RedHat 7.2 on ES40 AlphaServer - Boot Problem - Help Solving
Dialup Jon Norstog
thursday at allidaho.com
Sun Dec 13 17:10:44 UTC 2009
Jim, Bill:
The later Alpha Core distros sometimes put the aboot.conf file in the /boot
partition, but forget to tell SRM whereit is. I've had to search for that
file and move it around a few times ... also, be prepared to have to vi the
aboot.conf file itself, make sure it invokes the right path to root.
There are what, 3-5 people worldwide actively working on Linux for Alpha?
Versus an army on X86. We're lucky to still be getting the ports from them.
Who cares if it takes a little hacking to get them to work?
jn
---------- Original Message -----------
From: "Jim McCarthy" <jkmccarthy at pacbell.net>
To: "Linux on Alpha processors" <axp-list at redhat.com>
Sent: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:53:53 -0800
Subject: RE: RedHat 7.2 on ES40 AlphaServer - Boot Problem - Help Solving
> Hi Bill --
>
> The error message
>
> > /etc/aboot.conf: file not found
>
> is certainly not a good sign, and suggests the "upgrade installation"
> somehow corrupted the contents of the /boot folder contents of your old
> system disk.
>
> I just sent you a private message with step-by-step instructions for
> getting the old system disk mounted on your machine alongside the
> new system disk, and copying the new (working) /boot folder contents
> from the new system disk back over to the old system disk, in hopes
> that this will allow you to boot successfully off the old disk again
> (where your Mathematica installation resides).
>
> But sitting here now I wonder if the RH7.2 Linux for Alpha
> installation CDs also had a "repair" option separate from the
> "upgrade" option that might address problems with corrupted contents
> of /boot ? This would certainly be easier than restoring /boot on
> the old system disk manually (copying content from the new system
> disk), but I don't know if that is what the "restore" option is for,
> nor whether there is any risk of making matters worse instead of better.
>
> Others on the axp-list may know more about this than me ....
>
> Good luck --
>
> -- Jim McCarthy
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: axp-list-bounces at redhat.com [mailto:axp-list-bounces at redhat.com]On
> Behalf Of William E Bohrer
> Sent: Friday, 11 December, 2009 10:32 PM
> To: 'Linux on Alpha processors'
> Subject: RE: RedHat 7.2 on ES40 AlphaServer - Boot Problem - Help Solving
>
> Good Evening Will!
>
> Thank you for your interest.
>
> After obtaining the ES40 (from eBay), I installed the RedHat 7.2 Operating
> System for the purpose of running the application named Mathematica.
> The commands are all Plot commands inside of Mathematica. The only
> other thing I have ever run on the machine is the GnuChess program.
> For most of the first two years of using the machine, I didn't
> utilize any of the Plot commands because everything I did was
> numerical in nature. Recently I did some work that involved
> plotting elliptical figures. Incidentally, the video card is a
> Radeon 7900. The initial installation of the operating system was
> made by following the book Learning RED HAT LINUX, 2nd Edition,
> which covers Red Hat 7.2 for Intel, Alpha and AMD based machines. The
> author is Bill McCarty.
>
> Working by reading the book while sitting in front of the keyboard
> and monitor, resulted in a working system, although as I recall,
> getting the aboot> feature of the AlphaServer set up was the single
> most difficult task.
>
> Now, moving forward in time to the last six weeks, on the day when
> the ES40 would not boot, I returned to the book Learning RED HAT
> LINUX, 2nd Edition, looking in the index for "troubleshooting" or
> "boot problems" and anything else that might be helpful. My reading
> brought to light the concept of an "upgrade installation" and in the
> heat-of-the moment, that seemed to promise a quick fix. The words
> about nothing being erased during an upgrade installation seemed
> seductive to me. I located the original package of RedHat7.2 and
> performed the "upgrade." The system will still not boot from the
> set of SCSI disks containing the original installation with the
> "upgrade." The machine progresses to aboot>, where I used to enter 0
> (zero) to boot the system and all that happens is "/etc/aboot.conf:
> file not found" appears on the screen after I enter the 0 and that
> is followed by another aboot>.
>
> When the machine first malfunctioned, it did not start the boot,
> it just sat with a black screen, however, I don't know if the
> "upgrade" installation was a good idea or not? Is this situation a
> step in the right direction or the wrong direction? Was the
> decision to attempt the "upgrade" install a bad decision?
>
> Your thoughts greatly appreciated.
>
> Bill
>
> From: axp-list-bounces at redhat.com [mailto:axp-list-
> bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Will L Givens Sent: Saturday,
> December 12, 2009 12:26 AM To: 'Linux on Alpha processors'
> Subject: RE: RedHat 7.2 on ES40 AlphaServer - Boot Problem - Help Solving
>
> Hate to say it but you gave us PLENTY of general information. What
> commands did you run? What kind of 'fancy' graphix did you try to
> create and how (aka using what program)? Will L G
>
> From: axp-list-bounces at redhat.com [mailto:axp-list-
> bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of William E Bohrer Sent: Friday,
> December 11, 2009 10:30 To: axp-list at redhat.com Subject: RedHat
> 7.2 on ES40 AlphaServer - Boot Problem - Help Solving
>
> Hello!
>
> Problem Description: a previously stable installation of RedHat
> 7.2 on an ES40 AlphaServer supporting the application Mathematica
> 5.0 (which runs under Linux). This computer has been in routine
> weekly use by me for the purpose of solving various math problems of
> interest to me as a hobby and also sometimes to support consulting
> work performed by me (business has been poor of late). This system
> has been operating successfully for at least three years.
>
> About 6 weeks ago I attempted the generation of some fancy graphics
> displays to the screen, something I had not attempted previously. Strange
> things, with minor impact seemed to happen after that, slower
> booting is one symptom and some commands that worked before did not
> seem to work as they had in the past, but nothing of a work stopping
> nature.
>
> Then, one day the system simply would not boot.
>
> As a starting point I removed all the disks; installed spare disks
> and reinstalled RedHat 7.2. The system runs well with the
> reinstalled operating system. By "runs well" I mean that you can
> play games on it with flawless and quick performance. I have not
> attempted to reinstall the Mathematica application yet. Clearly not
> a hardware problem. Somehow, I have damaged the software while
> attempting the fancy plotting (color plots, lots of curves, etc.) or
> at least so it appears.
>
> The problem: reinstalling Mathematica requires a payment to
> Wolfram Research (not excessive, but I would just as soon avoid it
> if possible) and I will lose electronic copies of the Notebooks
> developed on this system.
>
> There are paper copies of the work performed to date, however, it
> would be nice to skip retyping those .nb files if possible.
>
> The question is how to troubleshoot the damaged installation?
> Philosophical guidance at this point, please. Please keep in mind that
> while I had sufficient competence to follow directions and successfully
> install RedHat 7.2 on the ES40; that is not particularly a strong
> point with my computer expertise.
>
> Any and all suggestion gratefully accepted!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bill
>
> --
> This message has been scanned for viruses and
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------- End of Original Message -------
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