I am new to this forum and need help desperately to rescue a system. Please forgive me if I do not know what details to give or in the right format. I have OpenSUSE 12.1 (3.1.10-1.29) 64-bit installed on a rather old intel PC (of 2006) with 2 x dual core processors Athlon, 500 GB HD, 2GB RAM. It has been running perfectly until a few days ago. I lost internet, rebooted router, and found that the DNS messed up. So, I was fiddling around and I think the only thing I consciously changed was /etc/resolve.conf to force a nameserver to be my own router. After that, the internet was working but very slowly. So I commented out the nameserver line again in /etc/resolve.conf and reboot and then everything went wild. I don’t know if any of these is related so I tried to describe what happened before the system failed. When I started the system as usual, it got to the grub selection screen, I started OpenSUSE 12.1 with “nomodeset vga=0x31a” to make my Zalman M215 monitor works at native resolution, then it stayed a while with the blank SUSE wallpaper, and then fell into a text console, complaining something about cannot find mouse driver from /dev/sda2… etc. I cannot copy all the text because I was dumped there and could not get internet on that system.
My HD is partitioned as follows:
/dev/sda1 Linux swap
/dev/sda2 * Linux boot and root
/dev/sda3 W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda5 Linux
I tried to boot with various live CD and OpenSUSE 12.1 (64-bit) installer DVD, results varied. I summarise as follows:
Knoppix 5.3.1 DVD booted into desktop but froze
Knoppix 6.0.1 public beta CD is the best. It booted on XIDE desktop with everything functioning. I can browse the content of the mounted HD. So, the worst case, I can copy all my data.
Knoppix 7.6 DVD booted but could not create /mnt-system and dropped to a prompt (some people said it was the DVD badly made, I doubt it. I checked MD5, and it worked in another PC)
OpenSUSE 12.1 Live CD (64-bit): same symptom as booting from HD: errors in finding /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, qc time out, cannot IDENTIFY drives
OpenSUSE 12.1 DVD (64-bit): same symptom as above and from HD, HD not found
If I looked at the dev directory under the mounted /media/sda2 with the working Knoppix 6.0.1, I cannot see sda1, sda2, sda3 etc. But these devices were identified by Knoppix as /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, /dev/sda3, /dev/sda5. i.e. inside Knoppix terminal, I can do “fdisk -l” and see all these.
I am not sure if I have given enough details. Please let me know what I need to post. I really appreciate if you could help me to restore it to a working system if possible. There are a number of software I spent a long time compiling and I don’t fancy recompile them in a new system.
Because the HD seems could not be identified, I could not even reinstall the 12.1 over this system.
> Because the HD seems could not be identified, I could not even reinstall
> the 12.1 over this system.
Sounds like a hardware failure. You could try putting the drive in
another system to eliminate the on-board controller on the motherboard,
but there’s probably not much anyone can do if the drive has suffered a
hardware failure.
But then Knoppix 6.0.1 can detect the partitions perfectly and mount them. And all OpenSUSE versions failed to detect it, making me to suspect it is something specific to openSUSE.
> Thanks for your quick response.
>
> But then Knoppix 6.0.1 can detect the partitions perfectly and mount
> them. And all OpenSUSE versions failed to detect it, making me to
> suspect it is something specific to openSUSE.
Does it consistently - over multiple boots - detect the partitions?
If it does, then the next question to answer is what changed between when
12.1 (which is an old version, BTW - you might try a 13.2 live DVD image
and see how that works) worked, and when it stopped working.
Yes, it does. I’ll post a dmesg of this following this.
If it does, then the next question to answer is what changed between when
12.1 (which is an old version, BTW - you might try a 13.2 live DVD image
and see how that works) worked, and when it stopped working.
I did not change anything myself. But may be the router crash led to some file corruption? That I don’t know. I was trying 12.1 because I wanted to restore the system to what it was and hoped it works like previously. I was thinking of reinstalling without formatting over the old system. I’ll try 13.2 as you suggested later and report back. Can I install 13.2 over the old 12.1 without removing anything in /usr and /usr/local and /opt and all that?
BTW, I managed to boot the latest KNOPPIX 7.6 (64-bit) on a USB (How silly I did not think of this before!). Now, the HD is not seen. I’ll post the dmesg output here. After booted up, on the system, the /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2 are the 2 partitions of the USB flash drive. You will see the HD detection errors.
The full dmseg after I booted with Knoppix64 of KNOPPIX 7.6 (current version) on a USB stick:
knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ dmesg
1.010974] Key type encrypted registered
1.011369] rtc_cmos 00:01: setting system clock to 2015-12-18 07:00:16 UTC (1450422016)
1.011699] ALSA device list:
1.011701] No soundcards found.
1.186699] ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
1.186716] ata4: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
1.186732] ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
1.186742] ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
1.243361] usb 1-5: new high-speed USB device number 3 using ehci-pci
1.360027] usb 4-1: new low-speed USB device number 2 using ohci-pci
1.369274] usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=3538, idProduct=0054
1.369277] usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
1.369279] usb 1-5: Product: PQI USB Flash Drive
1.369281] usb 1-5: Manufacturer: PQI
1.369283] usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 00000000000C45
1.369584] usb-storage 1-5:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
1.369692] scsi host4: usb-storage 1-5:1.0
1.413364] usb 3-1: new low-speed USB device number 2 using ohci-pci
1.556051] usb 4-1: New USB device found, idVendor=045e, idProduct=0752
1.556054] usb 4-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
1.556057] usb 4-1: Product: Wired Keyboard 400
1.556059] usb 4-1: Manufacturer: Microsoft
1.567537] input: Microsoft Wired Keyboard 400 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:04.0/usb4/4-1/4-1:1.0/0003:045E:0752.0001/input/input5
1.607058] usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0461, idProduct=4e22
1.607062] usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
1.607064] usb 3-1: Product: USB Optical Mouse
1.607066] usb 3-1: Manufacturer: PixArt
1.616484] input: PixArt USB Optical Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/usb3/3-1/3-1:1.0/0003:0461:4E22.0002/input/input6
1.623636] hid-generic 0003:045E:0752.0001: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Keyboard [Microsoft Wired Keyboard 400] on usb-0000:00:04.0-1/input0
1.623835] hid-generic 0003:0461:4E22.0002: input,hidraw1: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [PixArt USB Optical Mouse] on usb-0000:00:02.0-1/input0
2.371688] scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access Generic USB Flash Disk 0.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
2.372002] sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
2.373041] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] 16119807 512-byte logical blocks: (8.25 GB/7.68 GiB)
2.374536] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
2.374539] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
2.375535] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Asking for cache data failed
2.375538] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
2.492071] sda: sda1 sda2
2.496535] sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
6.186705] ata2.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xa1)
6.186712] ata2.00: failed to IDENTIFY (I/O error, err_mask=0x4)
6.186729] ata1.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xec)
6.186734] ata1.00: failed to IDENTIFY (I/O error, err_mask=0x4)
6.506698] ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
6.506714] ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
16.506694] ata2.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xa1)
16.506698] ata2.00: failed to IDENTIFY (I/O error, err_mask=0x4)
16.506700] ata2: limiting SATA link speed to 1.5 Gbps
16.506707] ata1.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xec)
16.506712] ata1.00: failed to IDENTIFY (I/O error, err_mask=0x4)
16.506714] ata1: limiting SATA link speed to 1.5 Gbps
16.826697] ata2: SATA link up <unknown> (SStatus 103 SControl 310)
21.840026] ata1: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready=0)
26.533357] ata1: COMRESET failed (errno=-16)
26.853359] ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)
46.826690] ata2.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xa1)
46.826693] ata2.00: failed to IDENTIFY (I/O error, err_mask=0x4)
47.146690] ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)
56.853355] ata1.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xec)
56.853358] ata1.00: failed to IDENTIFY (I/O error, err_mask=0x4)
57.173356] ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)
57.174262] Freeing unused kernel memory: 1060K (ffffffff81f21000 - ffffffff8202a000)
57.174267] Write protecting the kernel read-only data: 14336k
57.175906] Freeing unused kernel memory: 1892K (ffff880001827000 - ffff880001a00000)
57.176624] Freeing unused kernel memory: 812K (ffff880001d35000 - ffff880001e00000)
57.192584] FAT-fs (sda): utf8 is not a recommended IO charset for FAT filesystems, filesystem will be case sensitive!
57.238547] UDF-fs: warning (device sda): udf_fill_super: No partition found (2)
57.240066] F2FS-fs (sda): Magic Mismatch, valid(0xf2f52010) - read(0x0)
57.240069] F2FS-fs (sda): Can't find valid F2FS filesystem in 1th superblock
57.240666] F2FS-fs (sda): Magic Mismatch, valid(0xf2f52010) - read(0x0)
57.240671] F2FS-fs (sda): Can't find valid F2FS filesystem in 2th superblock
57.240676] F2FS-fs (sda): Magic Mismatch, valid(0xf2f52010) - read(0x0)
57.240678] F2FS-fs (sda): Can't find valid F2FS filesystem in 1th superblock
57.240681] F2FS-fs (sda): Magic Mismatch, valid(0xf2f52010) - read(0x0)
57.240683] F2FS-fs (sda): Can't find valid F2FS filesystem in 2th superblock
57.244316] FAT-fs (sda1): utf8 is not a recommended IO charset for FAT filesystems, filesystem will be case sensitive!
57.672407] random: nonblocking pool is initialized
60.485561] cloop: Can't open device read-write in mode 0x1f
60.486929] cloop: file KNOPPIX version 2, 78660 blocks of 131072 bytes, header first.
60.524045] cloop: KNOPPIX: 78660 blocks, 131072 bytes/block, largest block is 131098 bytes.
60.544772] ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A
60.632316] cloop: Can't open device read-write in mode 0x1f
60.633679] cloop: file KNOPPIX1 version 2, 2814 blocks of 131072 bytes, header first.
60.635802] cloop: KNOPPIX1: 2814 blocks, 131072 bytes/block, largest block is 131098 bytes.
60.642752] ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A
60.648040] REISERFS (device sda2): found reiserfs format "3.6" with non-standard journal
60.648051] REISERFS (device sda2): using ordered data mode
60.648053] reiserfs: using flush barriers
60.648790] REISERFS (device sda2): journal params: device sda2, size 512, journal first block 18, max trans len 256, max batch 225, max commit age 30, max trans age 30
60.648861] REISERFS (device sda2): checking transaction log (sda2)
60.924676] REISERFS (device sda2): Using r5 hash to sort names
60.924726] REISERFS (device sda2): Created .reiserfs_priv - reserved for xattr storage.
61.616113] usb 3-1: USB disconnect, device number 2
63.153907] systemd-udevd[1954]: starting version 227
63.333398] usb 3-1: new low-speed USB device number 3 using ohci-pci
63.390198] forcedeth: Reverse Engineered nForce ethernet driver. Version 0.64.
63.390409] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKL] enabled at IRQ 19
63.414354] EDAC MC: Ver: 3.0.0
63.418182] AMD64 EDAC driver v3.4.0
63.527056] usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0461, idProduct=4e22
63.527062] usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
63.527065] usb 3-1: Product: USB Optical Mouse
63.527068] usb 3-1: Manufacturer: PixArt
63.536471] input: PixArt USB Optical Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/usb3/3-1/3-1:1.0/0003:0461:4E22.0003/input/input7
63.536636] hid-generic 0003:0461:4E22.0003: input,hidraw1: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [PixArt USB Optical Mouse] on usb-0000:00:02.0-1/input0
63.914311] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: ifname eth0, PHY OUI 0x732 @ 1, addr 00:19:99:27:f8:5e
63.914317] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: highdma pwrctl mgmt gbit lnktim msi desc-v3
63.914535] i2c i2c-0: nForce2 SMBus adapter at 0x3040
63.914588] i2c i2c-1: nForce2 SMBus adapter at 0x3000
63.914690] EDAC amd64: DRAM ECC disabled.
63.914697] EDAC amd64: ECC disabled in the BIOS or no ECC capability, module will not load.
Either enable ECC checking or force module loading by setting 'ecc_enable_override'.
(Note that use of the override may cause unknown side effects.)
**... TO BE CONTINUED IN A SEPARATE MESSAGE BECAUSE THIS IS TOO LONG ...**
I’ll post the rest following this and also post the dmseg output after a KNOPPIX 6.0.1 boot (which can consistently see the HD) for comparison following this.
your partition layout seams a bit strange to me
you have root and swap as primary partitions and home as a logical inside an extended partition?
I have no idea the benefit of this setup did you do it on purpose, perhaps all of your linux partitions wore logical inside a single extended partition and your mbr record god damaged?
maybe Knoppix is ignoring some disk errors?
what to do, if you can get your data out restore it to an external drive or burn it on a dvd, then reinstall a newer version 12.1 has been dead for years.
I’ve had a few hard disks die on me, it’s not that uncommon, I wouldn’t recommend running tests until you get your data out, then check with the disk manufacturer’s site they usually provide tools for that.
>> Does it consistently - over multiple boots - detect the partitions?
>
> Yes, it does. I’ll post a dmesg of this following this.
That’s good to know.
> I did not change anything myself. But may be the router crash led to
> some file corruption?
Not likely - it would have to be something on the machine itself.
> That I don’t know. I was trying 12.1 because I
> wanted to restore the system to what it was and hoped it works like
> previously. I was thinking of reinstalling without formatting over the
> old system. I’ll try 13.2 as you suggested later and report back. Can I
> install 13.2 over the old 12.1 without removing anything in /usr and
> /usr/local and /opt and all that?
/usr and /usr/local will be updated with new libraries that come from
13.2. An upgrade might work, but it would be interesting at least to
try the 13.2 or Leap 42.1 media in rescue mode and see if you can mount
the partitions there.
Here was what I did: I backed up my data by booting with KNOPPIX 6.0.1. Next I tried to boot with OpenSUSE 12.1 on USB. It booted all right, but again, it showed all the errors of qc timeout, HDD not identified, and dropped me out into a command prompt, no luck.
Eventually I looked at my BIOS set up. There was a set up for SATA Controller Mode. Mine was set to “Compatible mode”, meaning HDD are autodetected and set to “Legacy mode”. I changed it to “Enhanced mode”, meaning HDD are autodetected and set to “native IDE mode”. After that, everything behaved normal again like nothing has happened. I was able to boot into my previously working 12.1 without any more work.
What still puzzle me: (1) Why on earth and how did I ended up changing the BIOS without myself noticing? Either that, or, previously, the system worked with the Compatible mode, I don’t know. (2) Why was KNOPPIX 6.0.1 the only system that can identify my HDD and all other systems was not able to? I am still confused, but nevertheless, it is working. Thank you for your attention.
