From: jw@centraltexasit.com
Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2002 3:54 PM
To: Matt_Domsch@dell.com
Subject: Attn PowerEdge users: 8.1 updates

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Matt,

Would you be willing to put this information up in some form on your Linux/Dell page if there's not any similar info yet?
Thanks,

	JW

- -----------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: use this information at your own risk. I can't help it if you 
destroy your system while following any of these instructions. Neither can my 
employer. So be careful.
- - -----------------------------------------------------------------
Howdy,

If, like me, you find that 8.1 will not boot on your Dell PowerEdge server, 
when previous versions of SuSE _do_ boot, you should know the following:

The stock kernel shipped with 8.1 had a few remaining problems with the ACPI 
code. You may find that even the failsafe kernel does not boot.

To boot with the normal kernel ("linux" not "failsafe") pass the kernel the 
following option manually at boot time:

	acpi=off

(you can also try acpi=oldboot)

Once you have booted, go into YaST and in the bootloadconfig, permanently add 
that line to your boot options.

Then, I strongly recommend you update your kernel with the latest k_smp from 
mantel:

ftp://<your_favorite_suse.mirror>/pub/people/mantel/next/RPM/

Don't forget to read the README.

Do not forget to run mk_initrd after upgrading your kernel!
And if you are using lilo, don't forget to run lilo again.

FOR RAID USERS: Now, if you are using RAID, you should know that GRUB (the new 
default bootloader in SuSE 8.1) is incapable of booting a system when /boot 
is inside a RAID drive (hardware or software).

I have been told that YaST is supposed to detect this situation and use lilo 
instead of GRUB, however that did not work for me. So you will have to 
install lilo manually, and use it, if you are using RAID.

Thanks to the SuSE techs & others for their helpful suggestions in 
troubleshooting this problem.

- - -- 

- - ----------------------------------------------------
Jonathan Wilson
System Administrator
Cedar Creek Software     http://www.cedarcreeksoftware.com



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