CentOS sda3 got corrupted(?)

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balat
Posts: 4
Joined: 2020/10/04 09:18:31

CentOS sda3 got corrupted(?)

Post by balat » 2020/10/04 10:02:09

Hi,

I have a Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny.
I have installed CentOS8.2 to one SSD
and CentOS8.1 to one HDD. (CentOS 8.1 net installer seems installing CentOS 8.2 but it fine so far)
At that time I was able to boot from either SSD or HDD.
UNTIL
I have installed the V framework from X company to the HDD

The life is misery from that time :(

Whe trying to boot the HDD, the PC reports "Error 1962: No operating system found..." I guess the code is Lenovo specific, but the message is self explaining.

In CentOS Rescue mode, grub2-probe reports for the HDD:
sda1: fat
sda2: ext2
sda3: "fs.c:120:unknown filesystem..."
(I let CentOS to use default partitioning scheme.)

What is even stranger, the SSD -which had nothing to do with X company's V framework- also got corrupted :o
I got the same no operating system found upon boot up, and the same partition probe report.

My first suspect is still X company's V framework but it must have screwed up something in the BIOS to kill the SSD as it was detached during the play with the HDD !?
Meanwhile BIOS settings seem to be just fine.
Both drives' ID is detected correctly in BIOS so I don't think there is any hardware error. sda1, sda2 of both drives can be mounted and accessed.

Well, it was not much trouble to reinstall both disks but I do not like such issues unresolved :oops:

Any suggestions?
Especially for fixing the "sda3: fs.c:120:unknown filesystem..." issue - finally it is a CentOS forum ;)

Best regards
balat

mathog
Posts: 258
Joined: 2008/07/09 23:52:06

Re: CentOS sda3 got corrupted(?)

Post by mathog » 2020/10/04 17:43:03

Clear the BIOS and reset it to all default values? Maybe then the SSD will be found at boot.

As for sda3, it sure looks like something wrote over it. At this point it comes down to "is there data on it that I really need"? If not, then wipe it and start over, then you won't have to worry that your repairs will have missed something. If you do need data off of it, dd copy the partition to some other storage medium before attempting to repair it.


It is possible that the installation was a red herring and the disk just decided to go south at that time. So you should also examine that disk's SMART status, ie from the rescue disk:

Code: Select all

smartctl -t long /dev/sda
#wait however long it says you should
smartctl -a /dev/sda

If SMART is OK, then whatever product that was which you tried to install I suggest you just walk away now and find an alternative.

(Your story brings back vague recollections of a Windows for Alpha product which supposedly wrote a "harmless signature" on all the disks on a system. Except it was not actually harmless, it would trash the VMS filesystem located there.)

balat
Posts: 4
Joined: 2020/10/04 09:18:31

Re: CentOS sda3 got corrupted(?)

Post by balat » 2020/10/05 06:19:57

Thanks, I'll try smartctl.
Could you tell please what the default partition type of sda3 set by the official installer?
Possibly, could you suggest a repair tool?

Thanks a lot
balat

balat
Posts: 4
Joined: 2020/10/04 09:18:31

Re: CentOS sda3 got corrupted(?)

Post by balat » 2020/10/05 06:49:52

Well, just to think together...
"Error 1962: No operating system found..."
Means that BIOS can not find bootable media - right?
But sda1 is there with the boot partition!? Isn't that weird?

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TrevorH
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Re: CentOS sda3 got corrupted(?)

Post by TrevorH » 2020/10/05 07:00:48

I suspect that grub being unable to understand the filesystem on /dev/sda3 is a red herring. That's almost certainly a partition that contains an LVM Physical Volume which is part of a Volume Group that contains the LVs the system is using.

Boot the install media in rescue mode and runu vgchange -ay then run the commands pvs, vgs and lvs to see if that is the case.
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

mathog
Posts: 258
Joined: 2008/07/09 23:52:06

Re: CentOS sda3 got corrupted(?)

Post by mathog » 2020/10/05 20:45:14

balat wrote:
2020/10/05 06:49:52
Well, just to think together...
"Error 1962: No operating system found..."
Means that BIOS can not find bootable media - right?
But sda1 is there with the boot partition!? Isn't that weird?
Even stranger, look at the file system types

Code: Select all

sda1: fat
sda2: ext2
sda3: "fs.c:120:unknown filesystem..."
There was no mention of Windows (or heaven forbid, DOS) on this system, so why is sda1 a fat filesystem? In 2020, why ext2 and not ext3 or ext4? Makes me think the partition table may be corrupted. Either that or those sections of the partition table are left over from a long, long time ago.

mathog
Posts: 258
Joined: 2008/07/09 23:52:06

Re: CentOS sda3 got corrupted(?)

Post by mathog » 2020/10/05 20:49:58

TrevorH wrote:
2020/10/05 07:00:48
I suspect that grub being unable to understand the filesystem on /dev/sda3 is a red herring. That's almost certainly a partition that contains an LVM Physical Volume which is part of a Volume Group that contains the LVs the system is using.

Boot the install media in rescue mode and runu vgchange -ay then run the commands pvs, vgs and lvs to see if that is the case.
Or use Knoppix or other similar live CD/DVD. Most of the commands needed to fix the problem will be on the CentOS rescue media but it isn't always immediately apparent when encountering a new problem which tool to use and with what options. Especially when this sort of thing happens on the only computer available at that location, in which case being able to run a browser on the stricken machine is a big help.

balat
Posts: 4
Joined: 2020/10/04 09:18:31

Re: CentOS sda3 got corrupted(?)

Post by balat » 2020/10/06 04:07:10

The good enlightening idea was
[sda3] almost certainly a partition that contains an LVM Physical Volume
...
run vgchange -ay then run the commands pvs, vgs and lvs to see if that is the case
Now I'm sure the partitions are OK, "just" the BIOS can not find how to boot. (Indeed, strange as "everything was working until yesterday")
I was not able to find the "right" BIOS settings (there are plenty combinations of SATA modes, compatibility settings, boot mode settings), so I'll try to reinstall GRUB.

Please feel free to mark the topic as Solved and edit the title as "BIOS setting's corruption"

You've helped me a lot.
I would like to invite you for a pizza - if you don't mind :)
Please send me your preference in a private message!
(It is a guerilla project on my side, so -unfortunately- I can not offer any more generous reward at the moment :oops: )

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