mount: invalud argument error during install

[Ram Samudrala <ram zen stanford edu>]

We just got seven 533 MHz PC164LX machines and I'm trying to install
Linux on them. I had previously managed to install Linux on an
identical machine but with a bit of effort (I had to make the
filesystems on a separate disk on another machine, remove the disk,
and put it on the alpha, skip the step where RedHat asks to format the
disk, and then install Linux on it, and then use the system on the
separate disk to format the first disk and then install RedHat on the
first disk... you get the idea).

This time, I tried to be clever and created a floppy containing a
whole bunch of tools (like mke2fs, etc.) from my working RedHat Alpha
Linux system.  I've even tried the kernel from that system.  The
problem I am having is in the same location, but with a different
error. I format the partition using mke2fs (tried this with both the
ramdisk version and the version from my working alpha, which are not
identical), check the badblocks with a write test, and so on, and
everything goes fine. But whenever I try to mount it, it says it's not
a valid ext2 filesystem.  When I do an e2fsck, I get this error:

group descriptors look bad... trying backup blocks...
block bitmap for group 100 is not in  group (block 6)

and then it asks me if I should relocate and I answer yes, and it
finishes with a "filesystem modified" message, but running e2fsck
immediately results in the same error.  

I replaced one of the disks on an alpha with another disk and the
exact same thing happens. What I don't understand is that this happens
even if I am using the same kernel and the same mke2fs as used on my
working alpha system.  What other things can influence the formatting
of a filesystem?

I really would like to solve this problem instead of removing and
formatting the disks on each of the machines separately, but I'm
getting really frustrated here. I'd appreciate any help. Thanks.

--Ram

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