Re: Re: showstopper for debian-7.1.0-powerpc-netinst.iso on POWER5 (p505) and iscsi disk

....
[    0.504591] Initializing network drop monitor service
[    0.504850] List of all partitions:
[    0.504859] No filesystem could mount root, tried:
[    0.504873] Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unkno                            wn-block(0,0)
[    0.504883] Call Trace:
[    0.504895] [c00000007e47fc30] [c0000000000134e0] .show_stack+0x80/0x130 (unr                            eliable)
[    0.504912] [c00000007e47fce0] [c0000000004b9054] .panic+0x88/0x204
[    0.504927] [c00000007e47fd80] [c000000000676f3c] .mount_block_root+0x2b0/0x2                            c8
[    0.504953] [c00000007e47fe50] [c000000000677140] .prepare_namespace+0x170/0x                            1b0
[    0.504968] [c00000007e47fee0] [c000000000676b14] .kernel_init+0x204/0x20c
[    0.504982] [c00000007e47ff90] [c00000000001ca0c] .kernel_thread+0x54/0x70
[    0.510270] Rebooting in 180 seconds..EPOW <0x64400400000006c 0x0 0x0>

As the initial "complaint" seems to be solved for netinst, going to try DVD install (and see if I can look at the current yaboot.conf, etc.. to figure out what is going wrong.

One thing I noticed, that is a surprise is:
[    0.000000] Using 1TB segments
As I do not think my model support 1TB segments

but later may be okay as:
[    0.469005] HugeTLB registered 16 MB page size, pre-allocated 0 pages
[    0.469021] HugeTLB registered 16 GB page size, pre-allocated 0 pages

Anyway, a lot to learn.

Thanks to whoever for fixing the yaboot installation error (or did I fix it by having done an install with 6.0.7 - question: should I zero out the disk and try a netinst again?)

On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 4:00 PM, Lennart Sorensen <lsorense@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:

On Thu, Aug 08, 2013 at 06:59:01PM +0800, Michael Felt wrote:
> Well, I tried the install again. ANd made a small change. The previous
> attempt was using a logical volume as the data area exported to the
> partition as hdisk0. I'll repeat that later - as a test. However, when
> installing to an iscsi disk (exported via vscsi to client, so iscsi mounted
> by the VIOS - I do this regularly for AIX installs).
> I get a disk partiton proposal that I expect:
>
>
> +-------------------------¦ [!] Partition disks
> +-------------------------+
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦ Selected for partitioning:
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦ SCSI1 (0,1,0) (sda) - AIX VDASD: 12.9 GB
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦ The disk can be partitioned using one of several different schemes.
> ¦
> ¦ If you are unsure, choose the first one.
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦ Partitioning scheme:
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦ All files in one partition (recommended for new users)
> ¦
> ¦ Separate /home partition
> ¦
> ¦ Separate /home, /usr, /var, and /tmp partitions
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦ <Go Back>
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦
>
> +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
>
> This is with an iscsi disk being presented via vscsi interface
>
>
> +------------------------¦ [!!] Partition disks
> +-------------------------+
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦ This is an overview of your currently configured partitions and mount
> ¦
> ¦ points. Select a partition to modify its settings (file system, mount
> ¦
> ¦ point, etc.), a free space to create partitions, or a device to
> ¦
> ¦ initialize its partition table.
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦ Configure the Logical Volume Manager
> ¦
> ¦ Configure encrypted volumes ¦
> ¦
> ¦ ¦
> ¦
> ¦ SCSI1 (0,1,0) (sda) - 12.9 GB AIX VDASD ¦
> ¦
> ¦ > #1 primary 7.3 MB B K ¦
> ¦
> ¦ > #2 primary 12.3 GB f ext4 / ¦
> ¦
> ¦ > #5 logical 591.4 MB f swap swap ¦
> ¦
> ¦ ¦
> ¦
> ¦ Undo changes to partitions
> ¦
> ¦ Finish partitioning and write changes to disk
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦ <Go Back>
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦
>
> +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
>
> But, in the end, install fails - no recognizable boot partition.
>
>
>
> However, when studying what was made - the partitioner seems to know what
> is about:
>
> +------------------------¦ [!!] Partition disks
> +-------------------------+
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦ You are editing partition #1 of SCSI1 (0,1,0) (sda). No existing file
> ¦
> ¦ system was detected in this partition.
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦ Partition settings:
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦ Use as: PowerPC PReP boot partition
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦ Bootable flag: on
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦ Copy data from another partition
> ¦
> ¦ Erase data on this partition
> ¦
> ¦ Delete the partition
> ¦
> ¦ Done setting up the partition
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦ <Go Back>
> ¦
> ¦
> ¦
>
> +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
>
>
> So, is this a bug - in what, and if so, where do I submit my findings?

Good question. Certainly a PReP boot partition of about 8MB is exactly
what you want on an IBM powerpc machine.

--
Len Sorensen