kernel panics on a ProLiant 800 server

[Andre ten Bohmer]

Hello Chris,
> I have an older Compaq ProLiant 800 server running RH73.   This
> server ran flawlessly for 2 years, with an uptime of about 300 days
> before it crashed the other day with a kernel panic.   I rebooted and
> then installed some errata updates using apt including upgrading the
> kernel to the latest version (2.4.28 I believe).   Ever since the day
> of the crash, the server has been going down once a day with kernel
> panics. This must be a hardware problem since the server is pretty
> old and it ran perfect for over 300 days straight before this.   I
> tried replacing the Smart Array 531 RAID controller with a newer
> Smart Array 3200 controller and also replaced the NIC but its still
> crashing with kernel panics.   There is absolutely nothing in the
> logs that I can see.   How can I troubleshoot this?   Should I just
> replace the old server?   The server is out of warranty, otherwise I
> would call Compaq/HP for some hardware troubleshooting.
Check the firmware levels. I've noticed instablity with Compaq/HP 
servers after kernel upgrades due to old firmware levels.

Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Andre