Topic: Trying to go to 7.3 - Having an issue

[william_syd]

Maybe the solution in this post may help.

solution

I ran through it on my test box and it didn't hurt it (using sme rescue).

Note: there is only one drive in my test box and,

find /boot/grub/stage1 didn't work but find /grub/stage1 did.

I am done with SME for the night.

[grattman]

William,

I tried what you gave as advice. when I try that it says that it is installed and there is nothing to update. So it would seem that the issue now lay in grub.

When I go into rescue and try to configure grub I must be missing something. If grub were completely wiped (as seems is my case), how would one reconfigure/re-install it? I have tried many different things, but to no avail.

I have a duplicate machine at another location (regarding hardware and SME 7.3). I am comparing the two:

The broken server has much more memory, so it should be using the ELhugemem

menu.lst output:

Good Machine
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,0)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/main/root
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/smeserver.xpm.gz
foreground 000000
background 4E95D3
hiddenmenu
title SME Server (2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp ro root=/dev/main/root
        initrd /initrd-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp.img
title SME Server (2.6.9-67.0.1.EL)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL ro root=/dev/main/root
        initrd /initrd-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL.img
title SME Server (2.6.9-55.0.12.ELsmp)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-55.0.12.ELsmp ro root=/dev/main/root
        initrd /initrd-2.6.9-55.0.12.ELsmp.img

Bad Machine
less /boot/grub/grub.conf
#          root (hd0,0)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/main/root
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=2
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/smeserver.xpm.gz
foreground 000000
background 4E95D3
hiddenmenu
title SME Server (2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELhugemem ro root=/dev/main/root
        initrd /initrd-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELhugemem.img
title SME Server (2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp ro root=/dev/main/root
        initrd /initrd-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp.img
title SME Server (2.6.9-67.0.12.EL)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL ro root=/dev/main/root
        initrd /initrd-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL.img

MTAB

Good Machine
/dev/mapper/main-root / ext3 rw,usrquota,grpquota 0 0
none /proc proc rw 0 0
none /sys sysfs rw 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts rw,gid=5,mode=620 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw 0 0
/dev/md1 /boot ext3 rw 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs rw 0 0
none /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc binfmt_misc rw 0 0

Bad Machine
/dev/main/root / ext3 rw,usrquota,grpquota 0 0
/dev/md1 /boot ext3 rw 0 0
none /proc proc rw 0 0
none /sys sysfs rw 0 0


FSTAB

Good Machine
#------------------------------------------------------------
# BE CAREFUL WHEN MODIFYING THIS FILE! It is updated automatically
# by the SME server software. A few entries are updated during
# the template processing of the file and white space is removed,
# but otherwise changes to the file are preserved.
# For more information, see http://www.e-smith.org/custom/ and
# the template fragments in /etc/e-smith/templates/etc/fstab/.
#
# copyright (C) 2002 Mitel Networks Corporation
#------------------------------------------------------------
# This file is edited by fstab-sync - see 'man fstab-sync' for details
/dev/main/root          /                       ext3    usrquota,grpquota        1 1
/dev/md1                /boot                   ext3    defaults        1 2
none                    /dev/pts                devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
none                    /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults        0 0
none                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0
none                    /sys                    sysfs   defaults        0 0
/dev/main/swap          swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
/dev/hdc                /media/cdrom            auto    pamconsole,exec,noauto,managed 0 0
/dev/fd0                /media/floppy           auto    pamconsole,exec,noauto,managed 0 0

Bad Machine
#------------------------------------------------------------
# BE CAREFUL WHEN MODIFYING THIS FILE! It is updated automatically
# by the SME server software. A few entries are updated during
# the template processing of the file and white space is removed,
# but otherwise changes to the file are preserved.
# For more information, see http://www.e-smith.org/custom/ and
# the template fragments in /etc/e-smith/templates/etc/fstab/.
#
# copyright (C) 2002 Mitel Networks Corporation
#------------------------------------------------------------
# This file is edited by fstab-sync - see 'man fstab-sync' for details
/dev/main/root          /                       ext3    usrquota,grpquota        1 1
/dev/md1                /boot                   ext3    defaults        1 2
none                    /dev/pts                devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
none                    /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults        0 0
none                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0
none                    /sys                    sysfs   defaults        0 0
/dev/main/swap          swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
/dev/hdc                /media/cdrom            auto    pamconsole,exec,noauto,managed 0 0
/dev/fd0                /media/floppy           auto    pamconsole,exec,noauto,managed 0 0


Contents of /boot

Good Machine
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    49517 Jul  7  2006 config-2.6.9-34.0.2.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    49268 Jul  7  2006 config-2.6.9-34.0.2.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    49513 Mar  8  2006 config-2.6.9-34.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    49264 Mar  8  2006 config-2.6.9-34.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50338 Feb 27  2007 config-2.6.9-42.0.10.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    49931 Feb 27  2007 config-2.6.9-42.0.10.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50337 Aug 23  2006 config-2.6.9-42.0.2.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    49930 Aug 23  2006 config-2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50337 Oct  6  2006 config-2.6.9-42.0.3.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    49930 Oct  6  2006 config-2.6.9-42.0.3.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50337 Jan 30  2007 config-2.6.9-42.0.8.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    49930 Jan 30  2007 config-2.6.9-42.0.8.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50433 Nov  2 11:12 config-2.6.9-55.0.12.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50058 Nov  2 11:31 config-2.6.9-55.0.12.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50432 Jun 26  2007 config-2.6.9-55.0.2.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50057 Jun 26  2007 config-2.6.9-55.0.2.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50432 Sep  4 21:29 config-2.6.9-55.0.6.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50057 Sep  4 21:57 config-2.6.9-55.0.6.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50432 Sep 27 18:23 config-2.6.9-55.0.9.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50057 Sep 27 18:36 config-2.6.9-55.0.9.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50924 Dec 19 15:58 config-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50549 Dec 19 16:12 config-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root     1024 Jan 18 17:09 grub
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1146334 Oct 17  2006 initrd-2.6.9-34.0.2.EL.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1131312 Oct 17  2006 initrd-2.6.9-34.0.2.ELsmp.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1146291 Oct 17  2006 initrd-2.6.9-34.EL.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1131267 Oct 17  2006 initrd-2.6.9-34.ELsmp.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1207493 Mar  1  2007 initrd-2.6.9-42.0.10.EL.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1192157 Mar  1  2007 initrd-2.6.9-42.0.10.ELsmp.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1172380 Nov  7  2006 initrd-2.6.9-42.0.2.EL.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1156992 Nov  7  2006 initrd-2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1207502 Jan  3  2007 initrd-2.6.9-42.0.3.EL.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1192042 Jan  3  2007 initrd-2.6.9-42.0.3.ELsmp.img
-rw-rw-rw-  1 root admin 1207524 Feb 21  2007 initrd-2.6.9-42.0.8.EL.img
-rw-rw-rw-  1 root admin 1192205 Feb 21  2007 initrd-2.6.9-42.0.8.ELsmp.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1414262 Nov  4 09:49 initrd-2.6.9-55.0.12.EL.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1397939 Nov  4 09:49 initrd-2.6.9-55.0.12.ELsmp.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1414300 Jul 22 11:53 initrd-2.6.9-55.0.2.EL.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1397836 Jul 22 11:52 initrd-2.6.9-55.0.2.ELsmp.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1414313 Sep 14 23:58 initrd-2.6.9-55.0.6.EL.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1397945 Sep 14 23:58 initrd-2.6.9-55.0.6.ELsmp.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1414307 Sep 28 23:43 initrd-2.6.9-55.0.9.EL.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1397954 Sep 28 23:43 initrd-2.6.9-55.0.9.ELsmp.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1351038 Jan 12 06:16 initrd-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1334474 Jan 12 06:16 initrd-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp.img
drwx------  2 root root    12288 Oct 17  2006 lost+found
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    64308 Dec 19 15:58 symvers-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    65129 Dec 19 16:12 symvers-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   733742 Jul  7  2006 System.map-2.6.9-34.0.2.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   761137 Jul  7  2006 System.map-2.6.9-34.0.2.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   733742 Mar  8  2006 System.map-2.6.9-34.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   761137 Mar  8  2006 System.map-2.6.9-34.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   750652 Feb 27  2007 System.map-2.6.9-42.0.10.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   767450 Feb 27  2007 System.map-2.6.9-42.0.10.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   749489 Aug 23  2006 System.map-2.6.9-42.0.2.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   766287 Aug 23  2006 System.map-2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   749489 Oct  6  2006 System.map-2.6.9-42.0.3.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   766287 Oct  6  2006 System.map-2.6.9-42.0.3.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   750652 Jan 30  2007 System.map-2.6.9-42.0.8.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   767450 Jan 30  2007 System.map-2.6.9-42.0.8.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   754717 Nov  2 11:12 System.map-2.6.9-55.0.12.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   771586 Nov  2 11:31 System.map-2.6.9-55.0.12.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   754505 Jun 26  2007 System.map-2.6.9-55.0.2.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   771374 Jun 26  2007 System.map-2.6.9-55.0.2.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   754717 Sep  4 21:29 System.map-2.6.9-55.0.6.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   771586 Sep  4 21:57 System.map-2.6.9-55.0.6.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   754717 Sep 27 18:23 System.map-2.6.9-55.0.9.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   771586 Sep 27 18:36 System.map-2.6.9-55.0.9.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   759989 Dec 19 15:58 System.map-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   776963 Dec 19 16:12 System.map-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1473712 Jul  7  2006 vmlinuz-2.6.9-34.0.2.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1436516 Jul  7  2006 vmlinuz-2.6.9-34.0.2.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1473787 Mar  8  2006 vmlinuz-2.6.9-34.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1436129 Mar  8  2006 vmlinuz-2.6.9-34.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1504585 Feb 27  2007 vmlinuz-2.6.9-42.0.10.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1444718 Feb 27  2007 vmlinuz-2.6.9-42.0.10.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1504411 Aug 23  2006 vmlinuz-2.6.9-42.0.2.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1444563 Aug 23  2006 vmlinuz-2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1504397 Oct  6  2006 vmlinuz-2.6.9-42.0.3.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1444549 Oct  6  2006 vmlinuz-2.6.9-42.0.3.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1504589 Jan 30  2007 vmlinuz-2.6.9-42.0.8.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1444726 Jan 30  2007 vmlinuz-2.6.9-42.0.8.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1511559 Nov  2 11:12 vmlinuz-2.6.9-55.0.12.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1451171 Nov  2 11:31 vmlinuz-2.6.9-55.0.12.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1511833 Jun 26  2007 vmlinuz-2.6.9-55.0.2.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1450563 Jun 26  2007 vmlinuz-2.6.9-55.0.2.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1511604 Sep  4 21:29 vmlinuz-2.6.9-55.0.6.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1450984 Sep  4 21:57 vmlinuz-2.6.9-55.0.6.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1511602 Sep 27 18:23 vmlinuz-2.6.9-55.0.9.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1451003 Sep 27 18:36 vmlinuz-2.6.9-55.0.9.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1518785 Dec 19 15:58 vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1458873 Dec 19 16:12 vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp

Bad Machine

drwxr-xr-x  3 root root    1024 Jan 19 14:18 boot
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50924 Dec 19 15:58 config-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50498 Dec 19 15:58 config-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELhugemem
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    50549 Dec 19 16:12 config-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root     1024 Jan 18 17:09 grub
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1351038 Jan 12 06:16 initrd-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1333584 Jan 12 06:16 initrd-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELhugemem.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1334474 Jan 12 06:16 initrd-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp.img
drwx------  2 root root    12288 Oct 17  2006 lost+found
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    64308 Dec 19 15:58 symvers-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    6092 Dec 19 15:58 symvers-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELhugemem.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    65129 Dec 19 16:12 symvers-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   759989 Dec 19 15:58 System.map-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   776762 Dec 19 15:58 System.map-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELhugemem
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   776963 Dec 19 16:12 System.map-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1518785 Dec 19 15:58 vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1437120 Dec 19 15:58 vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELhugemem
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1458873 Dec 19 16:12 vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp

So upon gathering all of this info, I did find the problem I think. The errent boot directory in *bad machine /boot is obviously the one that comes up during start-up. How do I point grub to the correct directory?

[grattman]

WILLIAM....I LOVE YOU...Thank you, you to Ray!

[warren]

For future reference:
Load 7.1, remove files from boot as per this post;

Then;

I tried  successfully on test machine  2 approaches;
1.Boot from 7.3 ISO and upgrade ; System reboots and is working

2. Followed  code below ; also got back to a working system

Code: [Select]

Just for the 'thril' of it, I installed SME 7.1 in a VM.

I then deleted everything in /boot except the grub amd 'lost and found' folders.

I then rebooted. It spat the dummy missing 'stuff' and threw me into a grub screen asking me to select a different kernel.

I then booted with a 7.3 iso into rescue mode. Entered network details for a static IP and away it went.

At the prompt, type chroot /mnt/sysimage followed by cd /root. Ah... home sweet home.

I'm sure the kernel rpms are on the disk but what the heck.... lets get a fresh one.

wget http://mirror.pacific.net.au/linux/smeserver/releases/7/smeos/i386/SME/RPMS/kernel-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL.i686.rpm

Bummer, temp DNS error. No problem

wget http://61.8.0.17/linux/smeserver/releases/7/smeos/i386/SME/RPMS/kernel-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL.i686.rpm

Down it came, followed by

yum localinstall kernel-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL.i686.rpm

then exit exit.

Bummer, still wants the -42 kernel. No problem. Follow the prompts at the grub screen to edit two lines.

b to boot....

Yey.... I'm in.

Just have to now tidy up the /boot/grub/grub.conf file.

[raem]

grattman

A few suggestions.
Don't play or do anything on a production server unless you are 100% sure of what you are doing, and know that the method you plan to use is correct.
If in doubt, don't.
If in doubt, ask first.

Have a test server that is configured similarly to your production server, so you can test any changes you are planning to make.
Even a standard install of the OS only is sufficient for testing.
This could be an old retired (underpowered) box or a "virtual" install using VMWare etc.
If you do something wrong, then you know not to do that on the production server.
A test server will also allow you to work out what is the right way of doing things, as William has demonstrated. He recreated the scenario you "inadvertantly" created, and then worked out how to fix it.

Read the forums carefully and as you say, don't blindly accept everything that has been written, there is much wrong information out there.
Learn more about Linux and about installing & unistalling rpms etc.
I don't know of any operating system that recommends deleting files, there are usually correct procedures to follow for file removal eg rpm -e packagename in this case. On this note even though many people are suggesting to use yum remove (and that is even in quite a few howtos), the recommended method is
rpm -e packagename
as yum remove can remove a lot of other wanted rpms.

Also read & search bugzilla, if you had done this you would have found the correct method for removing kernels (which I pasted earlier in this thread).
When you do searches, don't give up because nothing was found or there were no results, do an advanced search as that is often required to find what you want.

Reading the many howtos & contribs articles also gives an insight into correct methods to use, and although you may not be interested in a certain contrib, the method of installing and configuring is universal.

A test server is also a good idea as you can see what files are supposed to be in certain places, and you could even retrieve missing config file(s) from the test server and transfer then to the real server.


Your comment about peer reviewed posts has been raised before
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=38573.0
although it seems the karma points has disappeared again.


If you are still having problems then you need to be very specific about what procedure you followed and what commands you entered, as no-one can guess what you do.

[raem]

grattman

Not sure if you have fixed your problem yet or not ?

The errent boot directory in *bad machine /boot is obviously the one that comes up during start-up. How do I point grub to the correct directory?

You can directly edit
/boot/grub/grub.conf

Bad Machine
less /boot/grub/grub.conf
#          root (hd0,0)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/main/root
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=2
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/smeserver.xpm.gz
foreground 000000
background 4E95D3
hiddenmenu
title SME Server (2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELhugemem ro root=/dev/main/root
        initrd /initrd-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELhugemem.img
title SME Server (2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp ro root=/dev/main/root
        initrd /initrd-2.6.9-67.0.1.ELsmp.img
title SME Server (2.6.9-67.0.12.EL)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL ro root=/dev/main/root
        initrd /initrd-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL.img

This line appears to be incorrect
title SME Server (2.6.9-67.0.12.EL)
it should be
title SME Server (2.6.9-67.0.1.EL)

You appear to have incorrectly edited an earlier kernel entry ie
SME Server (2.6.9-55.0.12.EL)
and mixed up the numbers
You system is set to boot to that incorrectly named kernel ie default=2

You might also like to hash out hiddenmenu so you can see the kernel choices at startup time, and increase the time the menu is displayed for
eg do
#hiddenmenu
timeout=15

[grattman]

Ray,

To answer your question, yes I have solved the issue. Thanks to you and William, I pieced enough together to locate that when I screwed up grub, it had installed a /boot/boot/grub which was what the MBR was pointing to. That is why I could not make grub see the kernel. I know about the production server/test server idea. Education does not always allow for that to happen unfortunately.

Thanks to you, William, and my screw up, I have learned a ton about 'nix in the last 48+ hours.

As for removing the kernels, a simple rpm -e kernel-x.x.old will result in a "not installed" if it is not an active kernel. This is one of the things that lead to my issue. I followed that advice and you cannot uninstall a kernel that seems to have been superseded. I may be wrong, but I did an rpm -e of the oldest kernel I had and got the "not installed." So even the sagest of advice was incorrect at the time.

I have been very careful over the years not to fubar my live server. This is how we learn, and I presume I am not the first one to have brought down a production server. I do appreciate the reminder about "measure twice, cut once" Ray.

Thansk for all your help and I have documented everything I did wrong, as well as what I did right (with some help  )

[william_syd]

I have learned a ton about 'nix in the last 48+ hours.

That makes two of us.

Now I need to know more about grub and RAID.

grub> find /grub/stage1
 (hd0,0)
 (hd1,0)

grub>

[raem]

grattman

As for removing the kernels, a simple rpm -e kernel-x.x.old will result in a "not installed" if it is not an active kernel. This is one of the things that lead to my issue. I followed that advice and you cannot uninstall a kernel that seems to have been superseded. I may be wrong, but I did an rpm -e of the oldest kernel I had and got the "not installed."

The rpm command to remove has always been
rpm -e packagename
where for the rpm
kernel-smp-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL.i586.rpm
you would substitute packagename with kernel-smp-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL
so
rpm -e kernel-smp-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL

Note you cannot insert wildcards eg ** , and if you do then you will get a message like the one you did get ie
"package not installed"
which is then misleading as you believe the package is not installed.

Currently as new kernels are installed old ones are not removed, so
rpm -qa kernel*
will show you a list of all still installed kernels
which you can then manually uninstall with the correct rpm -e commands.
The active kernel is found with
uname -r
which of course you do not uninstall.

Some work is being discussed in bugzilla to automatically remove old kernels as new ones are installed, as the /boot partition is only 100Mb which eventually gets filled.

[stiperstones]

grattman

The rpm command to remove has always been
rpm -e packagename
where for the rpm
kernel-smp-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL.i586.rpm
you would substitute packagename with kernel-smp-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL
so
rpm -e kernel-smp-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL

Note you cannot insert wildcards eg ** , and if you do then you will get a message like the one you did get ie
"package not installed"
which is then misleading as you believe the package is not installed.

Currently as new kernels are installed old ones are not removed, so
rpm -qa kernel*
will show you a list of all still installed kernels
which you can then manually uninstall with the correct rpm -e commands.
The active kernel is found with
uname -r
which of course you do not uninstall.

Some work is being discussed in bugzilla to automatically remove old kernels as new ones are installed, as the /boot partition is only 100Mb which eventually gets filled.

Hi Ray
Maybe a good one to put it in the wiki FAQ has it appears i did'nt explain the method in my post to remove old kernels i just pointed grattman to the procedure i used and created grattman some servere problems with his installation.

Has you have pointed out we need to follow the instructions in this post http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=38573.0

And to grattman i apologize for the problem i have created for you

[gasparraposo]

Can someone please help me. I am having the same problem and i dont know what to do. I went through everything that was done here, except what is did not understand was,

---------------------
Bummer, still wants the -42 kernel. No problem. Follow the prompts at the grub screen to edit two lines.

b to boot....

Yey.... I'm in.

Just have to now tidy up the /boot/grub/grub.conf file.
---------------------------

what is the procedure to follow the prompt a tthe grub screen and get this working. Please help someone.

[SoftDux]

incase you couldn't get it working.

Boot up with the installation CD (or Knopping Live CD / Ubuntu / RescueCD - Everyone should have one!!), copy the needed kernerl rpm to the HDD with a USB memory stick (which you have downloaded to the SAME PC that you're reading this ), install it with rpm, and then edit /boot/grub/grub.conf - the make sure it's looking for the SAME FILE


Here's my grub.conf file:

[root@intranet ~]# more /boot/grub/grub.conf
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,0)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/main/root
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hdd
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/smeserver.xpm.gz
foreground 000000
background 4E95D3
hiddenmenu
title CentOS (2.6.9-67.0.1.EL)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL ro root=/dev/main/root
        initrd /initrd-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL.img
title SME Server (2.6.9-55.0.2.EL)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-55.0.2.EL ro root=/dev/main/root
        initrd /initrd-2.6.9-55.0.2.EL.img
[root@intranet ~]#

As you can see, it's looking for either vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL OR vmlinuz-2.6.9-55.0.2.EL to boot, and these both need to be in the /root parition:

[root@intranet ~]# ll /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-55.0.2.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1511833 Jun 26  2007 /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-55.0.2.EL
[root@intranet ~]# ll /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1518785 Dec 19 22:58 /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.0.1.EL

I'm almost sure you can copy the kernels from an existing SME installation as well.