1.6.4, 1.6.5: Filesystem has incompatible feature enabled

[Shaul Karl]

  I hope the full details are below. Tried with 1.6.5 and also got that
    Error: Filesystem has incompatible feature enabled
problem. When running 1.6.4, the msdos module was explicitly modprobed
before the parted command was issued. When 1.6.5 was used, it was run
from an msdos formatted floppy.
  Could it be due to the '+', that is 96358+ that fdisk reports for
/dev/sda1? When running an older version of parted in the past on
another disk, repartitioning so that fdisk will not show any '+'s
enabled parted to do its job. However I don't remember what parted
reported when that `+' was reported. It also might well be that then
something else that I am not aware of was what actually enable parted
to work on that occasion.


~# parted /dev/sda
GNU Parted 1.6.4
Copyright (C) 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This program is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.

Using /dev/sda

Error: The partition table on /dev/sda is inconsistent.  There are many reasons
why this might be the case.  However, the most likely reason is that Linux
detected the BIOS geometry for /dev/sda incorrectly.  GNU Parted suspects the
real geometry should be 1106/255/63 (not 8683/64/32).  You should check with
your BIOS first, as this may not be correct.  You can inform Linux by adding the
parameter sda=1106,255,63 to the command line.  See the LILO or GRUB
documentation for more information.  If you think Parted's suggested geometry is
correct, you may select Ignore to continue (and fix Linux later).  Otherwise,
select Cancel (and fix Linux and/or the BIOS now).

Ignore/Cancel? I
Information: The operating system thinks the geometry on /dev/sda is
1106/255/63.  Therefore, cylinder 1024 ends at 8032.499M.

(parted) p
Disk geometry for /dev/sda: 0.000-8683.160 megabytes
Disk label type: msdos
Minor    Start       End     Type      Filesystem  Flags
1          0.031     94.130  primary   ext2        
2         94.131   1051.127  primary   ext2        
3       1051.128   8565.908  extended              
5       1051.159   2957.277  logical   ext2        
6       2957.309   8565.908  logical   ext2        
4       8565.908   8675.727  primary   linux-swap  

(parted) resize 6
  Start?  [2957.3086]?
  End?  [8565.9077]? 5200.7486
Error: Filesystem has incompatible feature enabled

(parted) q
Information: Don't forget to update /etc/fstab, if necessary.


/tmp# fdisk /dev/sda -l

Disk /dev/sda: 9104 MB, 9104953344 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1106 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1             1        12     96358+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2            13       134    979965   83  Linux
/dev/sda3           135      1092   7695135    5  Extended
/dev/sda4          1093      1106    112455   82  Linux swap
/dev/sda5           135       377   1951866   83  Linux
/dev/sda6           378      1092   5743206   83  Linux
/tmp#


/tmp# fdisk /dev/sda

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 1106.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
   (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sda: 9104 MB, 9104953344 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1106 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1             1        12     96358+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2            13       134    979965   83  Linux
/dev/sda3           135      1092   7695135    5  Extended
/dev/sda4          1093      1106    112455   82  Linux swap
/dev/sda5           135       377   1951866   83  Linux
/dev/sda6           378      1092   5743206   83  Linux

Command (m for help): x

Expert command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 1106 cylinders

Nr AF  Hd Sec  Cyl  Hd Sec  Cyl    Start     Size ID
 1 00   1   1    0 254  63   11       63   192717 83
 2 00   0   1   12 254  63  133   192780  1959930 83
 3 00   0   1  134 254  63 1023  2152710 15390270 05
 4 00 254  63 1023 254  63 1023 17542980   224910 82
 5 00   1   1  134 254  63  376       63  3903732 83
 6 00   1   1  377 254  63 1023       63 11486412 83

Expert command (m for help): q


    Thank you.
-- 

    Shaul Karl, address@hidden e t