mount error - error mounting /dev/root on sysroot as ext3 : invalid argument

[marko]

After updating to the current 2.6.27.9-159.fc10.x86_64 kernel I can't boot it due
to getting a mount error:

mount: error mounting /dev/root on sysroot as ext3 : invalid argument

Note this PC is not using LVM and I'm using AHCI

I've tried several things I've found on google but none worked:

1) make a file /etc/sysconfig/mkinitrd containing:

MODULES="scsi_wait_scan"

and run

mkinitrd -v -f /boot/initrd-2.6.27.9-159.fc10.x86_64.img 2.6.27.9-159.fc10.x86_64

2) added to the grub boot line:
mod_scsi.scan=sync

3) finally I noticed after trying "2" that I could see a error about the mount
argument "norelatime" being invalid, but the mount man page says that's
still supported ? I want norelatime to reduce file system writes when I just
look at files.

[leigh123linux]

I think you have the wrong option , it should be relatime

#
# /etc/fstab
# Created by anaconda on Sun Nov 30 01:40:43 2008
#
# Accessible filesystems, by reference, are maintained under '/dev/disk'
# See man pages fstab(5), findfs(8), mount(8) and/or vol_id(8) for more info
#
UUID=f372564c-f1a7-430e-b97f-b250812e2c30 /                       ext3    relatime,defaults        1 1
tmpfs                   /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults        0 0
devpts                  /dev/pts                devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
sysfs                   /sys                    sysfs   defaults        0 0
proc                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0
UUID=9b19eb90-bb6c-433d-90db-a24172ad3bfc swap                    swap    relatime,defaults        0 0
UUID=2686d410-8a80-422e-9d9a-03c158146ef8 /home/leigh/data	    ext3  relatime,defaults	1 2
UUID=71aa4c0f-3d5c-45fe-ba7f-bfd31a829a9d /home/leigh/data1	    ext3  relatime,defaults	1 2
UUID=1c158abd-408a-4d2c-a9b1-7b05bbdabf99 /home/leigh/development ext3  relatime,defaults	1 2

/dev/sdd2 / ext3 rw,relatime 0 0
/proc /proc proc rw 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,gid=5,mode=620 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs rw 0 0
/dev/sdc1 /home/leigh/data ext3 rw,relatime 0 0
/dev/mapper/VOL1-LVM1 /home/leigh/data1 ext3 rw,relatime 0 0
/dev/sdb5 /home/leigh/development ext3 rw,relatime 0 0
none /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc binfmt_misc rw 0 0
sunrpc /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs rpc_pipefs rw 0 0
gvfs-fuse-daemon /home/leigh/.gvfs fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon rw,nosuid,nodev,user=leigh 0 0
/dev/sda2 /media/_1234 ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal 0 0
/dev/sdc2 /media/_123 ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal 0 0
/dev/sdd3 /media/_ ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal 0 0
/dev/sdb3 /media/_1 ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /media/_123456 ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal 0 0
/dev/sdd1 /media/_12345678 ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal 0 0
/dev/sdb2 /media/_1234567 ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal 0 0

[marko]

Hm, I took the "norelatime" out of /etc/fstab/ and replaced it with "noatime"
which should do about the same thing and the newest kernel still fails with:

mount (some message about norelatime being an unknown argument)
.....
mount: error mounting /dev/root on sysroot as ext3 : invalid argument

How norelatime can still show up at boot after I edited it out of the /etc/fstab
I don't understand. I was thinking it might be hidden in the initrd file
but I searched those and it didn't show:

strings /boot/initrd* | grep -i norelatime

gets no hits

BTW, "norelatime" is in the man page for mount as a valid option. Why would it cause the
kernel to not load?

[cluge]

>Hm, I took the "norelatime" out of /etc/fstab/ and replaced it with "noatime"
>which should do about the same thing and the newest kernel still fails with:

I had the same issue. After you replace norelatime in fstab with noatime, remake initrd (See post above). Let me know how it goes, I actually removed all atime settings and went back to the defaults, remade my initrd and got a clean boot.

-cluge

[marko]

Cluge:

Yes, now it's working. It needed the new initrd file to be built after the fstab edit

thanks

[cniggeler]

Hi,

I have a test system with multiple Linuces on it and wanted to upgrade an ancient Fedora 5 with 10. Am using grub and also have SusSE 10.1 and Redhat 9 on the system.

Got the subject message, scrolled thru many a Google listing and applying in vain the suggestions (additions to boot KERNEL line, modifying initrd, even adding a file to initrd-xxxx-img).

With nothing working, on a lark I let Fedora rewrite the boot record (previously the grub loader was the one that came with SuSE). Success! I did have to clean up the new grub.conf, but I got that from the /boot/grub/grub.conf file in the SuSE partition.

[murali566]

how can we edit all these files if OS is not booting up ?

[glennzo]

murali566. Welcome to Fedora Forum. Since this thread is several years old I'm going to close it. It would be better if you start a new thread detailing your Linux issues.