This is part of The Pile, a partial archive of some open source mailing lists and newsgroups.
From: Drew Bertola <drew@drewb.com> Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2001 23:07:11 +0000 () To: kmself@ix.netcom.com Cc: Silicon Valley Users Group <svlug@svlug.org> Subject: Re: [svlug] Boot problems after powerout kmself@ix.netcom.com writes: > I'm having boot problems on my aging desktop system following system > crash while I was travelling, followed by multiple cold boots I'd > instructed my housesitter to make. I believe there may have been > lightening strikes in the area, not sure if this is related. The box is > behind a UPS (APC BackUPS), which should moderate most line surges. > > Currently, I can boot the system on a CDROM occasionally (LinuxCare > BBC), and am booting it for live work with a boot floppy -- kernel image > dd'd to floppy. This was done after booting the system with the BBC. > > Booting from hard disk results in the infamous 'LI' lilo prompt. This > tends to indicate an inability to locate the second-stage boot loader, > which is on the same physical disk as the LILO MBR. I'm a bit confuzzed > over this. > > I've checked and re-run lilo several times, currently my /etc/lilo.conf > is: > > boot=/dev/hda3 > root=/dev/hda3 > linear > install=/boot/boot.b > delay=20 > map=/boot/map > append="" > read-only > image=/vmlinuz > label=Linux > > Partition table: > > Disk /dev/hda: 128 heads, 63 sectors, 620 cylinders > Units = cylinders of 8064 * 512 bytes > > Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System > /dev/hda1 * 1 39 157216+ 6 FAT16 > /dev/hda2 40 293 1024128 83 Linux > /dev/hda3 294 332 157248 83 Linux > /dev/hda4 333 620 1161216 5 Extended > /dev/hda5 333 459 512032+ 83 Linux > /dev/hda6 460 523 258016+ 83 Linux > /dev/hda7 524 555 128992+ 83 Linux > /dev/hda8 556 620 262048+ 83 Linux > > I've checked my BIOS boot settings. 1st is CDROM, 2nd is floppy, 3rd is > HD. Booting with a CDROM in the drive generally results in getting the > 'LI' prompt -- e.g.: the CDR doesn't appear to be visible to the > system. > > Currently, trying to mount the CDROM, I get: > > [karsten@navel:karsten]$ mount /mnt/cdrom/ > mount: No medium found > > Audio CDs _do_ play. > > There are /proc entries under /proc/ide/ide[01] which appear to suggest > that both the cdrom and HD are being recognized. Not sure what > specifically from these trees is useful, I find the following files > > /proc/ide: > drivers hda@ hdc@ ide0/ ide1/ > _____________________/ / > / ________________________/ > / / > | '- channel config hdc/ mate model > | _________________/ > | / > | '- capacity driver identify media model settings > | > +--- channel config hda/ mate model > __________________/ > / > '- cache driver identify model smart_thresholds > '- capacity geometry media settings smart_values > > I've checked cabling and everything _seems_ to be plugged in correctly, > though I should probably recheck. Anyone have any ideas as to what's > wrong or anything I might be missing? > APC BackUPS are crap. Lightning surges will pass right through them. I know this from first hand experience backed by over 80 man*hrs. of investigation by some of the best electricians I've ever worked with (not to mention the best pwoer monitoring equipment available). The APC "UPS" we used (after insisting against it) was replaced by a true UPS (also by APC) with a 5 figure price tag. The problem with the BackUPS was that after the lightning strike, it emitted noise which caused intermittent reboots. It's a truely sinister product. I imagine you can handle the occasional power losses without the "UPS" much easier than the problems the BackUPS will inject after it's been damaged by mild or excessive stress. Throw the BackUPS in the same scrap heap with Iomega products. They're worse than useless. === From: Marc MERLIN <marc_news@valinux.com> To: Drew Bertola <drew@drewb.com> Cc: kmself@ix.netcom.com, Silicon Valley Users Group <svlug@svlug.org> Subject: Re: [svlug] Boot problems after powerout On Sun, Mar 04, 2001 at 11:07:11PM +0000, Drew wrote: > The problem with the BackUPS was that after the lightning strike, it > emitted noise which caused intermittent reboots. It's a truely > sinister product. If I may, the UPS tried to safeguard your hardware. If it got shot in the process, that's unfortunate, but they have a warranty. I agree that when it still half works, it's annoying and hard to debug, but it did the best it could, getting struck by lightening is nothing casual. > I imagine you can handle the occasional power losses without the "UPS" > much easier than the problems the BackUPS will inject after it's been > damaged by mild or excessive stress. Throw the BackUPS in the same Don't you think that the surge that damaged your UPS wouldn't have blown the hardware being it if the UPS hadn't been there? You get what you pay for, a $x00 UPS just can't do the same things than a $y0000 one. > scrap heap with Iomega products. They're worse than useless. Iomega products (at least zip and jaz) are crap, granted (and severely overmarketted and overpriced crap too) === Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2001 22:26:15 -0800 (PST) From: "Dagmar d'Surreal" <dagmar@dsurreal.org> To: Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> Subject: Re: [svlug] Boot problems after powerout On Tue, 6 Mar 2001, Rick Moen wrote: > begin Drew Bertola quotation: > > APC BackUPS are crap. > > Personally, if I had my druthers, I'd forget APC entirely. Best Power > units are well made, and the manufacturer is Linux-friendly. > http://www.bestpower.com/ I prefer PK Electronics "Blackout Buster". They're cheap. They seem to last *forever* (I own two that have easily outlived the APC 400 that I was using), although the only signaling the computer gets about power loss is essentially just an open/closed circuit you detect through a spare serial port. ===