rescuing system after MBR overwrite; root on EVM-ed ReiserFS / root on standalone ext3

Shot (Piotr Szotkowski) shot at hot.pl
Thu Mar 17 21:44:03 UTC 2005


Hello.

I have to reinstall the Windows partition on my laptop, but this
will overwrite the Master Boot Record. Thinking it's better to be
safe than sorry I tested the scenario on my spare machine: Windows
goes to /dev/hda1, Ubuntu Hoary Preview to /dev/hda{2,6,7,8,...}
(the multipartiton setup), all partitions ReiserFS, all on EVM.

After some googling I reinstalled Windows on /dev/hda1, booted from
the Hoary Preview with `rescue root=/dev/hda2` and got kernel panic:

VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
VFS: Cannot open root device "hda2" or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

which is not really surprising as the kernel looks for a standalone
root on ext2, but there's only an EVM-ed root on ReiserFS.

Thus, I have a couple of questions:

My testing machine's case: As far as I understand, I need a CD with
a rescue kernel with compiled in (not just as a module) EVM support
and ReiserFS support. Do you know about such a rescue CD?

My laptop's case: It currently runs Debian sid (but will run Hoary in
near future, after I sort out this Windows reinstall), and has root on
a standalone ext3 partition (other partitions are on LVM). Do you know
about a rescue CD with support for an ext3 root? Do I get it right
thinking this kernel doesn't have to have LVM support (with the root
partition not being on LVM)?

In either case: what parameters should I pass at the
boot prompt for the rescue kernel to do its magic?

Cheers,
-- Shot
-- 
          Life begins when you can spend your spare time programming
          instead of watching television.              -- Cal Keegan
====================== http://shot.pl/hovercraft/ === http://shot.pl/1/125/ ===
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