FW: Boot Problem after Playing with Powervault

Bret Stern bret_stern at machinemanagement.com
Tue Sep 26 17:26:11 UTC 2006


 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rick Stevens [mailto:rstevens at vitalstream.com] 
> Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 9:59 AM
> To: Getting started with Red Hat Linux; 
> bret_stern at machinemanagement.com
> Subject: Re: FW: Boot Problem after Playing with Powervault
> 
> On Mon, 2006-09-25 at 12:36 -0700, Bret Stern wrote:
> >  > On Fri, 2006-09-22 at 22:42 -0700, Bret Stern wrote:
> > > >  
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: redhat-install-list-bounces at redhat.com
> > > > [mailto:redhat-install-list-bounces at redhat.com] On 
> Behalf Of Rick 
> > > > Stevens
> > > > Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 12:31 PM
> > > > To: Getting started with Red Hat Linux
> > > > Subject: Re: Boot Problem after Playing with Powervault
> > > > 
> > > > On Fri, 2006-09-22 at 12:19 -0700, Rick Stevens wrote:
> > > > > On Fri, 2006-09-22 at 10:47 -0700, Bret Stern wrote:
> > > > > > So..
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Last night I added a recently purchased Dell Powervault
> > > 210s to my
> > > > > > Dell 2450 running Fedora 5.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > As I browsed the uninitialized drives on the PowerVault, I 
> > > > > > accidentally/on purpose initialized a disk with a linux
> > > boot partition.
> > > > > > It's just my tinkering habit.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Now my system boots to grub> (that's it). Certainly 
> I hosed my 
> > > > > > Grub boot.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Where i'm at..
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > I found that there were two bootable partitions on 
> the machine.
> > > > > > One on sda1, and one on sdb1. I toggled the boot 
> flag on sdb1
> > > > > > (off) because I only run Linux and sda1 is the logical boot.
> > > > > > (Is the above correct thinking). I can always 
> restore the flag.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > I have booted my machine using the Fedora cd and typee
> > > "linux rescue".
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > This found my install and I have chosen to "chroot
> > > /mnt/sysimage".
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > I can see all my data.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > When I tried "grub-install /dev/sda", I get the following.
> > > > > >  "/boot/grub/stage1 not read correctly"
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > What's my next step (maybe I should get into landscaping)  ?
> > > > > 
> > > > > Well, gee. My first guess is that you're using a 
> separate /boot 
> > > > > partition and it's not mounted, so grub-install can't
> > > even find the
> > > > > stage 1 boot code.  After the "chmod /mnt/sysimage", 
> try doing a
> > > > 
> > > > Grr!  "chroot /mnt/sysimage".  Fingers not working well today!
> > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > 	# mount -a
> > > > > 
> > > > > That will force all of the other mounts that are 
> normally done 
> > > > > in your operating environment, including mounting /boot if it 
> > > > > _is_ a separate partition.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Once that's done, verify that your /boot/grub/stage1 
> file is 512 
> > > > > bytes in length.  If it is, then try your 
> "grub-install /dev/sda"
> > > > > again and see if it goes OK.  If it does, then enter "exit" 
> > > > > twice (first to get out of the chroot environment, second to 
> > > > > exit the rescue boot), pop out the CD and see if 
> she'll boot up.
> > > > > 
> > > > > As for landscaping, I hate raking leaves and mowing 
> lawns (did 
> > > > > enough of that when I was a teen 40 years ago).  I have a
> > > gardener.  
> > > > > :-)
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > ..sorry about the incorrect bottom posting
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Tried the mount -a. Got these two messages
> > > > 
> > > > mount: special device LABEL/=boot does not exist
> > > 
> > > I'm guessing that's really "...LABEL=/boot..." and is a bit 
> > > disturbing.
> > > You do use a separate boot partition, and it looks like the 
> > > filesystem label for it has been stomped on.  If you know 
> what the 
> > > physical disk name for it was, then do a
> > > 
> > > 	e2label /dev/devname /boot
> > > 
> > > For example, I know that my boot partition is /dev/sda3, so:
> > > 
> > > 	e2label /dev/sda3 /boot
> > > 
> > > If you don't know, try "fdisk -l /dev/device-name" and 
> look for the 
> > > entry with a "*" in the second field.  In my case:
> > > 
> > > [root at ss-1a root]# fdisk -l /dev/sda
> > > 
> > > Disk /dev/sda: 36.3 GB, 36364615680 bytes
> > > 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4421 cylinders Units = cylinders of 
> > > 16065
> > > * 512 = 8225280 bytes
> > > 
> > >    Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
> > > /dev/sda1             1         8     64228+  de  Dell Utility
> > > /dev/sda2             9       335   2626627+  83  Linux
> > > /dev/sda3   *       336       360    200812+  83  Linux
> > > /dev/sda4           361      4421  32619982+   f  Win95 
> Ext'd (LBA)
> > > /dev/sda5           361      1634  10233373+  83  Linux
> > > /dev/sda6          1635      2908  10233373+  83  Linux
> > > /dev/sda7          2909      3169   2096451   83  Linux
> > > /dev/sda8          3170      3300   1052226   83  Linux
> > > /dev/sda9          3301      3554   2040223+  82  Linux swap
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > > Note the "*" in the second field for /dev/sda3.  That's my boot 
> > > partition.  So find yours and make sure it's labeled.
> > > Then do the "mount -a" again and make sure /boot gets mounted.
> > > 
> > > Now that you have all of your filesystems mounted (except 
> /dev/shm 
> > > which is no biggie), you'll want to do your infamous 
> "grub-install 
> > > /dev/sda"
> > > again.  Since /boot is now mounted, it should work a treat.
> > > 
> > > > mount: mount point /dev/shm does not exist.
> > > > 
> > > > I believe /dev/shm the drive from the Powervault that I
> > > initialized in
> > > > the LVM Manager.
> > > 
> > > No, that's the shared memory segment for System V IPC 
> stuff, and I 
> > > wouldn't worry about it in this case.
> > > 
> > > 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > - Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     
> rstevens at vitalstream.com -
> > > - VitalStream, Inc.                       
> http://www.vitalstream.com -
> > > -                                                         
>            -
> > > -              Where there's a will, I want to be in it.  
>            -
> > > --------------------------------------------------------------
> > > --------
> > 
> > results of
> > e2label /dev/sda1	/boot
> > e2label: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open 
> > /dev/sda1 Couldn't find valid file system superblock
> > 
> > Holy %@%$@#! batman, the super-block has a bad magic number.
> > 
> > 
> > Handwritten fstab, mtab, fdisk -l stuff below.
> > 
> > my fstab
> > /dev/VolGroup00/VolLog00 /		ext3		
> defaults	1  1
> > LABEL=/boot		/boot		ext3		
> defaults	1 2
> > devpts		/dev/pts	devpts	gid=5, mode=620	0 0
> > tmpfs			/dev/shm	tmpfs		
> defaults	0 0
> > proc			/proc		proc		
> defaults	0 0
> > sysfs			/sys		sysfs		
> defaults	0 0
> > /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01 swap		swap	defaults 0 0
> > 
> > my mtab
> > /dev/VolGroup00/VolLog00 /		ext3	rw,defaults	0 0
> > proc	/proc	proc	rw,defaults	0 0
> > sysfs	/sys	sysfs	rw,defaults	0 0
> > /dev/sysfs	/sys	sysfs	rw,defaults	0 0
> > devpts /dev/pts	devpts	rw,gid=5,mode=620 0 0
> > 
> > my fdisk -l
> > /dev/sda
> > Device	Boot	Start		End		Blocks	
> ID	System
> > /dev/sda1	*	1		13		104391	83
> > Linux
> > /dev/sda1		14		2215		
> 17687565	8e
> > Linux LVM
> > 
> > /dev/sdb
> > Device	Boot	Start		End		Blocks	
> ID	System
> > /dev/sdb1	*	1		2215		
> 17791956	8e
> > Linux LVM
> > 
> > 
> > Is there any hope?
> 
> Hoo, boy, you stomped on it bad!  You can try "fsck -b 8192 /dev/sda1"
> and see if that'll rescue it.  If not, you may be in trouble.
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> - Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
> - VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
> -                                                                    -
> -      The moving cursor writes, and having written, blinks on.      -
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> --------

Do I run the "fsck -b 8192 /dev/sda1" command after linux rescue
BUT BEFORE I chroot /mnt/sysimage?


It can't be that bad.

Currently I can boot from Fedora 5 cd in Linux rescue
chroot to /mnt/sysimage
start my services
and the system runs great.

Without the Fedora 5 cd, I just get "GRUB>"

Is there no way to rebuild the boot partition on /dev/sda1?

Perhaps re-install Fedora 5 as an UPGRADE, and not
add any packages??

Worst case, I can back everything up and do a fresh
install.

Thanks for all your input.

Bret













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