Re: FC1/FC2 or RedHat9

From: Phil Schaffner (Philip.R.Schaffner_at_NASA.gov)
Date: 06/03/04

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    To: For users of Fedora Core releases <fedora-list@redhat.com>
Date: Thu, 03 Jun 2004 16:12:37 -0400

    On Thu, 2004-06-03 at 08:35 -0700, Richard Emberson wrote:
    > Paul wrote:
    > > Hi,
    > >
    > >
    > >>When I finished the upgrade the /boot/initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img
    > >>was missing (From the grub gui I dropped into the command mode and
    > >>listed what was in the /boot directory), but /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358
    > >>was there (neither of the FC2-install* files were there).
    > >
    > >
    > > I'll email you a copy of all of the initrd stuff later.
    >
    > I do have other machines. I did installs on them, not an upgrade, so
    > initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img exists on them. The failed "upgrade" machine
    > has scsi disks while the other machines are all ide, so I can not
    > move the disk with the /boot directory to a different machine, mount
    > it, and load the initrd onto it (I looked into that last night).

    Even if you succeed in getting an initrd from another machine onto the
    failed one, it is unlikely to work unless the hardware configuration
    matches very closely; otherwise the initrd-...img will not contain the
    modules you need. initrd is custom-built to match the target machine.

    I have had success getting rescue mode to work with a variation on the
    "boot without bootable CD install/upgrade technique". If you installed
    by copying the vmlinuz and initrd.img from boot.img, as frequently
    discussed on this list, and can get to the grub command line and with
    the rescue CD in the drive (correcting devices and names as required -
    grub command-line-completion with TAB may help):

    grub> root (hd0,0) # or your /boot partition
    grub> kernel /vmlinuz-fedora-install ramdisk_size=8192 rescue
    grub> initrd /initrd-fedora-install.img
    grub> boot

    or use grub edit mode and add "rescue" to the kernel line if the
    original install stanza still exists. If you manage to boot to rescue
    mode and mount the installed partitions, do "chroot /mnt/sysimage" as
    the rescue disk suggests, then:

    # mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img 2.6.5-1.358

    If that works, check to make sure grub.conf has the correct boot stanza,
    and reboot.

    (Just had the thought that the

    >
    > >
    > > Something you may want to try is (if you have access to another
    > > machine), make a copy of tomsrtbt (linux on a floppy) and mount the FC2
    > > CD via that. Failing that, do you not have a boot rescue floppy from
    > > RH9?
    >
    > I will look into tomsrtbt.
    > I do have a RH9 boot floppy.
    >
    > Thanks
    > >
    > >
    > >>Sorry for hijacking this thread but Paul is the first responder who
    > >>has stated that upgrading works.
    >

    Well, wasn't exactly hijacking as you didn't do a reply but use an
    entirely new subject; however, it has wondered considerably from the
    original topic. Too confusing to start a new thread now.

    > >
    > >
    > > It does work. I've even gone from RH5 to FC2 in one swoop, but that was
    > > only as I'm insane! (gnome1 to gnome2 caused more headaches than
    > > anything I've ever had!)

    Have had 2 different machines fail to complete upgrades. One, a laptop,
    froze partway through and had to hit the power button. Another was
    doing a hard disk install and got a checksum error on an rpm during
    install (using a CD image that had a correct md5sum???) and aborted the
    install. In both cases, the install had proceeded far enough to have a
    bootable 2.6 kernel, but a mix of old/new packages. Managed to recover
    both by editing /etc/yum.conf and proceeding with a yum upgrade. May
    want to try that if you get up and running.

    The following one-liner has proved useful in finding obsolete packages:

    rpm -qa --qf "%{INSTALLTIME} %{NAME} %{VERSION} %{RELEASE}\n" | sort -r >RPMS_by_Install_Time

    Inspect the output file - anything listed after fedora-logos predates
    the upgrade and probably needs to be upgraded or removed.

    Good luck,
    Phil 

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