Re: New RAID1 machine "No bootable media"

[Mark Knecht <markknecht@gmail.com>]

Sorry for top-posting.

If it matters these are 4K sector drives. WD10EARS. Seems like I've
seen some threads about boot loaders, etc., not that I understood
them. I have booted these drives in non-RAID machines though.

- Mark

On Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 8:12 AM, Mark Knecht <markknecht@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>   I brought up new hardware yesterday for my first RAID install. I
> followed this Gentoo page describing a software RAID1/LVM install:
>
> http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-x86+raid+lvm2-quickinstall.xml
>
>   Note that I followed this page verbatim, even if it wasn't what I
> wanted, with exceptions:
>
> a) My RAID1 is 3 drives instead of 2
> b) I'm AMD64 Gentoo based.
> c) I used grub-static
>
>  I did this install mostly just to get a first-hand feel for how to
> do a RAID install and to try out some of the mdadm commands for real.
> My intention was to blow away the install if I didn't like it and do
> it again for real once I started to get a clearer picture about how
> things worked. For instance, this set of instructions used RAID1 on
> the /boot directory which I wasn't sure about.
>
>   NOTE: THIS INSTALL PUTS EVERYTHING ON RAID1. (/, /boot, everything)
> I didn't start out thinking I wanted to do that.
>
>   So, the first problem is that on the reboot to see if the install
> worked the Intel BIOS reports 'no bootable media found'. I am very
> unclear how any system boots software RAID1 before software is loaded,
> assuming I understand the Gentoo instructions. The instructions I used
> to install grub where
>
> root (hd0,0)
> setup (hd0)
> root (hd1,0)
> setup (hd1)
> root (hd2,0)
> setup (hd2)
>
> but the system finds nothing to boot from. to me this sounds like BIOS
> so looking around I'm currently set up for compatibility but would
> think that switching to AHCI support would be a better long term
> solution. Any chance this setting is the root cause?
>
>   I can boot from CD and assemble the /boot RAID
>
> livecd ~ # cat /proc/mdstat
> Personalities : [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10]
> unused devices: <none>
> livecd ~ # mdadm --assemble /dev/md1 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1
> mdadm: /dev/md1 has been started with 3 drives.
> livecd ~ # cat /proc/mdstat
> Personalities : [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10]
> md1 : active raid1 sda1[0] sdc1[2] sdb1[1]
>      112320 blocks [3/3] [UUU]
>
> unused devices: <none>
> livecd ~ # mdadm --misc --stop /dev/md1
> mdadm: stopped /dev/md1
> livecd ~ # cat /proc/mdstat
> Personalities : [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10]
> unused devices: <none>
> livecd ~ #
>
>
> Everything I expect to see on /boot seems to be there when using ls.
>
>   Note that one possible clue - when the Intel BIOS screen first
> comes up I see some hex digits flashing around in the lower right.
> I've not seen this before on other machines and I beleive the
> motherboard (DX58SO) does support some sort of RAID in hardware so
> maybe there's confusion there? I've not selected RAID in BIOS but
> possible it's trying to be too clever?
>
>   Let me know what other info might be needed. I have concerns about
> this install and will likely blow it away today and do a new one but I
> figured maybe there's an opportunity to learn here before I do that.
>
> Cheers,
> Mark
>
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