Re: [Xen-devel] Invalid or unsupported executable format, or is it a reiserfs problem?

["Filip Sergeys" <filip.sergeys@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 2005-02-17 at 14:56, Steven Hand wrote:
> > Our newly build xen kernel does not boot. The error message is : Invalid
> > or unsupported executable format. 
> > 
> > I have build xen from the xen-2.0.4 source (make world, make install) on
> > a debian sarge system. 
> > I have not changed any of the kernel configurations, I did make an
> > initrd image. 
> > The entry in my menu.lst is : 
> > 
> > title           Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.10-xen0 
> > root            (hd0,0) # I also tried without this line. 
> > kernel          /boot/xen.gz dom0_mem=64000 
> > module          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.10-xen0 root=/dev/hda1 ro 
> > module          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.10-xen0 # Also tried without this
> > line 
> > 
> > The server's / (/boot) partition is reiserfs. I wonder if this is the
> > problem? I found messages saying that it doesn't work with reiserfs and
> > others that say it should work. What is the final answer? 
> > Looking in the kernel config file: reiserfs is build into the kernel,
> > not as a module. 
>
> What does `file /boot/xen.gz' say?
>     
/boot/xen.gz: gzip compressed data, from Unix, max compression
> What does `cat /boot/xen.gz | gunzip -c | file -` say?
>     
/dev/stdin: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, stripped
> > As a side note: the standard debian 2.6.8-2 kernel works perfectly. 
> > 
> > == from the grub manual == 
> > Invalid or unsupported executable format: 
> > This error is returned if the kernel image being loaded is not
> > recognized as 
> > Multiboot or one of the supported native formats (Linux zImage or
> > bzImage, 
> > FreeBSD, or NetBSD). 
> > == end == 
> > since xen is multiboot and I would be surprised that the xen.gz kernel
> > image file is not in native format; I have a strong feeling that this
> > error message is not giving the root cause. 
>
> You may well be right; we've not used reiserfs extensively and so 
> it is possible some weird condition is being triggered. That said 
> I believe some people have reported happiness with reiserfs. 
>
> Can you reproduce the error with just xen (i.e. no xenlinux and
> no initrd and hence no "module" lines at all)? 
>     
I think yes, the machine instantly reboots like it did with xenlinux "enabled". The only way to prevent the instant reboot was by starting in recovery mode (= passing "single" as an argument to the xenlinux kernel). Then I saw error 13: Invalid or unsupported executable format.
I also tried with -noreboot argument like the grub documentation says, but that had no effect.
We have no serial console available (no serial cable).

Thinking ahead, suppose reiserfs has to be dropped, will it suffice to just convert the /boot partition to ext3 or does the entire / partition need to be converted?

Thanx in advance,

Regards,

Filip Sergeys
> cheers,
>
> S.
>
>
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