf should look like

```
root (hd1,0)

kernel /<kernel_file> ....

initrd /<initrd_file>
```

You may boot and press the 'e' key while the grub menu is displayed to edit grub.conf. The change is not permanent however.

----------

## Venoms

Thanx for the answer.

I have a Asus P4P800 Delux motherboard with a AMI BIOS from 2005.

2.8ghz P4 Prescott cpu, 1500mb ram, 2x120gb Maxtor SATA & 1x40gb Maxtor ATA-133, ATI Readon 9600 256mb.

My sata drives are recogized as /dev/sda & /dev/sdb so grub should see them as hd0 & hd1 if I got it right. Therefor my 40gb  Gentoo drive should be Hd2, but it's not so...

In grub.conf it's not recognized as hd2, ...there is no hd2 etc...I will try hd1.

Bios: well, bios recognize my disc as LBA, it says so anyway, (if not formated with LBA option disabled in bios) witch I don't know because it's a new drive and it has been formated with ntfs before. How do I reformat the drive in Gentoo? To be a LBA.

One thought was to run Maxtors diagnostic tool to low level format the drive and then do one more installation of Gentoo from scratch.

The most resent install were the "Jackass" release, and it float on like oil on water until reboot.

Well, I will not give up. I WANT THIS GENTOO JACKASS TO RUN  :Twisted Evil: 

----------

## NeddySeagoon

Venoms,

Grub sees your drives in the same order as the BIOS. If the BIOS cannot see the drive, neither can grub.

You have 3 drives, (hd0,  (hd1, and (hd2,  Since your Gentoo is on /dev/hdc (an IDE drive) you may wish to disconnect the SATA drives to force Gentoo to be (hd0, to get it going,  then reconnect the SATA drives one at a time and see if Gentoo still boots. If not, the IDE drive has changed grub drive numbers. 

You can use grubs command line editor (press e) when the menu is displayed, and edit all instances of (hdX before pressing b for boot.

The LBA thing is not relevant. All drives over 8Gb must use LBA or you can only access the first 8Gb. You BIOS is new enough to use the latest version of LBA, which is good for drives up to 2Tb (2000Gb).

----------

## Venoms

Now, I have changed connections in the box so that the Gentoo drive is:

hda = First primary and Low level format with LBA (this made a change in the drive).

My SATA are still sda & sdb, but they are Third & fourth drives.

Before my ata drive were mounted as "Secondary primary", witch gave hdc...

Anyhow, I made a new install and Grub is working but gives me one Error 15, when I splash-boot.

If I try a (No framebuffer) boot, it's only a black screen with a marker on left bottom and no keys working.

So, I'll guess that it's going to be an other install again...

I don't know how to troubleshoot since I never used a linux system in my life before this...  :Sad: 

I do know that I missed a spot in the install...

It said "mkreiserfs /dev/hda1 && mkreiserfs /dev/hda3"

I did "mkreiserfs /dev/hda1 && mkreiserfs /dev/hda2 && mkreiserfs /dev/hda3 && mkreiserfs /dev/hda4"

Before I noticed that I should have done "mkswap /dev/hda2 && swapon /dev/hda2 ".

Is this error of mine the root to all evil, in my comp? Or is it the notorius "Error code 30"...hmm, could it really be me...  :Smile: 

----------

## NeddySeagoon

Venoms, 

info grub says

```
15 : File not found

     This error is returned if the specified file name cannot be found,

     but everything else (like the disk/partition info) is OK.
```

That means the file names in /boot for the kernel and initrd (if used) do not match those in grub.conf.  Fix it as follows:

Boot the liveCD

Do  

```
mkswap /dev/hda2

swapon /dev/hda2
```

to fix your swap error

Do 

```
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/gentoo

ls /mnt/gentoo
```

to mount your boot partition on /mnt/gentoo and list its content.

Write down the names of the kernel file and initrd file exactly as they appear. Case is important. (A<>a etc. in file names)

Do 

```
nano -w /mnt/gentoo/grub/grub.conf 
```

to edit your grub.conf file

Check the spelling and case and file names in the two lines

```
kernel ....

initrd ....   
```

They must be exactly as they were in boot.

You rarely need to reinstall Linux to fix a problem. Its a bad habit you got into with Windows

----------

## Venoms

I'm follow you're leed...and found...Nothing, no kernel and no initrd. so I guess that's the error...

What to do master wizard of the earth?

----------

## NeddySeagoon

Venoms,

Somehow, the kernel and the initrd did not get installed into /boot, or they did but to the wrong /boot.

Boot with the liveCD and 

```
mount /dev/hda3 /mnt/gentoo 
```

then 

```
ls /mnt/gentoo/boot 
```

to see if your kernel and/or initrd files are there.

----------

## Alex Ludd

It sounds like you need to replace your motherboard with something that has better support and integrated 48 LBA support.

----------

## Venoms

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> PostPosted: Fri Jun 24, 2005 11:18 pm    Post subject:
> 
> It sounds like you need to replace your motherboard with something that has better support and integrated 48 LBA support.

 

Nop, I got that little thing fixed now. I downloaded a tool from Maxtor "PowerMax" and did a low level format. What it said in BIOS was "LBA is supported on drives formated with LBA enabled" so, I can't possibly know what the factory did to the drive and therefor I better do it myself.

It did change something from 256 to 112, and now it's working  :Smile: 

After some editing...

 *Quote:*   

> ls /mnt/gentoo

 

System.map-2.6.11-gentoo-r6 Config-2.6.11-gentoo-r6 vmlinuz-2.6.11-gentoo-r6 fbsplash-emergence-1024x768

[Grub.conf]

```

# Grub boot menu configuration file

#

# Boot automatically after 30 secs.

timeout 30

# By default, boot the second entry (grub starts counting at zero).

default 1

# Fallback to the first entry.

fallback 0

# Use default Grub Splash image

# splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

#

# Use custom (downloaded) Gentoo Splash Image

splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/gentoo.xpm.gz

# Boot Gentoo Linux (no framebuffer)

title Gentoo-2.6.11-r6

root (hd0,0)

kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz-2.6.11-gentoo-r6z ro root=/dev/hda3 video=vesafb:ywrap,pmipal,1024x768-

16@60

# Boot Gentoo Linux at 1024x768 framebuffer resolution

title Gentoo-2.6.11-r4, 1024x768

root (hd0,0)

kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz-2.6.11-gentoo-r6 ro root=/dev/hda3 video=vesafb:ywrap,pmipal,1024x768-

24@60 splash=verbose,theme:emergence

initrd (hd0,0)/fbsplash-emergence-1024x768

```

[make.conf]

```

# Copyright 2005 Jackass! Production Team

# Distributed under the terms of the General Public License v2

# File: /etc/make.conf

# Task: Basic settings for the Jackass! Toolkit

#

# /\ /\ Jackass! 2005.0 for Pentium

# ( \\ // )

# \ \\ // / This system configuration should be used for all Jackass!

# \_\\||||//_/ installations. It is recommended that you do not make any

# \/ _ _ \/ changes to the CHOST setting, to your processor setting, or

# \/|(O)(O)| to the CFLAG settings, or system failures may result.

# \/ | |

#_\/ \ / Edit the contents of the GENTOO_MIRRORS statement to include

# |____| the address of your local Gentoo mirror, and add USE flags as

# / \ necessary for the proper configuration of your system.

# \ 0 0 /

# / \____/

# /

#_/

##

CHOST="i586-pc-linux-gnu"

CFLAGS="-march=pentium -mtune=pentium"

#

CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -pipe"

CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -O3"

CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -fweb"

CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -frename-registers"

CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -fforce-addr"

CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -momit-leaf-frame-pointer"

CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -fomit-frame-pointer"

CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -ftracer"

#

CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -fvisibility-inlines-hidden"

#

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86"

PORTAGE_TMPDIR=/var/tmp

PORTDIR=/usr/portage

DISTDIR=${PORTDIR}/distfiles

PKGDIR=${PORTDIR}/packages

PORT_LOGDIR=/var/log/portage

PORTDIR_OVERLAY=/usr/local/portage

MAKEOPTS="-j3"

USE="nptl"

#

GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://ftp.du.se/pub/os/gentoo/  http://gentoo.osuosl.org

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/gentoo"

SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"

RSYNC_RETRIES="3"

RSYNC_TIMEOUT=180

PORTAGE_NICENESS=3

AUTOCLEAN="yes"

FEATURES="distlocks sandbox ccache"

CCACHE_SIZE="2G"

```

Now when I boot it says: Uncompressing...very fast, then a marker flashing in left bottom corner and nothing

What to do next?

----------

## NeddySeagoon

Venoms,

Since you are using an initrd file, this line is wrong in grub.conf

```
kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz-2.6.11-gentoo-r6 ro root=/dev/hda3 video=vesafb:ywrap,pmipal,1024x768-24@60 splash=verbose,theme:emergence 
```

The initrd file is not being used.

You need at least 

```
root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/hda3 
```

in place of your 

```
root=/dev/hda3
```

I don't know the name of the init script for sure but that one is popular.

----------

## Venoms

Thanx NeddySeagoon for your time and effort.

I think that this installation is going down...and I will do one more try with "Jackass 2005.0"

If I follow the instructions to the Jackass project to the letter, do you think that it would be successful?

Of course with my localtime, and do you think I should alter any values.

Would you please check the manual for me and tell what you think.

If you think this is out of line in requests, please say so.

----------

## NeddySeagoon

Venoms,

I don't use the Jackass install but I have followed the development with interest.

Its a build and method. At  the end of the day you get a working Gentoo install. The kernel is still booted by grub and still nothing works if grub.conf or your kernel is wrong. Reinstalling won't fix that because most of the install is still OK.

You will learn more by repairing the broken bits than redoing things that are already right.

When you follow the instructions in any Gentoo guide, be prepared to deviate. They may be out of date or have errors like any other document. However if you understand why you do what you do during the install, you will spot those things. I have not read the Jackass installl guide but I will look it over if you post me a link.

Meanwhile, the grub.conf setup to use an initrd file is not unique to Jackass although the developers are free to choose any file names they wish for init scripts for example.

----------

## Venoms

NeddySeagoon.

I will take a big bite, and learn something for a change...

What stage do you recommend? I did a stage3 install that didn't work the first time, but it will be different now since I got the hard drive working in the right way.

Can you recommend any books on the subject? I have a few books on linux in general, but is there any on Gentoo?

One other question, when I came to the point to write in "USE" in the config file, I don't know what to put there. Where can I get the info about that?

Edit:I found the info about USE, I have been lasy in my search for answers I guess...

Can I get detailed info on every part of the Gentoo install? The documentation for the stage1-3 install is not so informative as I, as a complete newbe to Gentoo would like to have.

I would be very grateful if you could point in the right direction to search for the info.

I know that it's stated that Gentoo is not for beginners, but it got me hooked in a very strange way that I can't explain. 

Maby it's me that is out of my mind here, but i'm still going to do this.

Greets

Venoms

----------

## jabowen

Venoms,

This may be a long shot but make sure your partition's system id's are set properly.

```
fdisk -l /dev/hda
```

If your Linux partitions are not 83 (or 82 for swap partition) it can cause boot problems, including Error 18.  I've just stumbled through my first Linux install on an Acer 1690WLCi notebook and the first problem I had was because of the partition id's.

If yours are wrong just choose 't' on the fdisk menu and enter 83 for the appropriate partitions.

HTH

----------

## Venoms

 *Quote:*   

> If your Linux partitions are not 83 (or 82 for swap partition)

 

Thanx for the suggestion, but I got everything just as I want now  :Smile: 

The problem with the hard drive is solved and the solution was to write the whole drive with zero's.

Because the drive from the start were formated for windows systems the first few clusters were not avaible to fdisk.

After a quick fix with PowerMax, full disk is avaible again.

Otherwise all was as it should be.

If I ever want this drive to be a windows drive again, I have to do a "fixmbr" to get these clusters back.

Thanx anyhow for all help.

----------

