Thanks for your help. > Here is a screen picture.
Could you upload this to an image paste site or send it along (or use a serial console to get it as text?) http://upplysingaoflun.ecn.purdue.edu/~qobi/20160619_140357.jpg (The other screen picture of a machine (not an R815) that does boot but that takes a really long time to bring up the network is at http://upplysingaoflun.ecn.purdue.edu/~qobi/IMG-20160609-WA0000.jpeg ) > I conjecture that the jessie kernel has difficulty accessing the MD > array on disk. The same problem occurs when I attempt a direct fresh > install of jessie with the installer. Which add-in card are you using on the R815s? I don't believe that I have any add-in cards. The machine was purchased straight from Dell. It has six SATA disks and 4 gigabit ethernet ports. It has four 12-core AMD CPUs and 128GB RAM. The output of lspci on an indentical machin purchased at the same time that is still running wheezy is enclosed below. What does the kernel output while it is detecting the disks and partitions? Do all of the drives show up properly? Are the blocksizes correct for the partitions? I don't know how to get this info when in the initramfs after boot. If you tell me what commands I should give I will redo this exercise. Right now, I have a fresh minimal wheezy reinstalled. But after the reinstall of wheezy, everything works. I did not repartition either during the (re)install of jessie or during the (re)install of wheezy. I go back and forth. The (re)install of wheezy works and the (re)install of jessie does not. When the boot fails, can you read from the underlying block devices? Do the block devices get detected after the boot fails? I don't know what one can do in at the initramfs command prompt. If you give me some commands, I will try them out and post the output. Does specifying delay=20 or similar result in a successful boot? I will try this. I made the dongle > as follows: > > # cd /tmp > # wget http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/dists/jessie/main/installer-amd64/current/images/hd-media/boot.img.gz > # wget http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/8.5.0+nonfree/amd64/iso-cd/firmware-8.5.0-amd64-netinst.iso > # zcat boot.img.gz >/dev/sdf > # mount /dev/sdf /mnt > # cp firmware-8.5.0-amd64-netinst.iso /mnt/. You can actually just cat firmware-8.5.0-amd64-netinst.iso > /dev/sdf; Please see my other post to debian-user subject: how to make bootable live wheezy USB that doesn't use isohybrid One of the exercises I tried was when the machine failed to boot after a fresh USB-install of jessie, I tried to boot a live wheezy from USB by using a USB dongle that I made by catting the isohybrid live wheezy ISO to the USB. But the BIOS failed to detect the USB as bootable. I haven't tried to do that with the netinst ISO but I suspect that it also won't be detected as bootable. But when I build the USB dongle as per above it is detected by the BIOS as bootable. > Every time so far, md1 has all 6 components. But md0 has only some of > the components, sometimes 5/6, sometimes 4/6, and sometimes 1/6. And > every time it is a different set of components. Even though, just a > few minutes earlier, I was running wheezy and md0 had all 6 > components. I do > > mdadm /dev/md0 --add <each of the missing components one by one> > > but it refuses. I forget the error. The error would be useful to know. Most likely one or more of them dropped out of the array for some reason and you're booting off of one which has a lower event count and it won't assemble. But it could be any number of things. The output of mdadm --examine /dev/sd[abcdef]1; when md0 fails to assemble would also be useful. I will try to get this info. It will require me to redo the exercise of a fresh jessie install from USB. I'll have to take and post screen pictures because I have no way to capture the console output. (I guess that I could use iDRAC but I don't know how to and would have to learn.) If you let me know all of the info you would like me to collect, I will try to collect it all in the same retry of the fresh install. But again note, that I do not believe that there are any disk hardware errors. And I do not believe that there are any data errors in the layout of the ext3 file system, the layout of the md0 raid array, or the partition tables. The reason is that after the failed jessie install, I reinstall a fressh wheezy from USB. I don't repartition. And I don't rebuild md1 and don't rebuild /aux. But I do rebuild md0 and / as part of the fresh install. And it works. I have done this over and over, switching between wheezy and jessie, about a half dozen times. Each time, the jessie install leaves a different collection of md0 components out. And each time, as part of the wheezy install, I add them back in. Thanks for your help. Jeff (http://engineering.purdue.edu/~qobi) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- qobi@upplysingaoflun>lspci 00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (external gfx0 port A) (rev 02) 00:02.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port B) 00:03.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port C) 00:04.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port D) 00:09.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port H) 00:11.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [IDE mode] 00:12.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller 00:12.1 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller 00:12.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller 00:13.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller 00:13.1 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller 00:13.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller 00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 3d) 00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller 00:14.4 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge 00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration 00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Address Map 00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller 00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control 00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Link Control 00:19.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration 00:19.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Address Map 00:19.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller 00:19.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control 00:19.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Link Control 00:1a.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration 00:1a.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Address Map 00:1a.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller 00:1a.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control 00:1a.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Link Control 00:1b.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration 00:1b.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Address Map 00:1b.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller 00:1b.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control 00:1b.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Link Control 00:1c.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration 00:1c.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Address Map 00:1c.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller 00:1c.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control 00:1c.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Link Control 00:1d.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration 00:1d.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Address Map 00:1d.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller 00:1d.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control 00:1d.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Link Control 00:1e.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration 00:1e.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Address Map 00:1e.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller 00:1e.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control 00:1e.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Link Control 00:1f.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration 00:1f.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Address Map 00:1f.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller 00:1f.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control 00:1f.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Link Control 01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme II BCM5709 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 20) 01:00.1 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme II BCM5709 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 20) 02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme II BCM5709 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 20) 02:00.1 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme II BCM5709 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 20) 03:00.0 PCI bridge: PLX Technology, Inc. PEX 8624 24-lane, 6-Port PCI Express Gen 2 (5.0 GT/s) Switch [ExpressLane] (rev bb) 04:00.0 PCI bridge: PLX Technology, Inc. PEX 8624 24-lane, 6-Port PCI Express Gen 2 (5.0 GT/s) Switch [ExpressLane] (rev bb) 04:01.0 PCI bridge: PLX Technology, Inc. PEX 8624 24-lane, 6-Port PCI Express Gen 2 (5.0 GT/s) Switch [ExpressLane] (rev bb) 04:04.0 PCI bridge: PLX Technology, Inc. PEX 8624 24-lane, 6-Port PCI Express Gen 2 (5.0 GT/s) Switch [ExpressLane] (rev bb) 04:05.0 PCI bridge: PLX Technology, Inc. PEX 8624 24-lane, 6-Port PCI Express Gen 2 (5.0 GT/s) Switch [ExpressLane] (rev bb) 05:00.0 Serial Attached SCSI controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS2008 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2 [Falcon] (rev 03) 0a:03.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Electronics Systems Ltd. MGA G200eW WPCM450 (rev 0a) 20:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RD890 Northbridge only dual slot (2x8) PCI-e GFX Hydra part (rev 02) 20:02.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port B) 20:03.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port C) 20:0b.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (NB-SB link) qobi@upplysingaoflun>
