[gentoo-amd64] RAID1 boot - no bootable media found

[Mark Knecht <markknecht@gmail.com>]

Hi all,
   Sorry for a bit of cross-posting between gentoo-amd64 and
linux-raid where I first posted this earlier this morning. I figure if
it's a RAID issue they will likely see the problem but if it's a
Gentoo problem (software or documentation) or a BIOS issue then likely
the very best folks in the world are here. Thanks in advance.

   The basic issue is trying to boot from a RAID1 boot partition using
grub-static. Apparently grub itself isn't found. See the link below
for the Gentoo instructions on doing this. Note that I'm SATA-based on
the motherboard where as he had some sort of controller although he is
using software RAID.

   Hopefully the post below is self explanatory but if not ask
questions. Since I made this post I've tried a couple more things:

1) Switching to AHCI in BIOS - no change

2) Documenting drive hook-up on the DX58SO motherboard

P0: drive 1
P1: CD_RW
P2: drive 2
P3: unused
P4: drive 3
P5: unused

3) Documenting codes shown on screen:
a) When Intel logo shows up:
BA
b) After the logo goes away
E7
E7
BA
BA

These appear to be POST codes from this page:

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-025434.htm

BA 	Detecting presence of a removable media (IDE, CD-ROM detection, etc.)
E7 	Waiting for user input

My motherboard is the last in the list at the bottom of the page.

The monitor is slow to display after changes so possibly they are two
identical strings of codes and I only see the last one the first time
through.

Thanks. More info follows below.

- Mark


[PREVIOUSLY POSTED TO LINUX-RAID]

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