RHEL4 install format problem on Dell PowerEdge w/PERC RAID

[Thomas Walter]

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006, Rick Stevens wrote:

> On Mon, 2006-07-17 at 16:09 -0400, Thomas Walter wrote:
> > I issued the dd command (below) in rescue mode and tried the RHEL4 update 
> > 3 install again and got the same result....... format dies at 99% with a 
> > screenfull of error messages scrolling buy.
> 
> Ugh!  That's not good.  Since it's happening toward the end of the
> format, it sounds like you have either dissimilar drives in the RAID
> (all drives in a hardware RAID should be the same make and model) or one
> or more of the drives in the RAID are dying.
> 
> By the way, we prefer bottom posting here (post your responses after
> what you're responding to).  It makes following the logic of the
> messages easier.
> 
> > I was unable to determine if RAID was running in degraded mode. All boot 
> > messages seemed to indicate everything related to RAID is OK.
> 
> You need to get into the BIOS of the controller to determine that.  A
> hardware RAID simply presents a "logical" drive to the OS.  The OS is
> not aware of the RAID at all--all it sees is a drive.
> 
> If your 2400 uses the PercRAID common to Dell machines, hit "CTRL-M"
> at the appropriate prompt after doing a reset.  Then go into "Objects"
> and select the virtual drive created by the RAID.  Verify that it's in
> an "optimal" state.  If not, you really should resolve that first.  You
> should also look at all the drives involved and verify that they're the
> same make and model.
> 
> If the RAID controller says it's healthy, then bring up the rescue mode
> again and try using the badblocks utility on the drive:
> 
> 	# badblocks /dev/sda

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I did a badblocks -w /dev/sda  and there were no error messages. I was 
able to find my RH9 install CDs and just tried them. The disk format was 
successful and RPMS are installing! Could this problem have to do with 
LVM? But exactly where?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thanks.

> 
> That will check the drive for bad blocks and (hopefully) tag them.  You
> may want to run that in write mode ("badblocks -w /dev/sda") which makes
> it to do a write/read test.  It's much more thorough but MUCH slower.
> 
> > On Mon, 17 Jul 2006, Rick Stevens wrote:
> > 
> > > On Mon, 2006-07-17 at 11:51 -0400, Thomas Walter wrote:
> > > > I decided to install RHEL4 update 3 on a Dell PowerEdge 2400 that was 
> > > > running RH9. This machine has hardware RAID 5. The machine can't format 
> > > > the / (root) partition. I've tried RHEL 4 update 2 and 3 and Fedora 5. 
> > > > RHEL4 update 3 hangs in graphic mode but shows multiple error messages in 
> > > > text mode. RHEL 4 update 2 and FC5 come back with the following error 
> > > > message:
> > > > 
> > > > A error occurred trying to format VolGroup/LogVol00 (which is root). This 
> > > > problem is serious and the install cannot continue. I tried deleting the 
> > > > LVM related info in the next install and just use the hard disk info but 
> > > > received they same error with sda3. 
> > > > 
> > > > I'm not sure where to go from here. Any suggestions?
> > > 
> > > Well, the LVM doesn't surprise me.  RH9 and FC1 have a 2.4 kernel and
> > > use LVM1.  RHEL4 and FC2-5 have a 2.6 kernel and use LVM2.  LVM1 and
> > > LVM2 are NOT compatible.
> > > 
> > > However, you killed off LVM and you're still having problems.  It sounds
> > > a bit like the RAID is having issues.  You said it's in hardware RAID
> > > 5.  Are you certain the RAID isn't running in degraded mode?  If it's
> > > OK, then you may have to do something drastic such as stomp on the
> > > partition table in rescue mode and start from scratch.
> > > 
> > > To stomp on the partition table, boot in rescue mode ("linux rescue"
> > > at the "boot:" prompt off CD1).  Do NOT let the system try to mount
> > > the existing system, then:
> > > 
> > > 	# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1
> > > 
> > > That should wipe your partition table completely.  Then try to install
> > > normally (you can even try LVM2 stuff at that point).
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> - Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
> - VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
> -                                                                    -
> -    "Hello. My PID is Inigo Montoya.  You `kill -9'-ed my parent    -
> -                     process.  Prepare to vi."                      -
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Redhat-install-list mailing list
> Redhat-install-list at redhat.com
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-install-list
> To Unsubscribe Go To ABOVE URL or send a message to:
> redhat-install-list-request at redhat.com
> Subject: unsubscribe
> 

-- 




==================================================================================

Thomas Walter
Geography & Computer Science Departments
Hunter College of the City University of New York
695 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021

(212)772-5457 Office
(212)772-5268 Fax
tbwalter at geo.hunter.cuny.edu
http://geography.hunter.cuny.edu/~tbw