Ubuntu

Ubuntu 11.04 server edition failure to boot

Asked by Walt Corey

I am probably on my sixth attempt to install Natty on a server that was running 10.10. The machine is a Dell XPS 9100, 6MB real, two 750GB drives set up as RAID1 in bios. Without delving into a religious debate on firmware raid vs. software raid, this has worked for many Ubuntu releases, until now. I did happen across a bug referenced in the known issues related to encrypted LVM failing to boot. The symptoms were identical, perfect install, boot to blank screen with fast blinking cursor.

I am going to try to fast track this. I spent all of yesterday trying to install 11.04 server. Having found a thread on the forum about a script that would search all see-able drives and report, the output of which I added to the bug about encrypted lvms, RonParent was kind enough to look at the output and weigh in. He, perhaps, found a bug in the installer. the suffixed 'p' he refers to I believe is not a remnant of some previous installation but rather something I believe occured over the many attempts to install. The original raid array was called Array0. When I attempted to change it to a RAID0 from RAID1 the name got changed to Volume0. Somehow during the install, that got changed to a Volume0p which bollocked everything up. I am going to append his findings. I, finally, turned off the RAID in bios and tried to install with software raid. It boots but I do have a kernel crash during boot and a msg

[drm] nouveau 0000:03:00.0 Pointer to BIT loadva1 table invalid. But it does start.

What's it all mean?

Here is Ron's summation;
After mulling your situation over this is what I concluded. Dmraid merely discovers the partition tags written to disk meta data - so the tags were written there when partitioned and are incompatible with 11.04. I think perhaps you need to repartition with gparted with an 11.04 live cd and verify that the convention appending a 'p' to the partition tags is not used. Also for the second problem I started with, for a fakeraid you need to install the grub boot loader to '/dev/mapper/isw_cdbgicafgh_Volume0' not sda. You do currently have a grub bootloader at that location but it is looking in the wrong partition notation for the grub.

Also, there are multiple people who, upon installing 11.04 boot to a blank screen. Might these all be related?

Thanks,
Walt

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Walt Corey (waltc) said : 		#1

As it turns out during the install at or around the define partitions the installer will say something to the effect of it found

/dev/mapper/isw_adskdsfhiierghihw_Array0 or firihjgihiheefef_Volume0 or
/dev/mapper/???_???????????????_???????

write that down!

one of the last steps in the install will ask where to install grub2 (or grub) you do NOT want to put /dev/sda or the like as
you need to put that funky like /dev/mapper/some weird combination of characters

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FakeRaidHowto

Personally, I think calling it FakeRaid is disengenuous. SoftwareRaid or SoftRaid is also 'fake'.

Then there is the 'if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck' or, "a rose, by any other name, it's smell is sweet"

So might I suggest, there is

hardware raid
software raid and
firmware raid.

Calling something fake implies like of equivalence, like cubic zirconium, it is NOT a diamond...it's 'fake'.

What is RAID? Redundant array of inexpensive disks...I have two disks that map to be one logical disk...DUH?

Why am I launching this diatribe? Because Ubuntu/Canonical would get more readers if they didn't insult them. Like

How-to install on firmware RAID. Someone would look at that and say to themselves 'ah, that would be me".