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emeposk n00b
Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 7
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Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 5:55 pm Post subject: syslinux 3.09 |
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I have somewhat of a strange issue.
This section happened before I started working at my current job, and I have very little details of what happened, and what my predecessor may or may not have tried in this situation.
I have an HP Server using proliant system bios p29 from 2004(this is the latest bios for this particular server).
This server had a hard drive crash, and when it was replaced it came up corrupted.
Now when attempting to boot up the server it goes straight into a grub command prompt. When I try to load my kernel from the grub command prompt it just reboots.
So, I found a live disk for Gentoo in the office, and I popped it in. It told me that I have the wrong processor type to use this live disk. That's fine, so I downloaded the latest copy of Gentoo, and made a new live cd. The system doesn't even recognize that there is a disk, and proceeds to boot from the hard drive back into the grub prompt. I tested it on a couple of machines, and my disk worked fine.
At this point my predecessors disk is from 2005, using syslinux 3.09. I can't seem to find any copies of Gentoo on the internet that are that old. The oldest I was able to find was from 2009 which did not work either.
Any ideas, would be fantastic. |
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DONAHUE Watchman
Joined: 09 Dec 2006 Posts: 7651 Location: Goose Creek SC
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Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 7:56 pm Post subject: |
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You may have documentation that answers: What is the full model name of the server? What name is on the motherboard? What name(s) is(are) on the processor(s) on the motherboard? Scewdrivers, thermal paste, razor blade, magnifying glass and flashlight may be required if you don't.
If a HP ProLiant DL380 G3 Server , http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/public/psi/swdHome/?sp4ts.oid=3288130 lists a bunch of os cd's that should boot unless 9 years is end of life for some component. Has the cmos battery ever been replaced? _________________ Defund the FCC. |
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emeposk n00b
Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 7
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Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 8:11 pm Post subject: |
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Server Model: HP ProLiant DL380 G3 Server
The processor is an intel chipset, but I don't know the exact specs off hand. I will send one of my hardware guys to check that out for me.
Last edited by emeposk on Tue Feb 04, 2014 8:17 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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DONAHUE Watchman
Joined: 09 Dec 2006 Posts: 7651 Location: Goose Creek SC
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emeposk n00b
Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 7
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Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 8:18 pm Post subject: |
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My hardware guys tell me that as far as he knows in the past 4 years at least that the CMOS battery was not replaced. We are going to try doing this either today or tomorrow if we can get approval to remove the server from the rack.
I am told that this server has gentoo on it, which is also not listed in the list of bootable os's... |
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DONAHUE Watchman
Joined: 09 Dec 2006 Posts: 7651 Location: Goose Creek SC
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Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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I'd see if I had a dusty vista or xp cd, try it, if it did not work look really hard for a hardware failure. gentoo should boot anywhere fedora/suse/debian boot. does documentation show itanium processor as a possibility? Found that answer; no itanium, only xeon. http://distfiles.gentoo.org/releases/x86/autobuilds/current-iso/install-x86-minimal-20140128.iso should boot barring hardware problem or OS mutation. better still http://sysresccd.org/Download in 32 bit kernel choice. _________________ Defund the FCC.
Last edited by DONAHUE on Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:56 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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emeposk n00b
Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 7
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Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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We just tested with a windows server 2003, and the same results. We're going to try replacing the CMOS battery as you suggested. |
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emeposk n00b
Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 7
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Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:52 pm Post subject: |
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That didn't work either. There is something really strange going on here.
The old live CD is read, and boots Gentoo, but tells me I need to use a Linux kernel for i686 processor. I have not found another disk that it has the ability to read yet, and these are disks that are working just fine on several other machines. |
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xaviermiller Bodhisattva
Joined: 23 Jul 2004 Posts: 8708 Location: ~Brussels - Belgique
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Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 10:06 pm Post subject: |
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Is it a x86 architecture ? Cant't it be an ithanium ? _________________ Kind regards,
Xavier Miller |
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DONAHUE Watchman
Joined: 09 Dec 2006 Posts: 7651 Location: Goose Creek SC
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Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 10:42 pm Post subject: |
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what exact words does the old gentoo cd produce? if verbose perhaps post a picture? _________________ Defund the FCC. |
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DONAHUE Watchman
Joined: 09 Dec 2006 Posts: 7651 Location: Goose Creek SC
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Hu Moderator
Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 21619
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Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 2:25 am Post subject: |
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emeposk wrote: | We just tested with a windows server 2003, and the same results. We're going to try replacing the CMOS battery as you suggested. | I think I understand what you mean by "same results", but could you clarify? Did it behave as though the CD was not present, detect the CD but then refuse to start a working OS environment, or start normally? I think from context that you mean it ignored the presence of the CD. Based on the symptoms, I would question whether the CD drive in question is in good order. If the CD drive is from the same time period as the rest of the machine, it may be degraded to the point that it cannot reliably sync to every possible disc in the time allotted. If so, it is pure mischance that it synced to the first disc well enough to read the kernel and reject it due to CPU architecture. If you have another CD drive around, even one you have to borrow from another machine, I suggest trying that drive in the affected system. Ideally, place your candidate CD in the drive while in its current housing, verify that you can access the disc, then remove the CD, shutdown the current housing, move the CD drive into the affected system, and try to boot from CD using that drive.
The failure of the first CD in the opening post is probably because you picked a 64-bit kernel, but the hardware is too old to support 64-bit.
XavierMiller: Donahue says that the documentation claims Itanium was not an option for that system. |
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emeposk n00b
Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 7
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Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 1:51 pm Post subject: |
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When I put in the gentoo live cd left by my predecessor this is what I get.
http://imgur.com/ZYm1iJs(edit fixed the link)
Any other disk does not boot from the cd, and boots from the hard drive raid instead.
http://imgur.com/s8KWqP2
Which ends up sending me to this grub command prompt.
I will ask my hardware guys if there is another cd drive we can try. They mentioned that it has a special connection when I asked about it yesterday, and were unsure if there was a spare we can use. |
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emeposk n00b
Joined: 04 Feb 2014 Posts: 7
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Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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Replacing the CD Drive worked. Who would have figured it'd be something so simple. I got it up from a live cd, and this server seems to be bad shape.
When I tried to mount the lvm it gave me a wrong fs type, bad option, bad super block error. I'm currently running a fsck to sort through the errors. |
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DONAHUE Watchman
Joined: 09 Dec 2006 Posts: 7651 Location: Goose Creek SC
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DONAHUE Watchman
Joined: 09 Dec 2006 Posts: 7651 Location: Goose Creek SC
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Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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If a gentoo system has not been updated for an extended period the eventual update varies from difficult to almost impossible. ext2/3/4 file systems went through major perturbations about 3 years back, some fsck problems may result from old file system, new fsck. Good luck. Yay, Hu. _________________ Defund the FCC. |
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NeddySeagoon Administrator
Joined: 05 Jul 2003 Posts: 54232 Location: 56N 3W
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Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 11:49 pm Post subject: |
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/me checks in.
I can probably find an old Gentoo ISO or two
Code: | ls ./downloads/Gentoo\ Installers/
install-sparc64-minimal-2006.1.iso
install-x86-minimal-2006.1-r1.iso
install-x86-minimal-2006.1.iso
install-x86-minimal-2007.0-r1.iso
install-x86-minimal-2008.0.iso
install-x86-minimal-2008.0.torrent
install-x86-minimal-2008.0_beta1.iso
install-x86-universal-2005.0.iso
install-x86-universal-2005.0.iso.md5
livecd-i686-installer-2006.0.iso
livecd-i686-installer-2006.1-rc.iso
livecd-i686-installer-2006.1-rc1.iso.DIGESTS
livecd-i686-installer-2006.1.iso
livecd-i686-installer-2006.1.iso.DIGESTS
livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso
livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso.DIGESTS |
I can host a few of those if it helps.
DONAHUE,
Thank you for the link. _________________ Regards,
NeddySeagoon
Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail. |
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