On Sat, 31 Mar 2001, ABrady wrote:
<...>
> > I'm trying to rescue a system (Dell PowerEdge 2450 with RH 6.2
> > preinstalled on a RAID system). The problem is as follows:
> >
> > 1. I upgraded 2.4.2 kernel RPMS (rpm -Uvh 2.4.2) and did the necessary
> > upgrades of other RPMSs.
>
> Mistake #1: _NEVER_ use the -U flag for kernels. Use the -i flag so that
> the old kernel is available to fall back on in case something goes wrong.
>
> > 2. Unfortunately 2.4 kernel didn't properly see the RAID system, and
> > now
> > the system does not boot at all.
>
> That's the reason you keep the old kernel around.
>
> > What I tried (might be of your interest):
> >
> > 1. making a boot disk from another Dell machine without a RAID card
> > (didnt
> > work, I suppose necessary modules was not included in the boot disk)
>
> Probably had the old kernel, possibly had the wrong boot partition as
> well.
>
> > 2. Trying to install a small system on an unused partition (didnt work,
> > the installer says it didnt find a suitable device to install).
>
> Not sure here. An extended partition perchance?
>
> > What do you think? How can I boot the system and install the
> > good-old-new
> > kernel?
> >
> > There are thousands of users now waiting to connect, and the situations
> > is
> > getting worse every minute..
>
> You can _maybe_ get it going in rescue mode or single user mode then
> repair it. I personally doubt it: the new kernel doesn't work and the old
> kernel is gone. One or the other is needed to boot.
>
> If the boot partition is different than the other machine _and_ the other
> machine has the 2.4 kernel, a bootdisk might work by typing at the boot
> prompt "linux root=/<boot-partition>" at the commandline, replacing
> <boot-partition> with the correct partition name for the bad machine.
>
> If the other machine doesn't have 2.4 and you can't get in to rescue the
> system, install the CDROM in the reader, boot up and reinstall.
I've managed to rescue the system by doing the following. It may be
helpful for others, so I'm posting here.
1. Trying to make another rescue disk from a RAID'less Dell didn't work.
Because rescue disk takes the moduels from the current system and PLEC2
raid module didn't go in. Without this module, the RAID-system doest not
ever boot.
2. I found out that Dell provides a CD, and upon booting a system with
this CD I came up with a driver disk that contained a PLEC2 raid module.
3. There was some room in the RAID system to install another RH 6.2 -
inserted 6.2 CD, typed expert, inserted the driver disk I prepared,
installed another 6.2..
4. Now the system had two Linux'es. I booted from the latter one with LILO
command line options "linux root=/dev/sda6" and voila. System booted.
5. What I've learned is: Do not treat your kernel as "any other package
wandering around" - so don't upgrade it. Install it and it'll work just
fine. Never leave your system with only one kernel. Do not trust anyone.
Even yourself. :-)
And leaving some room for the "bad days" is a luck and a must for me..
Thanks..
Görkem
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