Mount failed: Invalid argument

[Douglas Dreistadt]

I'm trying to install Debian from CD on a
700mhz AMD system with 500mb RAM.
Right now I am stuck in the middle of
installation. I have made it as far as disk
formatting, but cannot "mount"(?) the root
partition.
When I try to mount dev/hda1 as the root file
system, I get a [Mount failed: Invalid argument]
error, and cannot proceed beyond that point. That
error doesn't make sense to me, since I am using
the installation system setup menus, not the
command line, and cannot add any arguments.

I am working with a 80gb Seagate hard disk. I
created 3 primary partitions:

5gb for the boot partition
1gb for the swap partition
75gb for everything else

I succeeded in creating the partitions,
initializing all 3 partitions, and activating the
swap partition. Next, it says I have to "mount" a
partition as the root, and I have tried numerous
times, but always get the [invalid argument]
error.

Can anyone out there give me some pointers?

--
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^ Douglas Dreistadt ^^
^^ ***@okiu.ac.jp ^^
^^ ^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Lou Losee]

Post by Douglas Dreistadt
I'm trying to install Debian from CD on a
700mhz AMD system with 500mb RAM.
Right now I am stuck in the middle of
installation. I have made it as far as disk
formatting, but cannot "mount"(?) the root
partition.
When I try to mount dev/hda1 as the root file
system, I get a [Mount failed: Invalid argument]
error, and cannot proceed beyond that point. That
error doesn't make sense to me, since I am using
the installation system setup menus, not the
command line, and cannot add any arguments.

perhaps /dev/hda1 rather than dev/hda1 ????

Post by Douglas Dreistadt
I am working with a 80gb Seagate hard disk. I
5gb for the boot partition
1gb for the swap partition
75gb for everything else

if they are in that order and the drive is hda then the root partition
would be /dev/hda3 not /dev/hda1

Post by Douglas Dreistadt
I succeeded in creating the partitions,
initializing all 3 partitions, and activating the
swap partition. Next, it says I have to "mount" a
partition as the root, and I have tried numerous
times, but always get the [invalid argument]
error.
Can anyone out there give me some pointers?

[Lou Losee]

Lou,
Thanks for the reply. I was feeling pretty lost.

Post by Douglas Dreistadt
I'm trying to install Debian from CD on a
700mhz AMD system with 500mb RAM.
Right now I am stuck in the middle of
installation. I have made it as far as disk
formatting, but cannot "mount"(?) the root
partition.
When I try to mount dev/hda1 as the root file
system, I get a [Mount failed: Invalid argument]
error, and cannot proceed beyond that point.

That

Post by Douglas Dreistadt
error doesn't make sense to me, since I am using
the installation system setup menus, not the
command line, and cannot add any arguments.

-perhaps /dev/hda1 rather than dev/hda1 ????
I'm not sure I know the difference. I guess I must
mean
/dev/hda1.

The difference is that dev/hda1 refers to a directory named /dev/hda1
under whatever your current working directory is. Thus if you where
currently in /home/foobar, it would be referring to
/home/foobar/dev/hda1. This is not what you want. You want to refer to
the dev directory that is a usbdirectory of the root (/) directory.
Thus you specify it as /dev/hda1

Post by Douglas Dreistadt
I am working with a 80gb Seagate hard disk. I created 3 primary
5gb for the boot partition 1gb for the swap partition 75gb for
everything else

-if they are in that order and the drive is hda then the root
partition -would be /dev/hda3 not /dev/hda1
So you're saying the root partition and the boot partition are
different things. I was assuming the the entire operating system was
going to be installed in the boot partition. Well, if the root should
be hda3, and the OS goes there, then do I really need to give 5gb to
the boot partition? Would you recommend repartitioning the boot
partition down to a smaller size? Reading the installation docs, I was
very confused. It suggests 20-30mb for the boot partition, but I have
allocated 5gb because I thought the OS would be installed there. How
much space would be appropriate for the boot partition?

Yes they are different things. The /boot directory holds copies of your
kernel and some config files for your boot loader. 20 to 30mb should be
fine. The root directory is 'the root of the directory tree or
hierarchy'. This is the directory '/'. This is where your operating
system and everything else will go.

The install doc (chapter 6) also recommends an upper limit of 6gb for
any partition. On an 80gb drive, that means I would have to create a
minimum of 14 different partitions! Is that realistic? Do I really
need to create that many partitions?

I am not hte expert here, but this sounds ludicrous to me. I am not
aware of any limit that would cause you to create partitions of 6gb or
less.

Post by Douglas Dreistadt
I succeeded in creating the partitions, initializing all 3
partitions, and activating

the

Post by Douglas Dreistadt
swap partition. Next, it says I have to "mount"

a

Post by Douglas Dreistadt
partition as the root, and I have tried numerous
times, but always get the [invalid argument] error.
Can anyone out there give me some pointers?

I'd be grateful for any comments ...

Hope that helps,

Lou

[Douglas Dreistadt]

I re-created my partitions. Now hda1 is 30mb and
set as bootable, hda2 is 1gb and is activated as
the swap drive, and hda3 is about 78gb. I
initialized hda1 and hda3 as "Linux native". After
initializing hda1, the installation program said I
must mount the root filesystem before continuing,
but since the root is supposed to go in hda3, I
had to initialize hda3 before mounting, so I
initialized hda3. Then the installation program
comes back with:

You must mount your root filesystem ("/") before
you can mount any other file systems. Would you
like to mount /dev/hda3 as the root filesystem?

I answered "Yes"

The system came back with: "Mount failed: invalid
argument"

So I'm still stuck in the same place. This seems
to be a Catch 22. I can't do anything else until I
mount the root filesystem. It won't let me mount
hda3 as the root because of an invalid argument.
Yet no other argument is possible because there is
no command line. How do I get around this? There
must be a way ...


Doug

[Christian Schnobrich]

Post by Douglas Dreistadt
to be a Catch 22. I can't do anything else until I
mount the root filesystem. It won't let me mount
hda3 as the root because of an invalid argument.

I don't know what installer you're using, and I don't know the amount of
expertise on your side...

Try #1: open another virtual terminal (Alt-F2) and try to mount your
drive from there, manually. Quite likely you'll get a more detailed
error message.

Try #2: use a completely different installer. Look here:
http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Debian/installers.html

cu,
Schnobs

[Douglas Dreistadt]

The installer I'm using is the one which starts up
when you boot the official Debian CD. I just
bought a 7 CD set which is labeled:

debian GNU/Linux 3.0r2[woody] i386 binary

As for my level of expertise... well, zero
experience with Linux. I have been using DOS/WIN
since DOS 3.2, so I do feel comfortable at the
command line, but I am not familiar with Linux
commands. I was really impressed with the Knoppix
CD I tried recently, and decided to take the
Linux plunge with Debian because I'm a WordPerfect
user and I heard that WP for Linux runs best on
Debian.

I tried Alt-F2, and guessed that the command for
mounting a disk was "mount". I tried "mount hda3"
and "mount /dev/hda3" and several other
combinations of these, but I keep getting the
error "Can't find hda3 in /etc/fstab" I also tried
issuing the commands from different directories,
but the error message was always "Can't find hda3
in /etc/fstab". It's also hard to tell exactly
where I am because the Linux prompt doesn't
display the working directory, and the "ls"
command rarely returns anything. I guess I'm going
to have to find some info on Linux commands and
learn them before attempting the install again,
because I can't seem to find any help on commands
and switches at the command line.

I'll probably consider another installer if I
can't work through the problems with this official
Debian CD, but I'm guessing that the solution is
probably a simple one, so I hate to give up now.
Any suggestions ...?

Doug

[Colin Watson]

I tried Alt-F2, and guessed that the command for mounting a disk was
"mount". I tried "mount hda3" and "mount /dev/hda3" and several other
combinations of these, but I keep getting the error "Can't find hda3
in /etc/fstab" I also tried issuing the commands from different
directories, but the error message was always "Can't find hda3 in
/etc/fstab".

'mount -t ext2 /dev/hda3 /wherever/you/want/to/put/it', if it's a
standard Linux filesystem. If it's a DOS filesystem, substitute 'vfat'
for 'ext2'.

If you just give a single argument to mount, it interprets it as a mount
point (the place in the current filesystem onto which to graft the newly
mounted filesystem), and looks through /etc/fstab to try to find the
filesystem type and the device to mount.

It's also hard to tell exactly where I am because the Linux prompt
doesn't display the working directory, and the "ls" command rarely
returns anything.

The installer's shell is pretty minimal for space reasons. 'pwd' will
tell you your current working directory. In a proper shell in an
installed system, you'll probably have a decent prompt preconfigured,
but if not then type the following (or variations) to put the current

I guess I'm going to have to find some info on Linux commands and
learn them before attempting the install again, because I can't seem
to find any help on commands and switches at the command line.

Again, that's the installer shell for you. :) (I did think it had 'help
foo', though.) There's plenty of information at <http://www.tldp.org/>.

I'll probably consider another installer if I can't work through the
problems with this official Debian CD, but I'm guessing that the
solution is probably a simple one, so I hate to give up now. Any
suggestions ...?

All the above said, I'm not entirely clear on what your actual problem
is. Why do you need to mount an extra filesystem by hand from the
installer?

Cheers,

[R. Wood]

As for my level of expertise... well, zero experience with
Linux. I have been using DOS/WIN since DOS 3.2, so I do feel
comfortable at the command line, but I am not familiar with
Linux commands. I was really impressed with the Knoppix CD I
tried recently, and decided to take the Linux plunge with
Debian because I'm a WordPerfect user and I heard that WP for
Linux runs best on Debian.

You probably want to switch to OpenOffice as soon as possible -
it's 'free/libre' software (aka open source).

I tried Alt-F2, and guessed that the command for mounting a
disk was "mount". I tried "mount hda3" and "mount /dev/hda3"
and several other combinations of these, but I keep getting
the error "Can't find hda3 in /etc/fstab" I also tried issuing
the commands from different directories, but the error message
was always "Can't find hda3 in /etc/fstab".

man pages are the best resource for figuring out 'syntax'
questions. So,
man mount

It's also hard to tell exactly where I am because the Linux
prompt doesn't display the working directory,

The prompt can be configured to display anything you want pretty
much. For instance, this configuration will display the name of
the current directory *without* including the preceding path:
PS1='[\u@\h: \W]\$ '
The above line is in /etc/profile so it is a 'global' setting;
you could also include it in ~/.bashrc for a more 'local'
configuration. Also this environmental variable needs to be
'exported', so in the same file you would have another line that
reads like so:
export PS1

Failing all of the above, there is of course the basic 'pwd'
command that reveals your 'present working directory'.

and the "ls" command rarely returns anything. I guess I'm
going to have to find some info on Linux commands and learn
them before attempting the install again, because I can't seem
to find any help on commands and switches at the command line.

It's a good idea to bone up on some basic command-line commands.
It makes working with *nix kind of funky when you start to learn
your way around the command-line :-)

I sure you could google a beginner tutorial or two without two
much trouble...

Have Fun,
Raymond
--
"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the
homeless, whether the mad destruction is brought under the name
of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?"
(Gandhi)

[Douglas Dreistadt]

Post by Colin Watson
All the above said, I'm not entirely clear on

what your actual problem

Post by Colin Watson
is. Why do you need to mount an extra filesystem

by hand from the

Post by Colin Watson
installer?

I'm not trying to mount any "extra" filesystem.
I'm trying to mount the root, and the Debian
installer won't let me. After partitioning the
disk (a standard boot partition, swap partition,
and root partition setup), initializing all
partitions, and activating the swap partition, the
next step the installer displays is the following:

You must mount your root filesystem ("/") before
you can mount any other file systems. Would you
like to mount /dev/hda3 as the root filesystem?

I answer "Yes"

The system always comes back with: "Mount failed:
invalid argument"

The installer doesn't display the command line, so
I have no idea what argument is invalid. At that
point, I can't continue until I mount the root,
and the installer won't do that, so the only thing
I can do is power off.

I've been reading a number of different
installation advice pages, some extremely well
written, but they all have one fatal flaw - they
all assume that every step in the process will go
as planned. None of them have anything on
troubleshooting when things don't happen as they
are supposed to.
I'll try finding and reading info about the mount
command for now. It seems that I'll have to mount
the root from the command line, but without
knowing what "invalid argument" the installation
program itself is using, it's pretty frustrating
to troubleshoot.

Doug

[Uwe Dippel]

Post by Douglas Dreistadt
invalid argument"
The installer doesn't display the command line, so
I have no idea what argument is invalid. At that
point, I can't continue until I mount the root,
and the installer won't do that, so the only thing
I can do is power off.
I've been reading a number of different
installation advice pages, some extremely well
written, but they all have one fatal flaw - they
all assume that every step in the process will go
as planned. None of them have anything on
troubleshooting when things don't happen as they
are supposed to.
I'll try finding and reading info about the mount
command for now. It seems that I'll have to mount
the root from the command line, but without
knowing what "invalid argument" the installation
program itself is using, it's pretty frustrating
to troubleshoot.

Though a sidetrack: Have you tried to install from a KNOPPIX-CD ?
The Debian installers tend to fail here and there.

Maybe it doesn't like the intended size(s) of the partitions ?
Did you try smaller ones ?

[Douglas Dreistadt]

Post by Colin Watson
'mount -t ext2 /dev/hda3

/wherever/you/want/to/put/it', if it's a

Post by Colin Watson
standard Linux filesystem.

Thanks to all for the advice so far. Let me
explain exactly what I have been trying. The
Debian installation program can't mount the root
partition because it contains an invalid argument,
so I went to the command prompt. According to the
install doc, I'm supposed to mount partition 3 as
the root. So following the syntax above, I tried:

mount -t ext2 /dev/hda3 /
(read mount hda3 as root ??)

The result was:

Mounting /dev/hda3 on / failed: Invalid
argument

Since that is not valid syntax, I thought, well,
the above explanation doesn't match the syntax
anyway. If the last part of the command is
"wherever/you/want/to/put/it" then where I want to
mount it is in the third partition, that is, hda3,
and what I want to put there is the root
directory, so the last 2 parts of the command must
be reversed. Right? So I tried:

mount -t ext2 / /dev/hda3
(read mount root on hda3 ??)

The result was:

Mounting / on /dev/hda3 failed: Block device
required

whatever that means. But at least the argument is
valid this time. Hmmm...

When I went to the command prompt, the Debian
installation program states onscreen that:

The hard disk filesystems are mounted under
"/target"

Which, of course, is not true, because nothing is
mounted yet at all. So I looked at the
installation doc, and it states:

If you are mounting a root partition for your
new system, just mount it to /target

OK. So I tried an ls command, and sure enough
there was a directory named /target. But why would
the hard disk filesystems be mounted under a
directory on the CD anyway? It makes no sense to
me to mount a directory on the CD, but it says I
should, and no examples of syntax are provided, so
I tried:

mount -t ext2 /dev/hda3 /target

The result was:

Mounting /dev/hda3 on /target failed: Invalid
argument

But wait a minute, it says I am supposed to mount
(the root) to /target, so I tried:

mount -t ext2 / /target

which resulted in:

Mounting / on /target failed: Invalid argument

So as you can see, I've been following directions
to the letter, but the directions themselves are
very vague, and either don't work or don't make
sense. This is the point at which I'm stuck. Can
anyone point the way out?

Doug

[Douglas Dreistadt]

Post by Colin Watson
All the above said, I'm not entirely clear on

what your actual problem

Post by Colin Watson
is. Why do you need to mount an extra filesystem

by hand from the

Post by Colin Watson
installer?

Thanks to all for the advice so far. I'm not
trying to mount any "extra" filesystem. I'm trying
to mount the root, and the Debian installer won't
let me. After partitioning the disk (a standard
boot partition, swap partition, and root partition
setup), initializing all partitions, and
activating the swap partition, the next step the
installer displays is the following:

You must mount your root filesystem ("/") before
you can mount any other file systems. Would you
like to mount /dev/hda3 as the root filesystem?

I answer "Yes"

The system always comes back with: "Mount failed:
invalid argument"

The installer doesn't display the command line, so
I have no idea what argument is invalid. At that
point, I can't continue until I mount the root,
and the installer won't do that, so the only thing
I can do is power off. Or try the command line.

Post by Colin Watson
'mount -t ext2 /dev/hda3

/wherever/you/want/to/put/it', if it's a

Post by Colin Watson
standard Linux filesystem.

Maybe explaining in detail what I have done at the
command line will help clarify things. The Debian
installation program can't mount the root
partition because it contains an invalid argument,
so I went to the command prompt. According to the
install doc, I'm supposed to mount partition 3 as
the root. So following the syntax above, I tried:

mount -t ext2 /dev/hda3 /
(read mount hda3 as root ??)

The result was:

Mounting /dev/hda3 on / failed: Invalid
argument

Since that is not valid syntax, I thought, well,
the above explanation doesn't match the syntax
anyway. If the last part of the command is
wherever/you/want/to/put/it" then where I want to
mount it is in the third partition, that is, hda3,
and what I want to put there is the root
directory, so the last 2 parts of the command must

be reversed. Right? So I tried:

mount -t ext2 / /dev/hda3
(read mount root on hda3 ??)

The result was:

Mounting / on /dev/hda3 failed: Block device
required

whatever that means. But at least the argument is
valid this time. Hmmm...
When I went to the command prompt, the Debian
installation program states onscreen that:

The hard disk filesystems are mounted under
"/target"

Which, of course, is not true, because nothing is
mounted yet at all. So I looked at the
installation doc, and it states:

If you are mounting a root partition for your
new system, just mount it to /target

OK. So I tried an "ls" command, and sure enough
there was a directory named /target. But why would
the hard disk filesystems be mounted under a
directory on the CD anyway? It makes no sense to
me to mount a directory on the CD, but it says I
should, and no examples of syntax are provided, so
I tried:

mount -t ext2 /dev/hda3 /target

The result was:

Mounting /dev/hda3 on /target failed: Invalid
argument

But wait a minute, it says I am supposed to mount
(the root) to /target, so I tried:

mount -t ext2 / /target

which resulted in:

Mounting / on /target failed: Invalid argument

So as you can see, I've been following directions
to the letter, but the directions themselves are
very vague, and either don't work or don't make
sense.

I've been reading a number of different
installation advice pages, some extremely well
written, but they all have one fatal flaw - they
all assume that every step in the process will go
as planned. None of them have anything on
troubleshooting when things don't happen as they
are supposed to. I'll try finding and reading info
about the mount command for now. It seems that
somehow I'll have to mount the root from the
command line, but without knowing what "invalid
argument" the installation
program itself is using, it's pretty frustrating
to troubleshoot.

This is the point at which I'm stuck. Can anyone
point the way out?

Doug

[Douglas Dreistadt]

I haven't tried to install Knoppix, but Knoppix
runs great from the
CD on my machine.

I haven't tried creating more but smaller
partitions, but I'll
give it a shot.

Thanks.

Doug