Live CDs "cannot find filesystem" ... ?

[shadowwyvern]

I needed to shuffle soem partitions around today, so I put in knoppix and rebooted. Simple, or so I thought. Knoppix fired up, but after detecting usb devices, it complianed that it could nto find the filesystem, and dropped me into what it called a very basic console. I did not actually detect my usb keyboard apparently, so I had no choice but to reboot. I then tried my friend's system rescue cd (another linux based live CD) with pretty much the same results. Both discs are confirmed working. I then spent a few miserable hours trying to diagnose the problem. I did:
1) removed all other devices from the IDE chain, leaving just the DVD drive
failed again
2.) unplugged the sata drive I was going to work on (getting desperate)
failure
3.) Messed around with the boot order, etc
failure
4.) Reset bios to factory defaults
failure, and I had to pull out my ram to find out what voltage it takes....

So I am now exactly back where I started.

Interestingly, my Fedora 7 DVD installer boots and runs fine. I did a littel bit of research, and most responses to this issue are cookie-cutter "don't use a SATA or SCSI cd drive", which does not help me, as I am using IDE, the only SATA involved here is that my IDE controller is also a SATA controller (JMicron on an Asus P5B). I have lost half a day to this silly problem, does anyone have any idea what is going wrong?

Thanks

 

[As I Lay Dying]

what motherboard do you have, and what version of the knoppix disc and rescue disc were you using?

 

[SmokeRngs]

which does not help me, as I am using IDE, the only SATA involved here is that my IDE controller is also a SATA controller (JMicron on an Asus P5B).

You have already found your problem more than likely. The JMicron controller is nothing but pure evil.

The main reason I got a SATA DVD burner is because of the JMicron controller on my DS3. While I could install the Linux OS off the IDE DVD burner running on the JMicron controller, it was rare that the DVD burner would actually work once I was inside the operating system.

I've also talked to some other people trying to use the JMicron controller and Linux and it not working including one person with a P5B motherboard. If you had a way to take the JMicron controller out of the equation entirely, it's likely you would have no more trouble.

My main system is using all SATA devices off the Intel ICH8 controller and I have no trouble whatsoever in Linux now.

 

[shadowwyvern]

Thanks for the reply

This morning I hunted a little more. Putting P5B in my search terms inundated me with people complaining about the jmicron controller. Kinda glad to see it is the controller, and not some strange bios or chipset problem. I was using an older version of Knoppix (4.0 DVD). I am downloading the 5.1.1 DVD now to see if it has any better support. Although it does not matter as much at this point since it is looking like I will have to wipe the whole disc anyway (the partition table is a disaster becuase I forgot to make fedora create primary partitions, everything is LVM and it is a real mess). Just add another reason to make my next build and all sata one

 

[Bones]

The main reason I got a SATA DVD burner is because of the JMicron controller on my DS3. While I could install the Linux OS off the IDE DVD burner running on the JMicron controller, it was rare that the DVD burner would actually work once I was inside the operating system.

Which rev of the JMicron do you have on your board? I have a rev02 JMicron on my DS3, and it hasn't given me any problems since kernel 2.6.20, or thereabouts. Right now I have a SATA DVD-RW hooked up to it that works without issues.

I was using an older version of Knoppix (4.0 DVD)

That was the problem, that version is too old to have had JMicron support. If I recall correctly, Knoppix didn't have a JMicron supporting kernel until 5.0.1.