After Install of ESX 3.5 on an IBM Xseries 3250 server cannot mount root

[Lex_Frost]

I booted off the ESX 3.5 CD and ran through the install with no problems. Upon reboot after the install finsihed I now get "Mounting Root Failed. Dropping into a Basic Mainenance Shell".

Has anyone been able to successfully get ESX 3.5 to run on the IBM x3250 machines? Anyone have any ideas about what is happening?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thank you

Lex Frost

[uslacker99]

Is that a busybox shell? Was this an upgrade or fresh install? Can you try booting into troubleshooting mode and seeing if you run into the same problem? If not, try running:

esxcfg-boot -p;esxcfg-boot -b;esxcfg-boot -r

That might do it.

[san_novice]

I am also facing the same issue with ibm xseries and esx 3.5.

I tried the esxcfg-boot -p; esxcfg-boot -b;esxcfg-boot -r

But still got the same error.

For the time being iam going back to esx 3.0.2 with which the ibm x series is working fine.

[baptista]

I have the same problem on a Dell 6850. I have upgraded and installed on other Dell 2950's and HP 380's without problems. But this 6850 will not take the load, either on upgrade or fresh install.

Robert

[uslacker99]

Please open a case with tech support if you can so that they file a bug.

Thanks

[uslacker99]

Hmmm... How many controllers do you guys have on the hosts? I think I have an idea of what the problem is - my guess is that the second controller driver isn't compiled into the initrd. Can you guys boot into troubleshooting mode?

I think we may need to reverse a couple of entries in the /etc/modules.conf and run the esxcfg commands.

One of you mind trying this? Just the modules for the controller.

[Lex_Frost]

I am willing to try anything at this point as I have 60 ESX servers I need to get running and they are all IBm x3250 machines!!!!!!

Just let me know what I need to do and I will post the results!

Thank you!

[uslacker99]

Please boot into troubleshooting mode and post the /etc/modules.conf and the lspci output. I think that's a good place to start.

[Lex_Frost]

ok I have the module.conf file and the lspci output attached as JPG files to this reply!

Thank you!

[uslacker99]

Interesting. It's loading the SATA controller driver. What kind of hardware is attached to the machine? From the lspci output, it's hard to tell as it shows Unknown device for so many items. Can you upload an lspci and modules.conf output from an identical machine w/ 3.0.2?

Thanks.

[Lex_Frost]

I tried installing 3.0.2 on the same machine but it will not recognize the hard drive controller! So I cannot get it installed as it thinks there are no drives attached!

I will post the hard ware specs for the machine!

[Lex_Frost]

Here is the Data Sheet on the IBM x3250!

[uslacker99]

Datasheet says SATA or SAS. Your lspci output looks like it's SATA. So, I don't know what it's trying to mount sda as ... let's see ... can you send the fdisk -l output as well?

By the way, the X 3250 isn't on the HCL.

[Lex_Frost]

Here is the fdisk -l output. Yes the box is SATA based and I did notice it was not in the HCL but I figured since a few of the upper end servers were it should work, I know it is a bad assumption but this box is not really all that complicated so I figured it should go pretty easy!

Thank you for your help though!

[uslacker99]

Alright ... let's keep going. How about the output of

1) cat /etc/fstab

2) cat /boot/grub/grub.conf

Maybe it's just a simple labeling issue.

[Lex_Frost]

Here are the outputs!

[uslacker99]

Tough one. It looks like the uuids are consistent, so it must be an issue with the initrd. I wouldn't expect debug mode to work. Does it?

What's the output of "lspci -vn | grep 8086"? I want to see if the device is properly assigned a driver.

[Lex_Frost]

Debug mode gives the same error about not being able to mount root.

Here is the output of the lspci command!

[uslacker99]

Weird. It should be calling the ata_piix driver correctly. I don't know what the problem is. Perhaps you can wait to see if 3i will run on the host because I don't think that VMware support will help you. You can open an SR to see if they're willing to file a bug and a feature request for this server to be added to the HCL. If you open a call with IBM, they may be able to leverage that as well.

Good luck. Sorry I was unable to help. If you want to continue hacking / learning about grub, etc, you can try referencing this:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/116768

It may help you - I would try mounting the initrd and seeing if the etc/vmware/devlist file matches up with your lspci output.

[Lex_Frost]

Yes it is a very weird problem since it has no problem mounting root in Troubleshooting mode but the other two modes cannot mount root ... very weird!

Thank you for all your attempts though, I really appreciate it. I am going to try and submit a support issue to VMWare since we have a very large contract with them, maybe that will help "push" them in the correct direction! If anything gets resolved or found out I will post it here so everyone else will have access to the information!