Issues setting up Linux RAID on Mandriva, "99" repeats continually on boot.

williamp0044 · 06-14-2006, 09:57 AM

I have 4 drives connected to a Rocket 464 RAID Card. I tried to install Madriva and formatted the drives as such:

There are 4 drives, hdi, hdj, hdk, and hdl.
/boot hdi1 -ext3
swap hdi5
/ md0{hdi6 + hdj1 + hdk1 + hdl1} -Linux RAID (Level: 5, Block Size:64MB)

The Madriva install appeared to go without any problems, then when it was finished and I restarted the computer. When the bios booted from the hard drive, all that came up was a half screen with "99" repeated. It doesn't boot and doesn't do anything further.

How can I fix this problem or Are there any other distros out there that I can setup my hard drives with RAID 5?

kilgoretrout · 06-14-2006, 12:59 PM

That error is being reported by the bootloader, lilo, which is used by default in mandriva. Here's what man lilo says:

Quote:

Errors 99 and 9A usually mean the map file (-m or map=) is not readable, likely because LILO was not re-run after some system change, or there is a geometry mis-match between what LILO used (lilo -v3 to display) and what is actually being used by the BIOS (one of the lilo diagnostic disks, available in the source distribution, may be needed to diagnose this problem).

You can try rewriting lilo to the mbr. To do so, boot with the install cd-1 and hit F1 as soon as you see the first boot screen from mandriva. That will take you to a command prompt at which you should type "rescue" w/o quotes. That will take you to the rescue mode menu. Select the option to rewrite lilo to the mbr. Reboot and see if it works.
If not, the next thing I would try is redoing the install and this time when you get to the bootloader part, select grub instead of lilo. Grub is a more modern bootloader and may have fewer problems with your raid setup.

williamp0044 · 06-15-2006, 10:55 AM

I tried to fix lilo but nothing worked. When i did grub-install it told me it was already isntalled.

kilgoretrout · 06-15-2006, 12:38 PM

You probably did an "update" install; that won't rewrite the bootloader or let you access the bootloader selection screen. You have to do a complete, new install to get to the bootloader selection screen IIRC.

cjt757 · 12-16-2006, 10:43 AM

I have a IBM notebook with Xandros and Windows (dual boot), after a Windows security patch I got all 99 99 99 99 on the screen. I reinstalled Xandros (take about 5 minutes--insainly fast) on top of itself and I was back in business. Thanks, CT.

bratwiz · 03-24-2009, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by williamp0044

I have 4 drives connected to a Rocket 464 RAID Card. I tried to install Madriva and formatted the drives as such:

There are 4 drives, hdi, hdj, hdk, and hdl.
/boot hdi1 -ext3
swap hdi5
/ md0{hdi6 + hdj1 + hdk1 + hdl1} -Linux RAID (Level: 5, Block Size:64MB)

The Madriva install appeared to go without any problems, then when it was finished and I restarted the computer. When the bios booted from the hard drive, all that came up was a half screen with "99" repeated. It doesn't boot and doesn't do anything further.

How can I fix this problem or Are there any other distros out there that I can setup my hard drives with RAID 5?

I know this is a bit late to be responding to this post-- but I've had the same problem even on more recent installs (2009 timeframe). Here's a tip to help resolve the install issue-- when you're doing a Mandriva install with RAID volumes and you get to the part where it asks you to install the bootloader-- SKIP IT-- you will have another chance to install it from the SUMMARY SCREEN at the end of the install-- that install will work fine for some reason and you will be able to reboot without issue.