Re: Fwd: Boot failure
On Sat, Aug 08, 2009 at 11:29:13PM -0400, Karl Vogel wrote: > >> On Sat, 8 Aug 2009 15:38:25 +0200, Roland Smith said: > > R> At $WORK the Dell computers (both desktops and servers AFAIK) that we > R> use are ditched at the first problem after the warranty runs out which > R> is after three years, I believe. > >Interesting. I've used a Dell GX260 for my workstation since 2003, >and I've had no hardware problems running two versions of FreeBSD, >one version of OpenBSD and one version of Solaris-10. Two other 260s >have been file-servers since 2004. The hardware was retired (recently a lot of GX260s) because repairs and downtime are expensive in man-hours. At $WORK there is a group of volunteers who check out and rebuild these retired machines, so they can be donated to schools et cetera. I agree that most of those machines will last several years longer. The GX260s we had only came with 128 MB RAM standard, which is a very tight to run XP with MS office at a reasonable speed. And they came with small harddisks, because most of our storage is on the network. With added RAM and a bigger harddisk it is perfectly usable. But I agree they would probably even perform better with FreeBSD or Linux on it. For myself I tend not to buy the latest and greatest hardware. It takes time for support for new hardware to materialize, and the newest fastest hardware comes with notably reduced value for money. Roland -- R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/ [plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated] pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725) pgpta1zbxLCtq.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: Fwd: Boot failure
>> On Sat, 8 Aug 2009 15:38:25 +0200, Roland Smith said: R> At $WORK the Dell computers (both desktops and servers AFAIK) that we R> use are ditched at the first problem after the warranty runs out which R> is after three years, I believe. Interesting. I've used a Dell GX260 for my workstation since 2003, and I've had no hardware problems running two versions of FreeBSD, one version of OpenBSD and one version of Solaris-10. Two other 260s have been file-servers since 2004. -- Karl Vogel I don't speak for the USAF or my company If caught with pants down, redefine pants.--pissed-off KDE user ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Fwd: Boot failure
On Sat, Aug 08, 2009 at 07:53:40AM -0400, Identry wrote: > >> Looks like your hardware is dying/dead. > > > > Sadly, I agree. > > I'd get to the point of swapping hardware one at a time until it > > fixes, or until you exhaust your options. Have any kind of support > > contract with the OEM? > > I do have a support contract and I'm going to dump this right in their > lap. Two machines we bought from them -- pretty expensive ones -- and > both have had hardware failures. And they are only a couple of years > old. I'm not too happy with them at the moment. For computers, that is already old these days. At $WORK the Dell computers (both desktops and servers AFAIK) that we use are ditched at the first problem after the warranty runs out which is after three years, I believe. Roland -- R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/ [plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated] pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725) pgp3DrTdecBdb.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: Fwd: Boot failure
>> Looks like your hardware is dying/dead. > > Sadly, I agree. > > Reset BIOS CMOS data (hardware jumper on motherboard) > Enter RAID controller BIOS, (re)set your "boot drive" > > But it looks like a fundamental BIOS control issue is malfunctioning. > > Do you have a PCI Diagnostics card? One like the following? > > http://www.uxd.com/phdpci.shtml > > (I'm not saying that exact model, but rather a device that is able to > see BIOS codes through the PCI bus that can tell very technical detail > to tech support at the motherboard's vendor (you said Intel, right?).) > > Hardware rarely up and dies. Have you tried swapping RAM chips out, > or re-ordering them to see if it might be a RAM problem? > > Maybe we're not passing POST, or that we're passing POST but the > bootable device list is not finding bootable medium. > > These kind of issues intrigue me, because it is out of the norm, and > why did it happen. > > I'd get to the point of swapping hardware one at a time until it > fixes, or until you exhaust your options. Have any kind of support > contract with the OEM? I do have a support contract and I'm going to dump this right in their lap. Two machines we bought from them -- pretty expensive ones -- and both have had hardware failures. And they are only a couple of years old. I'm not too happy with them at the moment. Well, I need to focus on getting my poor customers back online, so will have to put this problem aside for the weekend. As usual, thanks for the help and support from all. FreeBSD is the best OS, and this group is the best (by far) support group I've ever belonged to. I do appreciate it and I hope someday I'll know enough to give the kind of help I've gotten here. Brgds: John ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Fwd: Boot failure
Tim Judd wrote: > On 8/7/09, Roland Smith wrote: > >> Looks like your hardware is dying/dead. > > > > Sadly, I agree. > > > Reset BIOS CMOS data (hardware jumper on motherboard) > Enter RAID controller BIOS, (re)set your "boot drive" > > But it looks like a fundamental BIOS control issue is malfunctioning. > > Do you have a PCI Diagnostics card? One like the following? > > http://www.uxd.com/phdpci.shtml > > (I'm not saying that exact model, but rather a device that is able to > see BIOS codes through the PCI bus that can tell very technical detail > to tech support at the motherboard's vendor (you said Intel, right?).) > > Hardware rarely up and dies. Have you tried swapping RAM chips out, > or re-ordering them to see if it might be a RAM problem? > > > Maybe we're not passing POST, or that we're passing POST but the > bootable device list is not finding bootable medium. > > > These kind of issues intrigue me, because it is out of the norm, and > why did it happen. Sometimes I've seen when a hard drive gets old and the head movement mechanism is worn the drive can have problems properly locating the head over track 0. I've also noted that sometimes even when it can find track 0 it couldn't read the mbr. If this happens because of a bad spot has developed in the magnetic media there's nothing at this point that can be done. If it's just worn head slop sometimes you can write out a fresh mbr and use it for a while longer, but the problem will return worse later. Using smartmontools and smartctl test/diags to get a test dump from the drive can be useful at times to decide if replacement is warranted. > I'd get to the point of swapping hardware one at a time until it > fixes, or until you exhaust your options. Have any kind of support > contract with the OEM? > > --Tim ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Fwd: Boot failure
On 8/7/09, Roland Smith wrote: > Looks like your hardware is dying/dead. Sadly, I agree. Reset BIOS CMOS data (hardware jumper on motherboard) Enter RAID controller BIOS, (re)set your "boot drive" But it looks like a fundamental BIOS control issue is malfunctioning. Do you have a PCI Diagnostics card? One like the following? http://www.uxd.com/phdpci.shtml (I'm not saying that exact model, but rather a device that is able to see BIOS codes through the PCI bus that can tell very technical detail to tech support at the motherboard's vendor (you said Intel, right?).) Hardware rarely up and dies. Have you tried swapping RAM chips out, or re-ordering them to see if it might be a RAM problem? Maybe we're not passing POST, or that we're passing POST but the bootable device list is not finding bootable medium. These kind of issues intrigue me, because it is out of the norm, and why did it happen. I'd get to the point of swapping hardware one at a time until it fixes, or until you exhaust your options. Have any kind of support contract with the OEM? --Tim ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Fwd: Boot failure
On Fri, Aug 07, 2009 at 11:47:58AM -0400, Identry wrote: > > Realize that if you upgrade to 7.x, you'll have to remove and reinstall > > all ports because the version number of shared system libraries will > > have changed. > > Yes, I've decided this is way too complicated. > > >> Or would it be safer to try to bring up the machine on it's own with a > >> 6.2 generic kernel, first? > > > > Seeing as how you can mount the partitions on the drive perfectly by > > hand, maybe it was just a glitch. Have you tried rebooting again? > > Yes. It won't even boot into single user or safe mode. It hangs when > it tries to mount the root partition. > > > If it still doesn't work, try getting into the boot menu and see if the > > drive looks OK from there. > > Not exactly sure what you mean... How can I see what the drive looks > like from the boot menu? Sorry if this is a total newbie question... Well, if you enter the FreeBSD boot code, you get a menu. One of the choices is "escape to loader prompt" IIRC. But from your other emails I can see that you're not even getting into the boot loader... Looks like your hardware is dying/dead. Roland -- R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/ [plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated] pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725) pgpYAfzZvoaUU.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: Fwd: Boot failure
> Realize that if you upgrade to 7.x, you'll have to remove and reinstall > all ports because the version number of shared system libraries will > have changed. Yes, I've decided this is way too complicated. >> Or would it be safer to try to bring up the machine on it's own with a >> 6.2 generic kernel, first? > > Seeing as how you can mount the partitions on the drive perfectly by > hand, maybe it was just a glitch. Have you tried rebooting again? Yes. It won't even boot into single user or safe mode. It hangs when it tries to mount the root partition. > If it still doesn't work, try getting into the boot menu and see if the > drive looks OK from there. Not exactly sure what you mean... How can I see what the drive looks like from the boot menu? Sorry if this is a total newbie question... -- John ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Fwd: Boot failure
On Fri, Aug 07, 2009 at 10:08:44AM -0400, Identry wrote: > > if not have you tried it? > > No. I need to figure out how to do that, and I didn't have enough > brain power last night after doing all those backups. > > After sleeping on it, I am wondering if I can kill two birds with one > stone... by using 7.2 install CDs to upgrade the machine? I believe > there is an 'upgrade' option on the install menu (I'm burning some 7.2 > CDs right now to double check.) Realize that if you upgrade to 7.x, you'll have to remove and reinstall all ports because the version number of shared system libraries will have changed. > Or would it be safer to try to bring up the machine on it's own with a > 6.2 generic kernel, first? Seeing as how you can mount the partitions on the drive perfectly by hand, maybe it was just a glitch. Have you tried rebooting again? If it still doesn't work, try getting into the boot menu and see if the drive looks OK from there. Roland -- R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/ [plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated] pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725) pgpGVSebzUhix.pgp Description: PGP signature
