Unable to get Fatdog64 900 to boot with save folder [ SOLVED ]

[TerryH]

Just did a manual frugal install of Fatdog64 s900 to a microsd card using grub2. The install went well and on shutdown I chose the option to create a save folder. The issue I am having is I am not able to boot and have the save folder loaded at boot. Watching the boot messages, the boot process is searching for fd64save.ext4, which I don't have, as the save folder is only fd64save without the ext4 suffix.

I have searched the Help in the running fatdog, couldn't find anything to assist. I found a thread on the forum form last year, but couldn't work out what I needed to add to the boot stanza to get the save folder loaded.

I haven't used fatdog for the last year or so, as the card I had Fatdog64 800 on a card that became corrupted and I didn't do a new install. On that I saved to a save folder, which I don't think I had to do anything special to get it to boot with the save folder.

What I am looking for is a boot option to load the save folder on boot and have the option to save or not save.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[p310don]

There probably a better, more technical bit of advice to solve this, but can you just rename the savefile with the ext4 extension?

[TerryH]

There probably a better, more technical bit of advice to solve this, but can you just rename the savefile with the ext4 extension?

No, that would have been simple, but it doesn't work.

[jamesbond]

There are usually three sources of problems like this.

1. The savefile/savedir is not located in the root directory of the partition. Solution: use savefile boot parameter to point Fatdog to the correct location.

2. The media is slow to be recognised (usually happens for removable media like USB or SD card). Solution: use waitdev boot parameter to tell Fatdog's init to wait up a little bit before starting to search for the savefile.

3. The device driver for the media isn't loaded yet (this notoriously happens for NVME device). Solution: use coldplug boot parameter to load the drivers first before starting to look for savefile. Note that "coldplug" does __NOT__ work with initrd-nano (because initrd-nano does not contain the drivers).

These problems and solutions are not mutually exclusive. They can happen in combination with the others. So I'd recommend you try all of them, and then remove the workaround one by one until you narrow down what exactly is the problem.

PS1: In the future we will build the kernel with NVME drivers all included so you don't have to use "coldplug" for NVME disks (though putting it on is no harm either).

PS2: Fatdog searches for everything that starts with "fd64save", so it does not matter if your savefile/savedir is named fd64save.ext4, fd64save.ext3, fd64save-old, fd64save-backup ... Fatdog should find it, if it is located at the root directory of the partition. If you want to use another name, then use solution (1) as above.

[TerryH]

Fatdog64 now booting properly. The issue I was seeing is that the boot messages were identifying that sda2, where the fatdog64 save folder was stored was being searched and couldn't be found, which was misleading. I changed the waitdev parameter from 2 to 5 and it was then found and used. I have an internal NVME drive, so sda is the first external drive.

Since fixing this issue I have have down some shrinking of the NVME drive and created an ext4 partition. I have the Fatdog64, along with BookwormPup64 and EasyOS 5.4.5 all on the internal partition. I am using a microSD card in a USB adapter to boot still. all booting and running well.

[jamesbond]

Glad you made it, Terry