/dev/mmcblk0p2 not valid, dual boot, extended root fs
 

I have found a lot of answers on this excellent forum, but need one more.

I am trying to either extend the root file system of my 770 to my RS-MMC card or to boot from it. I have done this successfully in the past. I am using 2007 HE Mk II, as I did in the past.

I have partitioned and formatted my 2gb card into a VFAT, an EXT3, another EXT3, and a final VFAT partition. I also tried VFAT, EXT2, EXT2, + VFAT. But no matter what I try, I can only mount the first and fourth partitions. I partitioned with sfdisk from the 770 (it is the only partitioner I can find). I formatted the linux partitions with mke2fs.

I have even manually added the necessary entries to /etc/fstab. But they do not change the fact that the system does not recognize /dev/mmcblk0p2 and /dev/mmcblk0p3 as valid devices when I go to mount. Also, the fstab file does not retain my changes after a reboot (I guess becuase it is read only). I made the change with echo -e "...">>/etc/fstab.

What I find very confusing, is if the system does not recognize the 2nd and 3rd partitions, why does it recognize the 4th partition as /dev/mmcblk0p4 and not as /dev/mmcblk0p2? And why can I format the partitions without incident if they are not valid?

I have read hundreds of posts, how-to's, and manual pages and am getting very frustrated.

Help!

Re: /dev/mmcblk0p2 not valid, dual boot, extended root fs
 

well your long post lacks detailed info what exactly fails and how but typical mistake is forgetting to insert filesystem modules (ext2 mbcache jbd ext3) before mount

Re: /dev/mmcblk0p2 not valid, dual boot, extended root fs
 

Thank you for your response. I am running 2007 HE Mk II and have tried loading modules for ext2 before mounting when the partitions were formatted as ext2. My understanding was that ext3 did not require an external module and that mbcache was only necessary on OS 2007 on an N800. I think that the kernel in 2007 HE Mk II is actually 2006, thus not all rules re 2007 on an N800 apply to 2007 HE Mk II on an N770. Would not be surprised to learn I was mistaken in the implications of that though. What is jbd? I remember trying to reference it once in fstab.

Can you supply the commands to load those modules please?

And thank you for your work on allowing dual booting. You rock!

Re: /dev/mmcblk0p2 not valid, dual boot, extended root fs
 

Well fanoush's hint was enough. I fixed it and post the result here for the benefit of the next lost soul.

Automounting MMC Volumes (must be done after fanoush' Initfs_Flasher is executed)
from xterm as root:
cd /var/lib
mkdir install
cd install
mkdir etc
cd etc
mkdir init.d
cd init.d
echo '#!/bin/sh' > mmcmount.sh
echo '#' >> mmcmount.sh
echo 'insmod /mnt/initfs/lib/modules/current/ext2.ko' >> mmcmount.sh
echo 'mount /dev/mmcblk0p2 /media/mmc2' >> mmcmount.sh
echo 'mount /dev/mmcblk0p3 /media/mmc3' >> mmcmount.sh
echo 'mount /dev/mmcblk0p4 /media/mmc4' >> mmcmount.sh
chmod +x mmcmount.sh
ln -s mmcmount.sh /etc/rc2.d/S27mmcmount.sh

That's it, good luck!