"couldn't determine symbol block size"

I recently got a WorkPad z50 off a friend.  He had 2.0.2
installed on
it, on an IBM 340M microdrive.  It's perhaps important to
note that
this install was set up to use hpcboot rather than
pbsdboot.

As part of my learning my way around, I tried to set up 3.1.
 I had
been able to boot with root on nfs without any problem, so I
went to
set 3.1 up that way.  I set up the NFS root directory, but
when I tried
to put the 3.1 kernel on the msdos filesystem on the
microdrive, it
wouldn't fit.

Now, there are multiple ways around this.  But what I tried
to do was
to resize the partitions on the thing, to enlarge the msdos
filesystem.
So I put the microdrive in a CF-to-PCMCIA adapter and popped
it into
another machine, dumped an image of the contents so I'd have
a backup,
repartitioned, restored the ffs contents, destroyed the
msdos
partition's contents, then put it in the mahcine and let it
remake the
msdos filesystem.  Back into the other machine, mount (with
-l, to be
sure), and copy everything over.

But now, when I try to boot from it, hpcboot pops up an
alert box
titled "WARNING", saying "couldn't determine
symbol block size", and
the boot wedges with the blue bar somewhere around 80-90
percent of the
way across the screen; I have to hard-reset the machine (by
removing
the battery) to recover - the reset button on the back makes
it shut
down, but it won't turn back on until I pull the battery.

Now, I know 2.0.2 is not the most current; it's not even the
most
current release.  But I can't figure out why there's a
difference
between the microdrive before I started messing with it and
now.  This
means there's something I don't understand, and things I
don't
understand are practically guaranteed to turn into problems,
usually at
about the most inconvenient time they can.

Any idea what's up?

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Sorry, nothing about your particular problem but one
FWIW...

I was unable to fit 3.0 (now 3.1) on a 340M microdrive
without  
getting rid of stuff I wanted to keep (i.e. compiler, X  
environment).  This was with a 15M dos partition on the
drive (not  
totally sure, box isn't in front of me now).  In any case, I
ended up  
buying a 1G microdrive off of Ebay and now I have plenty of
room.

Steve

On Feb 21, 2007, at 01:40, der Mouse wrote:

> I recently got a WorkPad z50 off a friend.  He had
2.0.2 installed on
> it, on an IBM 340M microdrive.  It's perhaps important
to note that
> this install was set up to use hpcboot rather than
pbsdboot.
>
> As part of my learning my way around, I tried to set up
3.1.  I had
> been able to boot with root on nfs without any problem,
so I went to
> set 3.1 up that way.  I set up the NFS root directory,
but when I  
> tried
> to put the 3.1 kernel on the msdos filesystem on the
microdrive, it
> wouldn't fit.
>
> Now, there are multiple ways around this.  But what I
tried to do was
> to resize the partitions on the thing, to enlarge the
msdos  
> filesystem.
> So I put the microdrive in a CF-to-PCMCIA adapter and
popped it into
> another machine, dumped an image of the contents so I'd
have a backup,
> repartitioned, restored the ffs contents, destroyed the
msdos
> partition's contents, then put it in the mahcine and
let it remake the
> msdos filesystem.  Back into the other machine, mount
(with -l, to be
> sure), and copy everything over.
>
> But now, when I try to boot from it, hpcboot pops up an
alert box
> titled "WARNING", saying "couldn't
determine symbol block size", and
> the boot wedges with the blue bar somewhere around
80-90 percent of  
> the
> way across the screen; I have to hard-reset the machine
(by removing
> the battery) to recover - the reset button on the back
makes it shut
> down, but it won't turn back on until I pull the
battery.
>
> Now, I know 2.0.2 is not the most current; it's not
even the most
> current release.  But I can't figure out why there's a
difference
> between the microdrive before I started messing with it
and now.  This
> means there's something I don't understand, and things
I don't
> understand are practically guaranteed to turn into
problems,  
> usually at
> about the most inconvenient time they can.
>
> Any idea what's up?
>
> /~ The ASCII				der Mouse
>  / Ribbon Campaign
>  X  Against HTML	       mouserodents.montreal.qc.ca
> /  Email!	     7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39  4E F1 31 3E E8
B3 27 4B

> Sorry, nothing about your particular problem but one
FWIW...

> I was unable to fit 3.0 (now 3.1) on a 340M microdrive
without
> getting rid of stuff I wanted to keep (i.e. compiler, X
environment).

I don't expect to fit 3.x on this microdrive.  That's one
reason I set
it up for root on nfs.  I'm also looking for another,
bigger,
microdrive, but I don't yet actually have it in hand.

Since I wrote that, I tried putting the previous contents
back on the
microdrive (I made a copy of /dev/rwd1d using another
machine) and I
find that that won't boot either; it fails with the same
"warning popup
and then wedging" behaviour.

So either copying the data off the drive and back on again
doesn't
preserve everything necessary, or something else broke
coincidentally
(whether by my action or not is not clear at this point). 
Hrrmpf.

/~ The ASCII				der Mouse
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 X  Against HTML	       mouserodents.montreal.qc.ca
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