With either a Minimal or Universal 2004.0 install CD, I am unable to boot my Dell Latitude CPiA laptop. After progressing through portions of the boot process, the screen reads: "kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k binfmt-9653, errno = 8". The same LiveCD works properly on my desktop computer, and the 1.4 LiveCD's worked fine on this laptop. It should also be noted that I tried disabling everything listed with kernel parameters and received the same results. (gentoo-nofb nodetect nousb noapm noraid noapic) I did not have any PCMCIA cards plugged in while trying to boot. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Insert LiveCD 2. Turn on computer 3. Wait for boot process Actual Results: I receive the message "kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k binfmt-9653, errno = 8", printed repeatedly. The last successful status message I can read as part of the boot process is "STEP 5a2." I think "STEP 6" may have flashed by before error messages started pouring out, but I can't be certain. Expected Results: Boot to a shell for use in installing Gentoo Below is the output from "lspci -v": 0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03) Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32 Memory at f4000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) Capabilities: [a0] AGP version 1.0 0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode]) Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 32 Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32 I/O behind bridge: 0000c000-0000cfff Memory behind bridge: fd000000-feffffff Prefetchable memory behind bridge: f8000000-f9ffffff Expansion ROM at 0000c000 [disabled] [size=4K] 0000:00:03.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1225 (rev 01) Subsystem: Dell Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0088 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 11 Memory at 10000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=05, sec-latency=176 Memory window 0: 10400000-107ff000 (prefetchable) Memory window 1: 10800000-10bff000 (prefetchable) I/O window 0: 00004000-000040ff I/O window 1: 00004400-000044ff 16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001 0000:00:03.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1225 (rev 01) Subsystem: Dell Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0088 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 11 Memory at 10001000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) Bus: primary=00, secondary=06, subordinate=09, sec-latency=176 Memory window 0: 10c00000-10fff000 (prefetchable) Memory window 1: 11000000-113ff000 (prefetchable) I/O window 0: 00004800-000048ff I/O window 1: 00004c00-00004cff 16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001 0000:00:07.0 Bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02) Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0 0000:00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01) (prog-if 80 [Master]) Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32 I/O ports at 0860 [size=16] 0000:00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11 I/O ports at ece0 [size=32] 0000:00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 02) Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 9 0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Neomagic Corporation NM2200 [MagicGraph 256AV] (rev 20) (prog-if 00 [VGA]) Subsystem: Dell Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0088 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11 Memory at f9000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) Memory at fdc00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M] Memory at fdb00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M] Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 1 0000:01:00.1 Multimedia audio controller: Neomagic Corporation NM2200 [MagicMedia 256AV Audio] (rev 20) Subsystem: Dell Computer Corporation: Unknown device 0088 Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 5 Memory at f8c00000 (32-bit, prefetchable) Memory at fda00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M] Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 1
I gave it a try with the "smp" kernel as well (even though my laptop is a single-processor machine). This one fails with a similar message: "request_module: runaway loop modprobe binfmt-9653". This message prints 4 times, then everything stops. Because the message only prints four times, I can tell that the bootup process reached "STEP 6: pivot_root and exec/chroot real init" before hanging.
I seem to be experiencing the same problem as bug 43668, which was marked as a duplicate of bug 42552. Bug 42552 was marked fixed... apparently the problem fixed itself or something for this user. Anyway, this problem is NOT fixed... both ISO's I downloaded had the proper md5sum, yet would not boot. See also: http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=145060
I have more info on the matter. I have downloaded the minimal livecd iso for 2004.0, burned it using nero and it booted fine. Then I downloaded the stage1 tar.bz2 and added it to the CDRW making it multisession (also using nero). Thats when I got exactly same problem as described. I tried different combo of kernels and boot options but nothing helped. Then, I downloaded UltraISO iso editing app and added stage1 file to the minimal iso, saved the resulting iso and burned that as a closed session on CDRW. It booted perfectly fine. So, the problem, at least in my case, seems to be that the error appears on multisession cdrw. I do not know why this would make any difference. The other variable is open/closed session but the minimal livecd worked when burned as an open session so it is probably not that.
I'm having exactly the same issue with installation on a Dell C600 laptop and a Dell Optiplex GX1 desktop workstation... Tried everything you suggested and the problem still exists.
Problem solved, or at least worked-around. I had the same problem, unable to modprobe that binfmt module. The problem seems to occur if: 1) You forget to finalize your CD session when you burn the ISO or 2) You try to do something tricky involving multisessions, like burning a stage-x image in a new session after the Gentoo livecd session Workaraound: always finalize your CD (or perhaps burn in DAO/SAO mode) and don't do anything tricky involving multisession. This should probably be put into the install docs, if possible. Hope that helps!
The "binfmt-9653"-error is mostly related to broken cd's. I was only able to reproduce this bug if either the iso-image or the cd itself was broken.
On my dell laptop this bug ain't fixed. I've tried with several cds, always checked the md5sum and always the same cds do boot fine on other computers. I've also tried several combinations of boot flags. Is there a simple way to get dentoo boot on any older dell laptop? I have tried using 2004.1 and 2004.2.
What Dell laptop do you have? Now, I warn you that I have a CPx, CPi, C610, C640, C840, D505, and D600 to test on, and have been unable to reproduce this on any of these machines.
