Gentoo Archives: gentoo-amd64

From: Mark Knecht <markknecht@×××××.com>
To: gentoo-amd64@l.g.o
Subject: [gentoo-amd64] RAID1 boot - no bootable media found
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:03:35
Message-Id: 5bdc1c8b1003281014w666f1cf7o20beeb736aaf7319@mail.gmail.com
1 Hi all,
2 Sorry for a bit of cross-posting between gentoo-amd64 and
3 linux-raid where I first posted this earlier this morning. I figure if
4 it's a RAID issue they will likely see the problem but if it's a
5 Gentoo problem (software or documentation) or a BIOS issue then likely
6 the very best folks in the world are here. Thanks in advance.
7
8 The basic issue is trying to boot from a RAID1 boot partition using
9 grub-static. Apparently grub itself isn't found. See the link below
10 for the Gentoo instructions on doing this. Note that I'm SATA-based on
11 the motherboard where as he had some sort of controller although he is
12 using software RAID.
13
14 Hopefully the post below is self explanatory but if not ask
15 questions. Since I made this post I've tried a couple more things:
16
17 1) Switching to AHCI in BIOS - no change
18
19 2) Documenting drive hook-up on the DX58SO motherboard
20
21 P0: drive 1
22 P1: CD_RW
23 P2: drive 2
24 P3: unused
25 P4: drive 3
26 P5: unused
27
28 3) Documenting codes shown on screen:
29 a) When Intel logo shows up:
30 BA
31 b) After the logo goes away
32 E7
33 E7
34 BA
35 BA
36
37 These appear to be POST codes from this page:
38
39 http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-025434.htm
40
41 BA Detecting presence of a removable media (IDE, CD-ROM detection, etc.)
42 E7 Waiting for user input
43
44 My motherboard is the last in the list at the bottom of the page.
45
46 The monitor is slow to display after changes so possibly they are two
47 identical strings of codes and I only see the last one the first time
48 through.
49
50 Thanks. More info follows below.
51
52 - Mark
53
54
55 [PREVIOUSLY POSTED TO LINUX-RAID]
56
57 Hi,
58 I brought up new hardware yesterday for my first RAID install. I
59 followed this Gentoo page describing a software RAID1/LVM install:
60
61 http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-x86+raid+lvm2-quickinstall.xml
62
63 Note that I followed this page verbatim, even if it wasn't what I
64 wanted, with exceptions:
65
66 a) My RAID1 is 3 drives instead of 2
67 b) I'm AMD64 Gentoo based.
68 c) I used grub-static
69
70 I did this install mostly just to get a first-hand feel for how to
71 do a RAID install and to try out some of the mdadm commands for real.
72 My intention was to blow away the install if I didn't like it and do
73 it again for real once I started to get a clearer picture about how
74 things worked. For instance, this set of instructions used RAID1 on
75 the /boot directory which I wasn't sure about.
76
77 NOTE: THIS INSTALL PUTS EVERYTHING ON RAID1. (/, /boot, everything)
78 I didn't start out thinking I wanted to do that.
79
80 So, the first problem is that on the reboot to see if the install
81 worked the Intel BIOS reports 'no bootable media found'. I am very
82 unclear how any system boots software RAID1 before software is loaded,
83 assuming I understand the Gentoo instructions. The instructions I used
84 to install grub where
85
86 root (hd0,0)
87 setup (hd0)
88 root (hd1,0)
89 setup (hd1)
90 root (hd2,0)
91 setup (hd2)
92
93 but the system finds nothing to boot from. to me this sounds like BIOS
94 so looking around I'm currently set up for compatibility but would
95 think that switching to AHCI support would be a better long term
96 solution. Any chance this setting is the root cause?
97
98 I can boot from CD and assemble the /boot RAID
99
100 livecd ~ # cat /proc/mdstat
101 Personalities : [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10]
102 unused devices: <none>
103 livecd ~ # mdadm --assemble /dev/md1 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1
104 mdadm: /dev/md1 has been started with 3 drives.
105 livecd ~ # cat /proc/mdstat
106 Personalities : [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10]
107 md1 : active raid1 sda1[0] sdc1[2] sdb1[1]
108 112320 blocks [3/3] [UUU]
109
110 unused devices: <none>
111 livecd ~ # mdadm --misc --stop /dev/md1
112 mdadm: stopped /dev/md1
113 livecd ~ # cat /proc/mdstat
114 Personalities : [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10]
115 unused devices: <none>
116 livecd ~ #
117
118
119 Everything I expect to see on /boot seems to be there when using ls.
120
121 Note that one possible clue - when the Intel BIOS screen first
122 comes up I see some hex digits flashing around in the lower right.
123 I've not seen this before on other machines and I beleive the
124 motherboard (DX58SO) does support some sort of RAID in hardware so
125 maybe there's confusion there? I've not selected RAID in BIOS but
126 possible it's trying to be too clever?
127
128 Let me know what other info might be needed. I have concerns about
129 this install and will likely blow it away today and do a new one but I
130 figured maybe there's an opportunity to learn here before I do that.
131
132 Cheers,
133 Mark

Replies

Subject Author
[gentoo-amd64] Re: RAID1 boot - no bootable media found Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@×××.net>