[CentOS] "yum update" did not update kernel on one box

[Kai Schaetzl]

 wrote on Thu, 8 May 2008 09:39:15 -0500:

> Ah. This is where the problem on her box probably comes from! Last
> November, when I installed Windows XP, in English, my native language,
> I did not understand something in Microsoft's English. There were four
> (4) partitions for Windows (C,D,E,F) and apparently when it was
> finished, I clicked incorrectly and it installed Windows again,  So,
> it installed MS Windows XP onto the four (4) Windows partitions on her
> box!

No, surely not. Windows installs only to one partition, the one you selected 
for installation. The other three are only NTFS partitions and can be used by 
Windows, but unless your wife installs something on them or puts data on them 
they are empty. Anyway, it's not a problem.

If Windows is selected on the GNU GRUB menu, then there is a 2nd
> boot menu, of Windows.

Ah, okay. Grub probably copied the MBR to a file and when you select to boot 
from Windows it runs that MBR which then runs the boot.ini menu from the 
Windows system partition. I think that's the standard way.

> > Did you install it after CentOS or before it?
> 
> When I began using Linux, I read that for dual boot boxes, MS Windows
> should always be installed first. So, I always install MS Windows
> first and then Linux.

Yeah, that's fine. Although with Windows systems since 2000 you can just 
install them second, they integrate grub in their boot.ini.

>    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/hda1   *           1         783     5919448+   7  HPFS/NTFS
that's the active primary partition
> /dev/hda2             784        5347    34503840    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
that's the extended partition that holds hda5-9
> /dev/hda3            5348       10586    39606840   8e  Linux LVM
this is the third primary partition with LVM on it
> /dev/hda5             784        1566     5919448+   7  HPFS/NTFS
> /dev/hda6            1567        2920    10236208+   7  HPFS/NTFS
> /dev/hda7            2921        3733     6146248+   7  HPFS/NTFS
> /dev/hda8            3734        3747      105808+  83  Linux
this looks like the boot partition
> /dev/hda9            3748        5347    12095968+  8e  Linux LVM
another LVM partition

hda3 and hda9 are your Linux LVM partitions, maybe they belong to one volume 
group, I don't know (your fstab would tell more, there's also a graphical 
frontend for LVM in your desktop).

>From your grub.conf we know that it thinks it's installed on (hd0,2), but 
hd0,2 is hda3 (if I understand that correctly) and that is LVM, and grub can't 
boot from LVM because grub boots the kernel and only that knows about LVM. So, 
you are probably booting from hda8, but it's not in your fstab as the /boot 
partition.
What does a "df" say? Does it list hda8 among the partitions? Probably not?
Mount it and have a look at that partition, does it contain the same stuff as 
your /boot partition? If not mounted, do:
mkdir /mnt/hda8
mount /dev/hda8 /mnt/hda8
cat /mnt/hda8/boot/grub/grub.conf
Does this look like the grub.conf that is the *real* one booting your system?

> [root at compaq1300 ~]#
> 
> Trying to remember what I did on approximately 24 November 2007 is
> difficult. Probably, after shrinking the Windows partition with
> QTParted, to allow space for the CentOS installation, I let Windows do
> the partitioning and formatting for Windows, since I'd read that it is
> recommended to let Windows do that for Windows and Linux for Linux.
> However, I may have done the Windows partitionnig with QTParted. Or,
> the Windows XP installation may have given me the option to not use
> all of the HD for Windows, and if so, I would have elected to do that
> and leave space for CentOS5. I believe that I created and formatted
> the 4 Windows partitions within the Win XP installation. Not sure what
> went on that confused day.

As you installed CentOS after Windows the whole problem probably hasn't 
anything to do with the Windows installation, but it's a mystery how and why 
you got two /boot partitions, one (non-accessable) on LVM and the real one 
(that doesn't seem to be known to the system).


Kai

-- 
Kai Schätzl, Berlin, Germany
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