[CentOS] Boot failure after install on IBM x3550 M3

Wed Nov 17 17:54:17 UTC 2010
Rob Kampen <rkampen at kampensonline.com>

Toralf Lund wrote:
>>>>>>>> I'm trying to install CentOS 5.5 on a couple of servers of type IBM
>>>>>>>> System x3550 M3, but it's not going too well. Actually, the install
>>>>>>>> setup phase runs as expected, and the actual installation also appears
>>>>>>>> to be successful, but the system will not boot [ ... ]
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>             
>>>>>>>>               
>>>>>>>>                 
>>>>>>> Make sure all the firmware is up to date. I've had an IBM x3550 M3 and it couldn't even boot a Windows 2008 R2 64 bit CD with the firmware it shipped with.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>           
>>>>>>>             
>>>>>>>               
>>>>>> That seems like a useful tip, but do you know what exactly I need to
>>>>>> install and where to find it? I'm looking at an IBM download page right
>>>>>> now, but it's a little confusing - I can't seem to find anything that
>>>>>> it's obviously the *system* firmware, only entries like "Firmware for
>>>>>> Rack&   Tower LCD UPS" and " Firmware for Local Console Manager".
>>>>>>
>>>>>> - Toralf
>>>>>>
>>>>>>           
>>>>>>             
>>>>> What's the model and type? It should be xxxx-yyy where x can be 0-9 and y can be 0-9&  A-z.  You can find it on the front of the chassis.
>>>>>
>>>>>   [ ... ]
>>>>>           
>>> Search for UEFI firmware. Those IBM servers don't have a classic BIOS anymore, they are EFI based. I looked it up following your model/type and found the updates.
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/systemx/quickorder?parent=ibm/Systemx3550M3&product=ibm/systemx/7944&&platform=All&function=fixId&fixids=ibm_fw_uefi_d6e149a_linux_32-64&source=fc
>>>   
>>>     
>>>       
>> Ah. Thanks.
>>
>> I believe I missed that file because I searched for operating system 
>> independent components (because firmware doesn't use the OS, right?), 
>> but apparently I should have chosen some Linux variant instead.
>>   
>>     
> I should perhaps mention that I found a solution, sort of: It seems like 
> the problem is that the system simply won't boot from a single hard disk 
> set up as just that - a single, separate drive. I suspect this has 
> something to do with the disk/RAID controller firmware, but updating it 
> did not help. If, on the other hand, I define (from within the 
> controller setup screen) a "RAID" containing only one drive, everything 
> works just fine...
>   
Try nodmraid on the kernel line in grub - I needed this after one of the 
upgrades in the 5.x series.
> - Toralf
>
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