This is so strange. Here's the email I started to write: ========================== Thanks to all the folks who replied, both on and off the list. I'm making some progress, but I'm still not out of the woods and still need assistance.
This system uses LILO 22.6.1. I wasn't able to use Tab to bring up the menu, but holding down Shift before 'LILO...' appeared worked to bring up the menu. I have two choices, 'Linux' and 'LinuxOLD'. I'm assuming that I'm using 'Linux' normally, and so didn't try anything. Choosing 'LinuxOLD' causes the system to stop with these messages: VFS: Cannot open root device "802" unknown-block(8,2) Please append a correct "root=" boot option. Kernel panic-not syncing: VFS: unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(8,2) I then tried to book again with 'boot: LinuxOLD root=/dev/sda2'. This generates this version of the error messages: VFS: Cannot open root device "sda2" unknown-block(0,0) Please append a correct "root=" boot option. Kernel panic-not syncing: VFS: unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0) ==================================== However, as I was writing this, I started to get diagnostic email messages from this system. I realized that I walked away from this server in our server room just after I started a normal reboot, thinking that it would still stop at the same error. When I walked back to the server room, I discovered that it seemed to have booted normally. I was able to log on to the system. Typing 'uname -a' gave '2.6.18-6-686 #1 SMP Tue Jun 17 21:31:27 UTC...' which I think is correct for this new version. I didn't change anything in /etc/lilo.conf, and didn't press any buttons while it was booting. This server has previously experienced intermittent hard disk backplane voltage problems. Unfortunately, it's eight years old, and Dell doesn't sell replacement parts for it anymore. I'm going to try to find one on eBay sometime, but just haven't yet. Thanks, again, to all the folks who helped me out and reminded me of the steps to take to try to track down this problem. I don't think it's a problem with Debian now, but rather a hardware problem. -Kevin -----Original Message----- From: Zembower, Kevin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 10:43 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Can't reboot after update I'm hoping someone can help me with this urgent problem. I just applied the updates that became available in the last couple days to my Debian etch host running on a Dell PowerEdge 2450 server. This included an update to the kernel, so I rebooted the host. The host failed to restart. The first error message on the console was '/init /init cannot open /dev/root no such device.' Just before that, it said "mounting root file system. Running /scripts/local-top." It finally ended by dropping me into BusyBox, with which I'm not familiar. There were no earlier indications of problems with the output to the console. All the output concerning /dev/sda, where all my directories are partitioned, seemed normal. This host uses a Dell PERC 3/Si card to provide RAID-5. Can anyone help me correct this problem? Any suggestions of commands to run in BusyBox to either fix or diagnose this? Thanks in advance for your help, advice and suggestions. -Kevin Kevin Zembower Internet Services Group manager Center for Communication Programs Bloomberg School of Public Health Johns Hopkins University 111 Market Place, Suite 310 Baltimore, Maryland 21202 410-659-6139 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
