I2O on Linux - RHEL4 I2O Status


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GRUB Install Workaround Procedure for I2O
=========================================
Warren Togami
Last Updated: May 27th, 2005

I2O controllers comprise many different SCSI (and rarer IDE) RAID controllers 
supported by the i2o_block driver.  The most prevalent of these are 
Adaptec or DPT branded, but several other brands and models are 
available.  See the bottom of this document for more details. [1]

RHEL4 U1 fails to install grub at the end of an otherwise successful
installation when installed on I2O block arrays. [2] This is due to
incorrect partition detection code in grub.  Symptoms of this problem
include the inability to reach the grub menu when booting your I2O array, 
or if a previous copy of grub is in the boot sector, grub may display 
only a bare command-line prompt.

Fortunately there is a simple procedure you can follow to install grub 
into your boot sector and have a fully working system.

Step 1) Boot into Rescue Mode by booting the first install disc and 
typing "linux rescue" followed by ENTER.

Step 2) After you reach a command prompt, chroot into /mnt/sysimage with:
	chroot /mnt/sysimage

Step 3) Invoke grub-install in order to install the boot loader.  
/dev/i2o/hda is the first array of your I2O controller, which is 
probably what you want to boot.
	grub-install /dev/i2o/hda

Step 4) Assuming there were no error messages in the last step, simply 
type "reboot" and remove the install disc from your drive.  You should 
now have a GRUB boot menu.

If this procedure fails for you with I2O, please file a new bug in RH 
Bugzilla against product "Red Hat Enterprise Linux" component "grub".

We are deeply sorry about any inconvenience this may cause.  
We expect this defect to be corrected in RHEL4 U2's installer.

Warren Togami
wtogami@redhat.com

[1]
http://i2o.shadowconnect.com/
This site contains an incomplete listing of I2O devices and supplementation information.
[2]
FC3 and RHEL4 GA are affected by a similar problem more rarely.  The same procedure
is successful in solving this problem in FC3 and RHEL4 GA.  FC4's installer has
solved this problem entirely.

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=159043
Red Hat Bugzilla report pertaining to this issue.

Warren Togami
wtogami@redhat.com


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last updated: 2005-05-30