[CentOS] Big trouble: can't start server after new kernel

Thu Jun 16 01:25:04 UTC 2005
Alexander Dalloz <ad+lists at uni-x.org>

Am Do, den 16.06.2005 schrieb Mário Gamito um 2:53:

> I have this file server with CentOS 4.0
> Each time a new kernel comes out, i have to recompile it, becuse i need 
> Appletalk support and the kernel doesn't have it.
> 
> I've done this before many times and in other servers, and all went well.
> 
> Now, in this particular server, with the new 2.6.9-11, after i've 
> recompiled it, created the .img and edited grub, the machine doesn't 
> start at all.
> It says it can't find the kernel image.

I would guess you somehow did a mistake editing /etc/grub.conf which is
a symlink to /boot/grub/menu.lst.

> I cannot even boot with older kernels.
> 
> To worsten things, i have LVM, so "linux rescue" tells me there's no 
> Linux installation in the server and leaves me with a prompt.

The rescue mode is aware of LVM2 and can mount that.

> Now, i can mount /boot because it is outside the LVM, but when i do it, 
> i lost access to any command, even a mere ls.
> 
> Tried to pre-copy vi before the /boot mount and could access 
> /boot/grub/menu.lst
> 
> Everything seems fine, the files are all in /boot ...!!!
> 
> Do i need to run grub command after editing menu.lst ?

No. This is one difference to lilo. It may be helpful if you show us
your menu.lst / grub.conf.

> Never did that.
> And why can't i boot from older kernels ?

I can only imagine that the menu.lst is broken somehow (strange
characters in it). 

> Now, the really nasty thing: somehow, i don't have the smallest hint, i 
> had a 500 GB external USB disk to make the backups, and the "linux 
> rescue" erased it :( :( :(

What do you mean with "erased"? You plugged the drive in on a different
host and the drive is completely empty?

> Mário Gamito

Alexander


-- 
Alexander Dalloz | Enger, Germany | GPG http://pgp.mit.edu 0xB366A773
legal statement: http://www.uni-x.org/legal.html
Fedora Core 2 GNU/Linux on Athlon with kernel 2.6.11-1.27_FC2smp 
Serendipity 03:20:47 up 23 days, 1:58, load average: 0.10, 0.25, 0.25 
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