RedHat 7.2 on ES40 AlphaServer - Boot Problem - Help Solving
Jim McCarthy
jkmccarthy at pacbell.net
Sun Dec 13 20:00:59 UTC 2009
Jon --
On my DEC PWS 600au that still runs RH7.2 for Alpha (dual boots with latest
hobbyist version of OpenVMS for AXP :-), like Bill I have a separate /boot
partition, and during startup "aboot" pauses with a prompt:
aboot>
Replying with "l" for list, it says:
NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that all kernel paths
are relative to /boot/
0:1 vmlinuz-2.4.9-32.5 root=/dev/sda2 initrd=/initrd-2.4.9-32.5.img
console=tt
...and so on. Entering zero at the aboot> prompt sends it on its merry
way....
-----
So the /etc/aboot.conf that aboot failed to find on Bill's old system disk
is (I believe) really located at:
/boot/etc/aboot.conf
Meanwhile on my RH7.2 Alpha Linux system, if I do a directory listing of
/etc, I do see that there is a symbolic link that points to
/etc/aboot.conf --> /boot/etc/aboot.conf
... but I don't know if "aboot" requires this at startup, or if indeed (like
the aboot NOTICE above says) that all paths are relative to /boot/ including
/etc/aboot.conf ?
Regardless, it seemed to me that Bill needed to restore the /boot partition
on the old system disk --- although I now think this may not be necessary,
having learned through off-list correspondence with Bill that his ES40
configuration uses a separate disk for /usr ... and I believe that by
default Mathematica on Linux installs to /usr/local/Wolfram/Mathematica/...
with some executable scripts in /usr/local/bin/.
So my latest recommendation to Bill was to try replacing the /usr disk in
his newly installed RH7.2 setup with the /usr disk from his "old" RH7.2
setup, and with any luck this will restore his ability to run Mathematica.
For his Mathematica "work files" he may(?) still need to recover the
contents of his /home/bill directory from the old system, and it appears
that his /home directories reside on the root "/" partition of his system
disk.
If (?) it turns out that the "upgrade install" Bill attempted on his old
RH7.2 system erased or corrupted the partition table of the system disk (so
the former "/boot" and "/" partitions are now longer visible when the old
system disk is attached to a Linux system), is all hope lost of recovering
/home/bill from the former "/" partition ? The Linux "wizard" skills needed
in that case exceed my abilities to coach Bill through such a process ...
suggestions anyone ?
-----
Re: Alpha-core and other newer Linux OS for Alpha: since Bill's primary
interest in Linux for Alpha is to run Mathematica 5.0 (and based on what I
gather after some web surfing, Mathematica support for Alpha stopped
somewhere around Mathematica v5.2 -- either just before 5.2, or just after),
I was reluctant to recommend that Bill upgrade to a newer Linux for Alpha
distribution, not sure whether this would be asking for trouble (e.g., glibc
compatibility, etc).
Cheers,
-- Jim
P.S. As regards my own 600au Miata and its "ancient" RH7.2 Linux for Alpha
operating system, one of these days I will get around to installing
something more modern ... but like Bill, I use that only as an X-windows
(OpenMotif dual-headed) workstation platform to run a specific science
application, not as a general purpose desktop. The only real _serious_
issue with RH7.2 that I'm aware of (having encountered this on RH7.3 on x86
some years back) is the kernel doesn't properly support FAT-32 disk
partitions larger than 128Gb ... you can mount them fine, and be working
happily along until the disk fills to the point where it tries to write to
sectors above the 128Gb mark, at which point the File Allocation Table gets
messed up ... a _serious_ issue by my definition since the result is lost
data. On my RH7.3 x86 system, after an extensive search I located patches
I applied to the kernel source and rebuilt it to fix the problem, but I've
not pursued this on the RH7.2 Linux for Alpha platform, since USB on the
Miata is USB-1, not the high speeed USB-2 (the >128Gb FAT-32 disks I was
using on x86 RH7.3 were external USB drives).
-----Original Message-----
From: axp-list-bounces at redhat.com On Behalf Of Dialup Jon Norstog
Sent: Sunday, 13 December, 2009 9:11 AM
To: Linux on Alpha processors
Subject: RE: RedHat 7.2 on ES40 AlphaServer - Boot Problem - Help Solving
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 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
> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
> believed to be clean.
------- End of Original Message -------
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