Hi all,

new to this ML but quite not to Linux ...

I'm trying to install SuSE Linux 9.1 Pro on a HP Proliant Ml350 (bios D14 09/15/2004) with Raid5 Smart Array 642 (Firmware 1.92) and have one big problem ...

First I notice that, although this hardware is Certified to work with SLES9, and thus with potentialy any 2.6.5 linux, it can't boot properly with the bios default settings for Linux! (one can select OS in the bios ...) You have to force MPS table to "Full Table APIC" as the "Auto Set Table" setting never worked. :-(

I can install SuSE Linux Pro 9.1 (or SLES9, ther is quite NO differences between the two kernel ... ) quite easily, update it easily ... and everything works fine ... untill I shutdown and power off the system : I NEVER know if it will boot properly or not the next time I turn it On !!!

I randomly get two problems on boot (no matter I use Grub or Lilo, / on "regular partition or LVM) :

- Most of the tilme a blank screen, no ctrl-alt-del working ... (looks like crc error before anything is loaded )
- from time to time, initial boot image load, then I get:
...
crc error
VFS : Cannot open root device "6801" or unknown block(104,1)
Please append ...

Has anyone had a similar problem with any raid controller from HP/Compaq using cciss module ?

Hi All,

I reply to myself as it may help someone ...

the problem seems to have been solved by the replacement of the Raid Controler ...

I can't tell if the one causing problems was "hardware damaged" as the new one has a higher firmware revision (2.26 instead of 1.92); I haven't been able to upgrade the previous with this revision code as HP only allow the upgrade for specific hosts (not proliant servers!)

Anyway, if you encounter the same problems, don't waste your time and have your reseller change or upgrade the Smart Array 642 board.

Have a nice day ;-)

I'm running the same hardware. You have to turn of acpi and apci in the kernel parameters.

Hi,
The only thing that was important for Me to make this hardware boot SuSE 9.1 was to force full apic table instead of the auto mode set by default in the bios otherwise even the installation DVD whon't boot.
I haven't looked at the acpi for now as it wasn't installed during initial setup but who cares about that on a server ;-)

Which version are you running?

I'm running the standrard 9.0. I've got a large mix of HP/Compaq hardware from the DL and ML series.

... maybe the apic support was improved in 2.6.x kernels

I plan to run Postfix, Apache 2 and MySQL for webmail, groupware ... and Samba

The "Fun" is to install hp/compaq management tools for SLES9 on an ftp version of 9.1 pro ;-)
Managed to do this before/when I had problems with Raid controler ... so I have to do it twice ; will make a doc on this ...

guess that with lots of servers, they are more "dedicated"