Topic: sme server 8 not booting up

[mikey777]

hi all
Need help urgently today our sme server refuse to boot up. Bios picks up the hdd and even when i put in the installation disk it see old sme installation . I need to know if i reinstall will i lose my data .


Urgent reply please

[mmccarn]

Descriptions of SME CD boot options can be found here:
http://wiki.contribs.org/Booting

And here's is a small amount of additional help:
http://wiki.contribs.org/Recovering_SME_Server_with_lvm_drives


If your HDD is recognized by the installer you should get an 'upgrade' option -- if you don't see an 'upgrade' option when booting from the SME CD you should proceed.

- What errors do you get when you try to boot from the internal HDD?

- Can you fix your system using 'sme rescue' from the SME CD?

[janet]

mikey777

....when i put in the installation disk it see old sme installation.

I would be concerned & I would be very careful about what you do next.
We really need more info about your setup, also what does this show
cat /proc/mdstat

If by "old sme installation" you mean an earlier installation, then you may have had a RAID disk spat out of the array which went unnoticed some time ago, & now another disk has completely failed (the one with your current installation).
What you are seeing is an old sme installation that was never added back to the array, so if you rebuild the RAID to that disk or run the upgrade option, then you have an old server config.

You need to tell us some more about the server & it's history.
What do you specifically mean by "it see old sme installation".

Also is it supposedly a 2 disk RAID1 array ?

[MSmith]

First, take that HDD out and copy it, preferably sector-by-sector, on another machine. THEN test that drive with the manufacturer's test utility (non-destructive, please!). THEN, test the RAM and other hardware of the server. If EVERYTHING tests OK, then try an upgrade in place.

[CharlieBrady]

If your HDD is recognized by the installer you should get an 'upgrade' option -- if you don't see an 'upgrade' option when booting from the SME CD you should proceed.

I think you mean "you should not proceed".