A really weird problem in 2008 Spring

[ianw1974]

OK, let's get a little more specific with /etc/fstab on 2008.1 Spring:

 

/dev/sdb1 / ext3 relatime 1 1
/dev/sdb7 /allmymusic ext3 defaults 1 2
/dev/sdb8 /allmypictures ext3 defaults 1 2
/dev/sdb6 /home ext3 relatime 1 2
/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom auto umask=0,users,iocharset=utf8,noauto,ro,exec 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /tmp tmpfs defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb9 /zmystore ext3 defaults 1 2
/dev/sda5 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb5 swap swap defaults 0 0

 

can you set your /etc/fstab in 2008.1 Spring like this, and see if we have the same problem? I cannot see how the partitions can mount to the wrong place if they are specified like this. Currently, I've no idea if the UUID's are the ones for /dev/sda or for /dev/sdb - and I'm not too fussed about this, but I find this much easier.

 

I also, don't see how UUID's are likely to work better than /dev/sdxx because both your hard disks are static anyway. It's unlikely these would change - unless of course you had USB sticks/disks connected which were picked up first by the BIOS instead of the hard disks - something I've never seen but maybe possible. Let me know if it's any better after this, or if you have already tried this.

 

I'm sure your config was like this before perhaps, but I'd like to see if this happens again. If so, then there is obviously something else over-riding your mounting of your drives and /etc/fstab is not being used whatsoever. Otherwise, it should mount exactly like the /etc/fstab says.

[iphitus]

Post /proc/mounts and see what is actually mounted.

 

/dev/sdX can change between kernels depending on various factors. UUID's will _not_ change. So while they're long, at least you know they're right. Labels are better cause they're at least human readable ;)

 

I'm still not sure exactly what the problem here is. Are the title's just wrong, or are the wrong partitions being mounted in the wrong spots?

 

Are they both getting it wrong or just one?

[ianw1974]

2008.0 is OK from what I read and understand, it's just 2008.1 Spring that seems to mount the wrong partitions, even though it is supposedly told to mount the ones from /dev/sdb. Unfortunately, the UUID's weren't so obvious as putting /dev/sdbx in the /etc/fstab, so I suggested this so that we could easily see what was going on. And it's a quick change that can be made.

 

I then figured, that if it still happens after this, then /etc/fstab is being ignnored, and udev or something else is mounting and getting it wrong somehow. But I've never known udev to do this without having some sort of config to read to ascertain what goes where.

[AussieJohn]

Thank you Ian.

I am glad that someone now sees what I have been trying to get across namely that it is not me doing something screwy but 2008-Spring instead.

 

I am actually going to do the desperate thing of installing 2008-Free onto sdb and then 2008-Spring onto sda and see what happens.

Could be one of two results 1, that 2008-Spring will do the same thing. Or 2. (as I suspect will happen) it will at last be OK.

 

It will be interesting.

 

Cheers. John.

[ianw1974]

I'd have preferred the check of fstab in Spring before the install. But never mind, let us know how it goes and hopefully something works.

[adamw]

ian: basically the reason for using UUIDs is indeed in case dynamically connected drives screw with the enumeration. it is indeed possible on some systems for an external USB or SATA drive to change the enumeration. It also occasionally happens that a change in a *driver* causes it, so you do a kernel update and suddenly all your drives change around. Lots of fun, that.

[AussieJohn]

Well I did reinstall 2008-Free on to sdb and carefully checked it out that everything was OK and it was.

 

Then I did a clean reinstall of 2008-Spring on to sda. No prizes for guessing what happened.

 

It installed exactly the way it was supposed to and is performing correctly with only the sda partitions mounted.

 

This means that 2008-Spring has huge problems if it is not mounted on the 1st. SATA HD in the case of multiple SATA HDs.

 

This is definitely a bug that Mandriva needs to fix. While I have resolved my situation, someone new to Mandriva and faced with the same problem will just damn Mandriva and give it away.

 

Sorry Adam but I can't be bothered to recreate the situation again for getting more info for Mandriva since I have spent far too many days and days and headachey hours trying to find a solution or explanation. I think all the info in my posts proves conclusively that the problem exists.

 

If Mandriva, through your good services, cannot be bothered acknowledging the problem exists and fix it then more fools they and my respect for them takes a huge dive.

 

Could you please let me know their response.

 

Cheers. John.

 

PS I have also noticed that the ......Show Windows from all Desktops.. in Configure Panel......Taskbar.. is present. In my earlier setup with the main problem, it was missing. I noticed a thread to this subject in MUB where a poster was wanting to disable this feature (same as I always do) but couldn't and others confirmed that it wasn't there also.

However since I have all updates installed then it might have been fixed because it is there again. The latest updates are not necessarily the ones I had earlier. JB

Edited April 18, 2008 by AussieJohn

[ianw1974]

ian: basically the reason for using UUIDs is indeed in case dynamically connected drives screw with the enumeration. it is indeed possible on some systems for an external USB or SATA drive to change the enumeration. It also occasionally happens that a change in a *driver* causes it, so you do a kernel update and suddenly all your drives change around. Lots of fun, that.

 

I know I understand why. I've yet to see this happen - maybe if you have your system configured to recognise USB attached devices first, then of course I'm sure it's a headache then finding that your USB disk is now /dev/sda and your internal disks are /dev/sdb and /dev/sdc respectively.

 

My suggestion was, so that the files were humanly readable so we can trace what's going on rather than try and figure out what UUID is assigned to which partition - saves one extra step, which I'm sure you would agree with!

 

Labels however, are far better because you can humanly read them. Ubuntu uses UUID's within the grub config, yet /etc/fstab is human readable with the /dev/xxx options.

[jkerr82508]

I have seen reports of this. IIRC when someone has a USB drive attached on boot (but not on installation), it somehow is identified as sda. Personally, I only power up my USB drive when I want to use it and have not experienced this. For me, using UUIDs solves a problem that does not exist and so I've removed the "alphabet soup" from fstab and menu.lst. Perhaps this should be added as an option in the installer.

 

Jim

Edited April 18, 2008 by jkerr82508

[AussieJohn]

It seems that this issue has just died. Since it IS a Mandriva problem, naturally I don't expect solutions from members here at MUB. I am just surprised that others haven't encountered the problem. Maybe it is because I used EXACTLY the same partition settings on two identical Hard drives (through RAID-1 mirroring originally). If that is the reason and it confuses Mandriva then they should do something to make certain that 2008.1 follows fstab and not some other directive of its own.

 

After all 2007, 2007.1 and 2008 had no problem with my same layout in which the newer version always went on to sdb first and when stable enough went on to sda then the newer again on to sdb.

 

I am still hoping for some comment from AdamW about this matter especially since it happened to basically two different computers but using the same HDDS (I installed a NEW Mainboard , AMD 6200 DualCore 64 CPU and a new GeForce 9600 GT Video card. Just the same box and Power supply with no audio card this time and the capture card removed and fitted into another box instead).

 

NOTE. With no plug in Audio card and no Capture card I got Audio from the start, no having to do blacklisting and editing modprobe.conf etc. This is definitely something Mandriva must fix soon. As I said once before , one should be able to simply click a button that selects the chosen sound source as default when there are multiple sound sources and that should be it.

 

In two weeks time I will be installing two Western Digital 320Gb SATA II HDDs and will be setting them up exactly the same way as I have at present but with the Music and Pictures and zstore partitions taking up the additional space proportionally. Just to prove my point I will be installing 2008-Free on the first drive sda and 2008-Spring on drive sdb. I am positive it will do the same thing again.

 

Cheers. John.

[AussieJohn]

Hi.

Anything from anyone on this SATA problem with Mandriva-Spring besides Roxen in another thread ???.

 

John.

[adamw]

I still really don't get what exactly the problem is, what the scenario that causes it is, whether it's general or specific to your system. Have you filed a bug on it yet?

[AussieJohn]

Thanks Adam, at last.

 

No I have not filed a bug because there is no error messages or such like.

 

I will run through the problem again.

 

I installed 2008-Fee on sda with the following partitions titled as ..../, swap, /home, /allmusic, /allpictures, /zstore. Remember, all on sda.

 

I installed 2008-Spring on my second hard drive, on sdb with the following partitions titled..../, swap, /home, /allmymusic, /allmypictures, /zmystore. Note, all on sdb.

 

The fstab for 2008-Free correctly shows only the sda partitions but also the swap on sdb. Just like it should.

The fstab for 2008-Spring correctly only shows the partitions of sdb plus the swap of sda. Just like it should. All perfectly normal.

 

When I log into 2008-Free and I open Konqueror and look at /allmusic and /allpictures and /zstore I see what I expect to see in them because lots of data only exist in those partitions. Therefore I know I am actually looking at the correct partitions.

 

When I log into 2008 Spring and I open Konqueror and look at /allmymusic and /allmypictures and /zmystore, I DONT see what I would expect to see in them because what I am looking at is the sda /allmusic but labelled as /allmymusic, the sda /allpictures but now labelled as /allmypictures, the sda /zstore but now labelled as /zmystore. In other words 2008-Spring is not looking at the three partitions it should be looking at on sdb despite what Springs fstab says it should be looking at.

 

Note that the partition sizes are identical on sda and sdb as the result of 2007.1 being setup as RAID-1 some time ago and the two SATA II are identical models.

 

This happened with an Asus main board fitted with an Asus Nvidia Video card and 1Gb of DDR memory.

I have replaced them with a new Gigabyte mainboard + Gigabyte Nvidia Video Card and 4Gb of DDR2 memory and it still happens.

 

The next part of the drama was when I did a clean install of 2008-Free on to sdb this time and a clean install of 2008-Spring onto sda. This time there was no problem with 2008-Spring nor was there any problem with 2008-Free (which has never been a problem of this type whether on sda or sdb). This time when I went to /allmymusic it was on sda as it was supposed to be. Likewise for /allmypictures and /zmystore (I carried the same Partitions titles for Spring and for Free as earlier)

 

Just to make certain of the problem, I went through the routine of clean installing of Free on sda again and Spring on sdb and sure enough there was the same old problem again.

Clean installs of the two again but reversed and problem gone. This is what I am using now i.e. Spring on sda.

 

By the way when in the problem mode namely Spring on sdb, going into MCC....Partition Management shows / and /home highlighted on sdb while on sda the three partitions labelled for Free as /allmusic and /allpictures and /zstore are highlighted and appear as / allmymusic and /allmypictures and /zmystore. Unmounting these three in sda and mounting and renaming them on sdb has no effect because when you click on Done, it immediately exits MCC with no Pop-Up asking to save to fstab. This is quite logical because fstab already has that instruction it is just that something in Mandriva just ignores fstab or is somehow confused but ONLY when Spring is on the second SATA being sdb

 

Like I said there are no error messages at any time anywhere so how can I send a bug report when there is no error message to define the bug. The problem is easily reproduceable

 

Identical drives with identical partitions. What is really weird is that /home is not effected as are the other three partitions.

 

I hope you can carry this back to Mandriva for me. Personally I really couldn't care less about the problem anymore because I will just never install Mandriva-Spring on to sdb again but it should be investigated and fixed by Mandriva because otherwise it will likely carry over into 2009-Free and that is not a good prospect for anyone in the future.

 

Cheers. John.

Edited April 26, 2008 by AussieJohn