I moved my SuperMicro server running CentOS 6.10 from my IT closet, with the intention of getting a new SATA SSD (to replace the existing HDD's) that I will install CentOS 8 onto.
I'm still waiting for the SSD to arrive before doing that, but now my machine won't boot. It gets to Grub, and none of the kernel choices do anything except reboot the computer.
I pressed 'e' to edit the kernel arguments to go to single-user mode by typing "single" after the current arguments. But when I do that, I just get random characters with each keystroke. Even the same key pressed repeatedly gives different characters each time. I haven't figured out any pattern to the character displayed for a given key pressed. (In the attached screenshot, the characters after 'rd_NO_DM' were what I got when I typed 'single'.)
The arrow keys seem to work, but I'm currently unable to enter text. It's weird. I checked the BIOS and didn't see any settings for keyboard languages or types. I use a wired PS2-style keyboard that has worked in the past.
I could upgrade at this point (when the SSD comes) but would prefer to boot up the old CentOS to get a few more configuration information off of it first.
I'm thinking my next move will be to boot using a CentOS install disc in rescue mode.
Any suggestions?
Michael
CentOS 6.10 not getting beyond Grub, and random characters with keystrokes
CentOS 6.10 not getting beyond Grub, and random characters with keystrokes
- Attachments
-
- IMG_6329_small.jpg (103.35 KiB) Viewed 1485 times
Re: CentOS 6.10 not getting beyond Grub, and random characters with keystrokes
Everything about this shouts "hardware". I'd check all your cabling and replug all the things like keyboard.
The future appears to be RHEL or Debian. I think I'm going Debian.
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke
Re: CentOS 6.10 not getting beyond Grub, and random characters with keystrokes
Trevor, it seems you're right about the hardware failure.
It seems that one of my two system hard drives died. That should be OK, because I'm using software RAID 1 on those drives, for both the boot and root partitions. But it didn't boot up.
I was able to successfully use rescue mode on the CentOS 6.10 DVD. I'd seen in the past that the bootloader didn't always get placed onto both drives in a RAID configuration, so my sense is that I may have lost the "wrong" drive. I tried changing one of the Grub parameters from "root (hd1, 0)" to "root (hd0, 0)" and this time it seemed to boot!
At least, part-way. It gave me a filesystem message and took me to a command prompt. Ugh. I need to keep working on this.
Michael
It seems that one of my two system hard drives died. That should be OK, because I'm using software RAID 1 on those drives, for both the boot and root partitions. But it didn't boot up.
I was able to successfully use rescue mode on the CentOS 6.10 DVD. I'd seen in the past that the bootloader didn't always get placed onto both drives in a RAID configuration, so my sense is that I may have lost the "wrong" drive. I tried changing one of the Grub parameters from "root (hd1, 0)" to "root (hd0, 0)" and this time it seemed to boot!
At least, part-way. It gave me a filesystem message and took me to a command prompt. Ugh. I need to keep working on this.
Michael