CentOS 5.5 PAE kernel does not boot

asphaltjesus · Post by **asphaltjesus** » 2011/03/28 17:55:16

Hi,

I installed the PAE kernel package on a Compaq DL380 G3 with 6GB of RAM, CentOS 5.5, vanilla install.

Upon reboot, GRUB cannot boot any of the kernels. I get an invalid device string error. Poking around in GRUB, it detects root correctly at hd(0,0) Beyond that, it cannot even find /boot/grub/stage1. I got out of the bind by reinstalling the kernel that ships with the installer. I'd like to use the 6GB RAM if possible. I attempted to follow GRUB's documentation here: http://grub.enbug.org/LVMandRAID but there is no grub-mkimage in centos5.5.

Also, the 5.5 installer detects, but appears to have no way to mount usb flash drives. I used the installer disc 1 to get into rescue mode. From there, I inserted a usb flash drive. dmesg and lsusb show the device, but there's no device node and resultant messages when a flash drive is inserted. There is no usb-storage module when doing an lsmod from the installer. Am I doing something wrong? I don't have this issue in other distro installers.

Thanks in advance.

Jesus

pschaff · Post by **pschaff** » 2011/03/28 18:34:13

Welcome to the CentOS fora. Reading [url=https://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/viewforum.php?forum=47]FAQ & Readme First[/url] is recommended for new users.

Not quite following everything you are saying. It does appear from a [url=http://www.google.com/search?q=DL380+G4+site%3Acentos.org&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&safe=active#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=active&client=firefox-a&tbo=1&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&q=DL380+G3+PAE+site:centos.org&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=158f5021afbf0802]site search[/url] that others are using the PAE kernel on the DL380 G3. It appears from the search results that it does not support x86_64. Is that correct?

Not sure what you mean by "reinstalling the kernel that ships with the installer" - do you mean the standard i686 kernel?

To reinstall GRUB see the Wiki [url=http://wiki.centos.org/TipsAndTricks/ReinstallGRUB]TipsAndTricks/ReinstallGRUB[/url] article.

As far as USB media, I know that anaconda can be started from [url=http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey]USB key[/url] and can use USB as a target device. I don't ever recall trying to insert and use USB media during the install process.

asphaltjesus · Post by **asphaltjesus** » 2011/03/28 19:24:13

[quote]
pschaff wrote:
Welcome to the CentOS fora. Reading [url=https://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/viewforum.php?forum=47]FAQ & Readme First[/url] is recommended for new users.

Not quite following everything you are saying. It does appear from a [url=http://www.google.com/search?q=DL380+G4+site%3Acentos.org&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&safe=active#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=active&client=firefox-a&tbo=1&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&q=DL380+G3+PAE+site:centos.org&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=158f5021afbf0802]site search[/url] that others are using the PAE kernel on the DL380 G3. It appears from the search results that it does not support x86_64. Is that correct?
[/quote]
Yes, 32-bit. I had every expectation it would work. It doesn't.

[quote]
Not sure what you mean by "reinstalling the kernel that ships with the installer" - do you mean the standard i686 kernel?
[/quote]
I'm pretty sure we're talking about the same thing. There is a kernel package on disc #1. I copied it onto the host system and reinstalled it. It booted from there.

[quote]
To reinstall GRUB see the Wiki [url=http://wiki.centos.org/TipsAndTricks/ReinstallGRUB]TipsAndTricks/ReinstallGRUB[/url] article.
[/quote]
Yes, that's what I followed. No joy...

[quote]
As far as USB media, I know that anaconda can be started from [url=http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey]USB key[/url] and can use USB as a target device. I don't ever recall trying to insert and use USB media during the install process.[/quote]
What does Anaconda do if the installation needs non-free firmware for something like a NIC? Debian's rescue mode is not quite magic, but it creates the device node for you and then it's just a matter of checking dmesg and mounting accordingly. In installer mode, usb storage automagically mounts. Do you see how being able to mount a flash drive in rescue mode might be handy? Anyway, I just wanted to confirm I didn't have bigger problems.

pschaff · Post by **pschaff** » 2011/03/28 19:47:55

[quote]
asphaltjesus wrote:
...
I'm pretty sure we're talking about the same thing. There is a kernel package on disc #1. I copied it onto the host system and reinstalled it. It booted from there.[/quote]
Host system? Are we talking about virtualization here? How did you copy the kernel package and reinstall if it would not boot? From a rescue boot, chroot, and rpm install? Anyway - guess that is a moot point now if it is booting.

Have you tried reinstalling the PAE kernel once the system is booting?

[quote]
...
What does Anaconda do if the installation needs non-free firmware for something like a NIC? Debian's rescue mode is not quite magic, but it creates the device node for you and then it's just a matter of checking dmesg and mounting accordingly. In installer mode, usb storage automagically mounts. Do you see how being able to mount a flash drive in rescue mode might be handy? Anyway, I just wanted to confirm I didn't have bigger problems.[/quote]
The usual way to handle things that are not supported by the installer, either directly or with a driver disk, is to complete the install and then to add things like network drivers or firmware from the running system.

asphaltjesus · Post by **asphaltjesus** » 2011/03/28 19:59:17

[quote]
pschaff wrote:
[quote]
asphaltjesus wrote:
...
I'm pretty sure we're talking about the same thing. There is a kernel package on disc #1. I copied it onto the host system and reinstalled it. It booted from there.[/quote]
Host system? Are we talking about virtualization here? How did you copy the kernel package and reinstall if it would not boot? From a rescue boot, chroot, and rpm install? Anyway - guess that is a moot point now if it is booting.
[/quote]

No guests on the system at the moment. That's where I'm trying to go, but ran into this issue before I could even get vmware-server installed.

The how I got the package:
-I copied the kernel package from the cd-rom using my laptop and a flash drive.
-I struggled with figuring out why the flash drive wouldn't mount in rescue mode using disk1 from CentOS 5.5 for a while then moved on.
-I used systemrescue CD to do the copying. It detected the flash drive and the logical volume, I mounted both and copied.
-Rebooted server into rescue mode.
-Chrooted to the host
-RPM -i $kernel-package-name.rpm

Looking back, I realize I could have just copied it off the cd-rom. Duh!!!!

Thanks for your help.

pschaff · Post by **pschaff** » 2011/03/28 20:12:23

[quote]
asphaltjesus wrote:
...
No guests on the system at the moment. That's where I'm trying to go, but ran into this issue before I could even get vmware-server installed.[/quote]
There have been a lot of issues with RHEL/CentOS and VMware Server 2.0:

http://bugs.centos.org/view.php?id=4485
http://bugs.centos.org/view.php?id=3884

It is also nearing [url=http://www.vmware.com/support/policies/lifecycle/general/index.html]EOL[/url].

I have switched to [url=http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Virtualization/VirtualBox]VirtualBox[/url] due to poor VMware support for CentOS/RHEL.

[quote]
...
Looking back, I realize I could have just copied it off the cd-rom. Duh!!!![/quote]
Hindsight is 20:20. :-)

[quote]
Thanks for your help.[/quote]
You are welcome.

CentOS