SLES 11 SP4 Getting Grub Rescue and DVD not detected

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server SLES Install-Boot
1

Hello,

I am trying to get SLES 11 SP4 to load via the DVD drive. I burned SLES 11 SP4 to disk but when I turn on machine, the DVD is not detected and it goes to Grub Rescue mode.

The hardware is HP Proliant ML110 G7 Server with 32GB Ram and b110 RAID controller.

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/km/product/5075944/HPE-ProLiant-ML110-G7-Server?ismnp=0&l5oid=5075942#t=DriversandSoftware&sort=relevancy&numberOfResults=25&f:@kmswtargetproductbaseenvironmentlatest=[5075944_SUSE]

The RAID logical drive was created in the BIOS menu. The old drives were refreshed. The server supports SLES 11 and it worked in the past. It will not work with any of the newer version of SLES.

I am trying to find out if I need to add any additional packages so that I can get SLES to load. I have tried other DVDs such as Windows Server 2012 R2 and it loaded up fine without hitting Grub Rescue.

I would like to get SLES 11 SP4 to boot so that I can complete installation on my HP Proliant ML100 G7 server.

I tried both DVD1 and DVD2 and both would not load and went into Grub Rescue mode so I must be missing something in order for it to be recognized as a valid OS by the HP Proliant ML100 G7 server.

2

Hi and welcome to the Forum :slight_smile:
How did you burn the image to the DVD? Did you verify the image checksum before burning? Did you burn the image at the slowest possible speed?

Have you considered writing the image to a USB key instead?

3

[QUOTE=malcolmlewis;59222]Hi and welcome to the Forum :slight_smile:
How did you burn the image to the DVD? Did you verify the image checksum before burning? Did you burn the image at the slowest possible speed?

Have you considered writing the image to a USB key instead?[/QUOTE]

Hello Malcolm,

I used ISO to burn IMG to DVD. I did not verify the image checksum because I downloaded directly from the SUSE website. I tried looking for the checksums on the website and don’t see them.

i will test the USB key. I thought it should load up the same way it detected when the Windows DVDs were inserted. Have you had experience with the HP Proliant ML110 G7 server I am using? Apparently, it can only use SLES 11 because that is programmed in it’s ROM load to accept a limited set of approved loads. I tried loading SLES 15 and the DVD I burned for it loaded and I went through the configuration but on reboot, it went to Grub Rescue.

The HP Proliant ML110 G7 is certified to work with SLES 11 because it contains the RAID drivers that work with its logical partition system.

Any help to get this working would be great.

Thanks, P

4

Malcolm,

I conducted a checksum and verified that the image is correct and matches the checksum from SUSE via the MD5 hash. I am re-burning the disk using ISO Burn and set it to 4X speed to create new DVD vice using the automatic selector. I will give this a go. I am only burning DVD1. DVD2 is 5.2 GB. Do you think I should burn this to the USB and use that if DVD1 does not work? I am not sure what the purpose of DVD2 is for. Do you know if DVD1 should suffice or should I have both ready?

Thanks. P

5

[QUOTE=malcolmlewis;59222]Hi and welcome to the Forum :slight_smile:
How did you burn the image to the DVD? Did you verify the image checksum before burning? Did you burn the image at the slowest possible speed?

Have you considered writing the image to a USB key instead?[/QUOTE]

Malcolm,

I tried making the SLES 11 SP4 DVD2 into a USB key for it says that DVD2 is non-bootable. I don’t understand what that means. I think it is supposed to be a supplemental DVD since it is 5.2 GB. I tested SLES 11 SP4 DVD1 and it was able to copy it to a bootable USB key but DVD2 failed to copy.

Do you know what DVD2 is for and why it will not copy to a bootable USB key?

6

Hi
Yes, DVD2 is not needed for install it just contains source rpms. Only DVD1 is needed to install.

I think SLES 15 SP1 should have worked, likely a driver issue if you are using hardware/controller RAID.

AFAIK if using RAID you need a separate /boot partition, what is the disk layout?

7

[QUOTE=malcolmlewis;59262]Hi
Yes, DVD2 is not needed for install it just contains source rpms. Only DVD1 is needed to install.

I think SLES 15 SP1 should have worked, likely a driver issue if you are using hardware/controller RAID.

AFAIK if using RAID you need a separate /boot partition, what is the disk layout?[/QUOTE]

Malcolm,

Yes, got disk to load this time but I am encountering issues with the partition. SLES 11 Loaded the OS but had a boot error. I performed the automatic repair and it said the boot and the partition had errors. I looked back at the partition and it looked like Linux created Linux drives but it do not do anything to recognize the current RAID Controller for the HP Proliant ML110 G7 server. When the server boots, the RAID Controller is looking for the OS and can not find it.

There are 4 disk drives. I would like SLES to use the preconfigured logical drive that was created by the server but the OS is only seeing the 4 drives and not the RAID drive created by the RAID Controller.

When I was going through the setup it kept giving error msgs:

“No valid partitions found for the partition table of /dev/md127. If there were some partitions on the disk. you can try to restore them manually. To do that, enter the cylinder values in fdisk or the partition tool.”

I tried this out and could see partitions from previous attempts but it would not let me clear them and start over.

Issues based on System Check:

  • Repairing partition table of hard disk /dev/md127

“Partition table was not repaired”

  • Check File System
    “Installing kernel modules for file system support… Loading failed for kernel modules”

  • Executing file system check for partition /dev/sda1…
    /dev/sda1 contains unknown file system “Error”

  • Executing file system check for partition /dev/sdb1…
    /dev/sdb1 contains unknown file system “Error”

  • Executing file system check for partition /dev/sdc1
    /dev/sdc1 contains unknown file system “Error”

  • Executing file system check for partition /dev/sdd1
    /dev/sdd1 contains unknown file system “Error”

  • Repairing missing initrd modules… “Failed”
    Repair was not successful.

  • Checking boot loader configuration “Error”
    Repair was not successful

  • Checking boot loader configuration “Error”
    file…
    Boot loader configuration file contains errors

  • Repairing boot loader “Failed”
    configuration…
    Repair not successful

[COLOR="#FF0000"]This message appeared during the install process.[/COLOR]

  • Error occurred while installing Grub

Running “embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (HD0.1)”…failed (this is not fatal)
Running “embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (HD0.1)”…failed (this is not fatal)
Running “install --force-lba --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0.1) /boot/grub/stage2 p /boot/grub/menu.lst”… failed

Error 6: Mismatched or corrupt version of stage1/stage2
grub> quit

I tried selecting the fail safe version but it would not correct the issue.

If you could share any insight that would be great.

Thanks.

8

Hi
During install you need to add the driver from the HP Proliant iso images as well?

Can you confirm the model, I only see gen9/10 systems…?
https://drivers.suse.com/hpe/

The G7 is only for SLES 11 SP1?
https://drivers.suse.com/hpe/HPE-ProLiant-G7/sle11-sp1-x86_64/

Do you have any HP support iso images available?

9

[QUOTE=malcolmlewis;59267]Hi
During install you need to add the driver from the HP Proliant iso images as well?

Can you confirm the model, I only see gen9/10 systems…?
https://drivers.suse.com/hpe/

The G7 is only for SLES 11 SP1?
https://drivers.suse.com/hpe/HPE-ProLiant-G7/sle11-sp1-x86_64/

Do you have any HP support iso images available?[/QUOTE]

Malcolm,

I see a RAID Controller Driver for the PCI Embedded HP Smart Array B110i SATA RAID Controller.
https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX-92be2f8cbc484536938dea96a9#tab2

The instructions tell me to copy the driver image to a floppy drive and insert it but that is not possible. You suggested that I can add the driver image to the ISO before I burn to disk right?

I have tried burning a copy of the SLES 11 SP1 ISO image to DVD and it would not boot up. I am not sure if I am missing some type of boot file or autorun on the DVD that will detect it as a boot file.

Will download the RAID driver image for the RAID Controller and let you know if I can add it to the ISO image. You also mentioned that SLES 11 SP4 will not work with my server HP Proliant ML110 G7 right? So I will not to load the driver on the SP1 version.

The part where you provided a link to the G7 SLES 11 SP1 is that a stand alone ISO for loading SLES 11 SP1 with all the drivers to load SUSE and get it on the server?

https://drivers.suse.com/hpe/HPE-ProLiant-G7/sle11-sp1-x86_64/

10

[QUOTE=paco88;59268]Malcolm,

I see a RAID Controller Driver for the PCI Embedded HP Smart Array B110i SATA RAID Controller.
https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX-92be2f8cbc484536938dea96a9#tab2

The instructions tell me to copy the driver image to a floppy drive and insert it but that is not possible. You suggested that I can add the driver image to the ISO before I burn to disk right?

I have tried burning a copy of the SLES 11 SP1 ISO image to DVD and it would not boot up. I am not sure if I am missing some type of boot file or autorun on the DVD that will detect it as a boot file.

Will download the RAID driver image for the RAID Controller and let you know if I can add it to the ISO image. You also mentioned that SLES 11 SP4 will not work with my server HP Proliant ML110 G7 right? So I will not to load the driver on the SP1 version.

The part where you provided a link to the G7 SLES 11 SP1 is that a stand alone ISO for loading SLES 11 SP1 with all the drivers to load SUSE and get it on the server?

https://drivers.suse.com/hpe/HPE-ProLiant-G7/sle11-sp1-x86_64/[/QUOTE]
Hi
Yes the link was the only one I found for you hardware, you should be able to just use a USB device with the driver on it, during the first part of the install at grub, there should be an option to add a driver by browsing to the directory on the USB device.

11

[QUOTE=malcolmlewis;59269]Hi
Yes the link was the only one I found for you hardware, you should be able to just use a USB device with the driver on it, during the first part of the install at grub, there should be an option to add a driver by browsing to the directory on the USB device.[/QUOTE]

Malcolm,
I tried the ISO file provided by SUSE I followed the installation instructions:

https://drivers.suse.com/hpe/HPE-ProLiant-G7/sle11-sp1-x86_64/install-readme.html
installation
Media installation

Download the ISO image above.
Burn it to an empty CD/DVD media.
Start the installation using the new CD/DVD medi, having the standard SUSE Linux Enterprise media at hand or a URL to a network installation server.
If doing a network install, enter the URL of the network install source on the boot command line using the 'install=' option.
If doing installation from optical media the installer will first boot from the driver kit and then ask to insert CD1 of the SUSE Linux Enterprise product.
An updated kernel will be used for installation and installed onto the system.

I assumed that the “insert CD1 of the SUSE Linux Enterprise product” was SLES 11 SP1. I inserted it and it did not recognize it. I am wondering if I am dealing with a not so clean install because it took SLES 11 SP4 and start going on with its load and installing patches and updates but then it rebooted and went back to not being able to do anything again.

I tried loading the the HP Proliant SLE11 SP1 disk and no success. Very frustrating trying to repeat process and see if it will work.

Any other ideas I could try?

12

Hi
How are you setting the disk layout, are you ensuring a /boot (or are you using UEFI) partition exists outside RAID?