[CentOS] Boot failure after install on IBM x3550 M3

[Toralf Lund]

Toralf Lund wrote:
> Rob Kampen wrote:
>   
>> 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.
>>     
> The problem is that the system never gets to the grub stage, i.e. it 
> fails to boot from hard drive at the BIOS level, so as to speak.
>   
Of course, this probably means the problem isn't related to CentOS at 
all, but I didn't quite realise that when I posted the original question...

- Toralf


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