First of all, forgive me if this post is redundant to what has already been posted, but I didn't see anything that matched my problem. I'm still a n00b at linux.

I have a SATA hard drive in the machine I tried to install R5A16 to so I performed the manual installation as specified by the instructions provided on this site. The install went according to expectations, but when rebooting, the machine locks up immediately after post and displays "L 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 etc etc." Does this sound like a lilo problem? If so, how do I fix it?

Some system specifics:
Dell Dim. 9100 (Yea I know... I'm going to hell anyway)
160GB SATA HD
X300 vid card
No TV tuners yet
USB keyboard and mouse (No PS2 ports)

BTW, lilo WAS installed to the MBR.

EDIT - Forgot to mention that I have an IDE HD available and was going to try installing to that to rule out an SATA-related problem.

Yes, L 99 99...... Sound like a LILO issue, Google is your friend.

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

OK, forgive my n00bness.

I looked in lilo.conf and here is what is not commented out:



So I commented out the first two lines as I saw in another post and saved changes, etc. Now lilo seems to be working, but in all the text that appears afterward, I get:

RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem)
VFS: Cannot open root device "801" or unknown-block(8,1)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount fs on unknown-block(8,1)

Is this a ramdisk problem and if so how do I fix it? I looked around for a fix, but didn't see anything that applied to me. Also, is there something else in lilo.conf that doesn't look right?

FYI - I have 512 MB of 533 FSB DDR2 RAM.

sounds to me like the initrd image does not have the proper sata driver.

_________________
Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets

BTW - To create one you can use the mkinitrd command... For more details:

I am having the same exact issue with an MSI K8N Neo Platinum board and am working through it now. I assume it has to do with the nforce3 chipset / and bios settings. Any suggestions are welcome - I will post my results - hopefully with a solution.

I had the same problem. After the install it would boot up with "L 99 99 99 99 99 99 99. . ." But luckily the very first time I tried the install it didn't do that. So I realised that if I kept performing the install over and over agian adventually it worked. I have no idea why it only happened some times. But I probaly installed knoppmyth 20-30 times between this problem and me messing somthing else up later.

So in summary I'd try reinstalling a bunch and see if it ever works correctly.

My motherboard is an Asus P4P800-VM. Which features the intel 865G chipset. I installed onto a SATA drive just like you. Good luck.

I have spent nearly 24 hours working on this problem - yes that seems like a lot - but I am stubborn - and I know this will work.
I have a MSI K8N Plat mobo with the nforce3 250gb chipset paired with a sata maxtor 300gb drive. I am able to succcessfully boot and install from the knoppmyth cd (although I need to use the "noscsi" option to prevent a lockup for any knoppix) and I think this is related to my issue. Anyway - the install goes fine and then upon reboot a kernel panic. I am fairly certain the panic is related to no sata_nv driver on the initrd. It may be trying to use a pata driver or a scsi conflict (because sata drives are treated as scsi) i am not sure. In any case I attempt to build a new initrd with ext3 and sata_nv support via mkinitrd (modifying /etc/mkinitrd/modules) - I have chrooted into the SATA root image (sda1). When I run "mkinitrd -o /boot/initrd-test 2.6.11.9-chw-2" I get /usr/sbin/mkinitrd: add_modules_dep_2_5: modprobe failed
FATAL: Module sd_mod not found

I am getting frusterated - mostly because I think I understand the issues preventing me from booting - and while it seems simple, I am making little progress despite lots of google searching. I also realize I could modify the kernel or boot from a pata drive but I am trying to correct the problem rather than create a workaround - something I can use on future installs - and something I can document. This particular bios doesnt seem to have "legacy" support either for sata (another thing that would probably allow me to boot - but not really fix the core issue). Any help is greatly apprecitated- I can post full logs if necessary the last few lines prior to panic are:
RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem)
VFS: Cannot open root device "801" or unknown-block(8,1)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not synccing: VFS: Unable to mount rooot fs on unknown-block(8,1)


I think I mostly need help with building the initrd - although if I have totally mis-diagnosed the problem I am open to other suggestions.

Well, it appears that I solved my problem. It was as simple as tinkering with the SATA configuration in the BIOS. Now it boots up without a hitch. Now to fix my problems with DVD playback and such, but that's for a different forum. Thanks all who replied.

I am having the same problems with SATA. What settings did you change in BIOS?

Thank you!

Keep in mind my computer is a Dell, so the BIOS settings may be somewhat different than yours - I don't know.

There are 4 SATA modes available:
RAID Autodetect/AHCI <default>
RAID Autodetect/ATA
[Something I can't recall ATM]
Combined

I first tried Combined, but that didn't work. I then tried RAID Autodetect/ATA and that did the trick.

I tried to install KnoppMyth this morning as well.

But sadly I hit upon that kernel panic problem. I got the same messages than sthatche...
As the other posters here I use an SATA harddist, too.

Did anyone solve the problem by now and could give some hints that could help the others??

Thanks in advance

Ok. I don't have a SATA drive, but i ran into the same problem. Here is how I fixed it. (answer found via google)

first, boot from the knoppmyth cd and quit the installation process to get a command prompt.

Then do the following:


doing this fixed it for me. Again, I don't have a SATA drive, but I was getting the same "L 99 99 99 99 99" problem.

I had the problem and worked around it. I did something simliar to the lilo sugestion but it did not work. Unless you have 2 SATA controllers my solution will probally not work for you.

http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic. ... highlight=

_________________
GA-K8NS-939 Ultra
AMD 64 939 Venice 3200+
1GB RAM (2 512MB DDR400 184PIN DIMM )
HD3000
2 160GB SATA Seagate Barracuda 7200.7s
MSI Nx6200ax-td128 video card
Cooler Master Cavalier 2 - 350W PS
BenQ DW1640

Thanks,

Chris Lopeman