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Old 10-07-2010, 04:48 PM   #1
SaintDanBert
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can't move drive to identical laptop


NOTE - "Similar Threads" did not help me with this.

I have two identical laptops. One has an installed Ubuntu and parts that I want to use. The box itself is all beat up. The other box is newer but has a stale edition of linux. (Stale software means "seldom used.") I thought to be clever I would pull drive-A from box-A and install it into box-B. Likewise, I would install drive-B into box-A. This will leave my clunky software on my battered box and my newer software on the newer box.

Mechanically it works (doh!). However, neither box will see the network. When I look at the logs, I find a "rename wlan0 to wlan1" entry among others. If I put the drives back into their original box, all works correctly.

What could be going on that I cannot move the drives and have things just boot and run?

I thought that system start would detect the installed hardware, load the required drivers and all is right with the world. The "rename" log entry suggests that the old hardware details are somehow in the way of the new hardware discovery and configuration.

Is there some command I need to use or utility that I ought to run that says, "rediscover my hardware" or similar?

I already know how to use clonezilla and other ways to duplicate a drive contents to a second drive. (Note to reader: laptop drive to usb drive clonezilla takes quite some amount of time.)

Another reason that this is important lies in the ability to move a drive from in-use but failed hardware to stand-by working hardware in a fail soft recovery situation. I know that win-doze knows about the installed hardware and demands a re-install or "repair" to the alternate box... but this is linux not win-doze.

Merci d'avance,
~~~ 0;-Dan
 
Old 10-07-2010, 05:02 PM   #2
Soadyheid
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Quote:
I find a "rename wlan0 to wlan1" entry among others.
The disks may be swapped but the network cards will have different MAC addresses hence the appearance of wlan1.

Try running "ifconfig" in a terminal to get something like: ("iwconfig" for wireless)
Code:
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:13:d3:ec:00:99  
          inet addr:192.168.1.3  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::213:d3ff:feec:99/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:20770 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:13628 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:25693182 (25.6 MB)  TX bytes:1583463 (1.5 MB)
          Interrupt:23 Base address:0x2000
OK! OK! I'm writing this on a wired box but the WiFi entry will be similar.
Swap the disk into the other system and try again.
I'd reckon you're probably set for DHCP so should just get an IP dished out to you but there may be a network config file which is no longer valid in the other machine. Nope, I don't know what it would be... I'm into concepts, don't bother me with details!
Might be somewhere to start looking?

Play Bonny!

Last edited by Soadyheid; 10-07-2010 at 05:06 PM. Reason: addition
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 10-07-2010, 05:33 PM   #3
eSelix
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You can try find "wlan1" in file /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules and rename it to "wlan0" and then restart. Maybe it help, but network also depends on other things.
 
Old 10-07-2010, 05:43 PM   #4
SaintDanBert
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Soadyheid View Post
The disks may be swapped but the network cards will have different MAC addresses hence the appearance of wlan1.
When I move to the other machine, the wifi devices do not seem to exist at the command line. Specifically, the radio on-off LED is OFF. With the radio OFF, no wonder it did not properly detect and configure. Both laptops have the Intel 4965 AGN wireless card.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Soadyheid View Post
Play Bonny!
You've helped me before...
... is Bonny your daughter or cat

Cheers,
~~~ 0;-Dan
 
Old 10-08-2010, 11:54 AM   #5
Soadyheid
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Quote:
You've helped me before...
... is Bonny your daughter or cat
Nope. "Play Bonny" is just a wee Scots phrase meaning "Have fun"

So, Er... Play Bonny!

Oh! Forgot to ask, have you managed to get your wireless enabled before and after you swap the disks? If so, does it fix the problem?

Last edited by Soadyheid; 10-08-2010 at 12:00 PM. Reason: Addendum
 
Old 10-08-2010, 02:31 PM   #6
SaintDanBert
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Soadyheid View Post
...
Oh! Forgot to ask, have you managed to get your wireless enabled before and after you swap the disks? If so, does it fix the problem?
Nope?! The radio is on and works with disk-A in box-A etc. However with disk-A in box-B the radio is off. I've no idea why or what to do.
I've not played with net config from the command line and
all of the gooey tools fail to see any wifi to configure. This fail
is likely due to the "radio off" issue that I cannae find how to
turn on manually.
 
Old 10-09-2010, 03:08 PM   #7
Soadyheid
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Quote:
I have two identical laptops.
So what make/model are they? Are the BIOS versions identical? You mention one is "newer" I'm looking for hardware/firmware differences - different tack, might as well ask before diving into config files!

Play Bonny Y'All!
 
Old 10-17-2010, 02:07 PM   #8
SaintDanBert
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Soadyheid View Post
So what make/model are they? Are the BIOS versions identical? You mention one is "newer" I'm looking for hardware/firmware differences - different tack, might as well ask before diving into config files!

Play Bonny Y'All!
Are these details something that
Code:
diff dmidecode1.log dmidecode2.log
or similar would reveal?

Is some other "report" and diff more helpful?
~~~ 0;-Dan
 
Old 10-17-2010, 04:23 PM   #9
Soadyheid
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I was thinking more about checking within the BIOS of each machine.

Play Bonny!
 
Old 10-17-2010, 07:38 PM   #10
SaintDanBert
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According to the man page:
man dmidecode

dmidecode is a tool for dumping a computer's DMI (some say SMBIOS) table contents in a human-read‐able format. This table contains a description of the system's hardware components, as well as other useful pieces of information such as serial numbers and BIOS revision. Thanks to this table, you can retrieve this information without having to probe for the actual hardware. While this is a good point in terms of report speed and safeness, this also makes the presented information pos‐sibly unreliable.

The DMI table doesn't only describe what the system is currently made of, it also can report the possible evolutions (such as the fastest supported CPU or the maximal amount of memory supported).

SMBIOS stands for System Management BIOS, while DMI stands for Desktop Management Interface. Both standards are tightly related and developed by the DMTF (Desktop Management Task Force).
Here is what I see:
Code:
# dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.4 present.
63 structures occupying 2135 bytes.
Table at 0x000E0010.

Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes
BIOS Information
        Vendor: LENOVO
        Version: 7SET38WW (1.24 )
        Release Date: 10/12/2009
        Address: 0xE0000
        Runtime Size: 128 kB
        ROM Size: 4096 kB
        Characteristics:
                PCI is supported
                PC Card (PCMCIA) is supported
                PNP is supported
                BIOS is upgradeable
                BIOS shadowing is allowed
                ESCD support is available
                Boot from CD is supported
                Selectable boot is supported
                BIOS ROM is socketed
                EDD is supported
                ACPI is supported
                USB legacy is supported
                BIOS boot specification is supported
                Targeted content distribution is supported
        BIOS Revision: 1.36
        Firmware Revision: 1.2

Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes
System Information
        Manufacturer: LENOVO
        Product Name: 7764CTO
        Version: ThinkPad X61 Tablet
        Serial Number: LVB7FTC
        UUID: 845DFFE0-5A59-11DD-9FB5-8D95167B8B79
        Wake-up Type: Power Switch
        SKU Number: Not Specified
        Family: ThinkPad X61 Tablet

Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 8 bytes
Base Board Information
        Manufacturer: LENOVO
        Product Name: 7764CTO
        Version: Not Available
        Serial Number: 1ZF3S87J2ZT

Handle 0x0003, DMI type 3, 13 bytes
Chassis Information
        Manufacturer: LENOVO
        Type: Notebook
        Lock: Not Present
        Version: Not Available
        Serial Number: Not Available
        Asset Tag: No Asset Information
        Boot-up State: Unknown
        Power Supply State: Unknown
        Thermal State: Unknown
        Security Status: Unknown

Handle 0x0004, DMI type 126, 13 bytes
Inactive

Handle 0x0005, DMI type 126, 13 bytes
Inactive

Handle 0x0006, DMI type 4, 35 bytes
Processor Information
        Socket Designation: None
        Type: Central Processor
        Family: Other
        Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
        ID: FB 06 00 00 FF FB EB BF
        Version: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     L7500  @ 1.60GHz
        Voltage: 1.1 V
        External Clock: 200 MHz
        Max Speed: 1600 MHz
        Current Speed: 1600 MHz
        Status: Populated, Enabled
        Upgrade: None
        L1 Cache Handle: 0x000A
        L2 Cache Handle: 0x000C
        L3 Cache Handle: Not Provided
        Serial Number: Not Specified
        Asset Tag: Not Specified
        Part Number: Not Specified

Handle 0x0007, DMI type 5, 20 bytes
Memory Controller Information
        Error Detecting Method: None
        Error Correcting Capabilities:
                None
        Supported Interleave: One-way Interleave
        Current Interleave: One-way Interleave
        Maximum Memory Module Size: 4096 MB
        Maximum Total Memory Size: 8192 MB
        Supported Speeds:
                Other
        Supported Memory Types:
                DIMM
                SDRAM
        Memory Module Voltage: 2.9 V
        Associated Memory Slots: 2
                0x0008
                0x0009
        Enabled Error Correcting Capabilities:
                Unknown

... ad nauseum ...
I'll run on both workstations and report the DIFF shortly.
~~~ 0;-Dan
 
Old 10-18-2010, 08:30 AM   #11
Soadyheid
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Quote:
Are these details something that
Code:

diff dmidecode1.log dmidecode2.log

or similar would reveal?

Apologies, I didn't do enough research on the above, I'll be interested in seeing what differences, if any, you have between the machines.

Play Bonny!
 
Old 10-19-2010, 01:51 PM   #12
SaintDanBert
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Here are some difference details between my two laptops -- both are Lenovo Thinkpad X61-tablets identified as 7764-CTO.

Code:
prompt$ diff sysinfo_1.log sysinfo_2.log

1c1difference reason is obvious
< System information report, generated by Sysinfo: 10/19/2010 1:15:09 PM
---
> System information report, generated by Sysinfo: 10/19/2010 1:04:27 PM
10,11c10,11difference reason is obvious
<       Hostname: mumbles
<       Uptime: 1 days 17 h 49 min
---
>       Hostname: mordac
>       Uptime: 0 days 0 h 5 min
17,18c17,18slightly different CPU
<       Numbering: family(6) model(15) stepping(11)
<       Bogomips: 3192.31
---
>       Numbering: family(6) model(15) stepping(10)
>       Bogomips: 3192.11
22,23c22,23slightly different RAM
<       Total memory: 3949 MB
<       Total swap: 3906 MB
---
>       Total memory: 1972 MB
>       Total swap: 4097 MB
25a26,28one box had docked DVD drive
>       SCSI device -  scsi0
>               Vendor:  HL-DT-ST 
>               Model:  DVDRAM GSA-U10N  
28,29c31,32different physical HDD
<               Model:  Hitachi HTS72505 
<       SCSI device -  scsi6
---
>               Model:  ST9320325AS      
>       SCSI device -  scsi5
In my haste to report, I forgot about the docking station. Sorry!
Notice that these differences are so minor as to be meaningless.

I ran a second comparison with these results:
Code:
prompt$ diff dmidecode_1.log  dmidecode_2.log

37,38c37,38difference reason is obvious
<       Serial Number: LVB7FTC
<       UUID: 845DFFE0-5A59-11DD-9FB5-8D95167B8B79
---
>       Serial Number: LVB7531
>       UUID: 547E4B40-DA25-11DC-B262-C082D7C46A0B
48c48difference reason is obvious
<       Serial Number: 1ZF3S87J2ZT
---
>       Serial Number: 1ZDXD81R2KG
75c75different physical processor identifier
<       ID: FB 06 00 00 FF FB EB BF
---
>       ID: FA 06 00 00 FF FB EB BF
117,118c117,118different RAM capacity
<       Installed Size: 2048 MB (Double-bank Connection)
<       Enabled Size: 2048 MB (Double-bank Connection)
---
>       Installed Size: 1024 MB (Double-bank Connection)
>       Enabled Size: 1024 MB (Double-bank Connection)
127,128c127,128
<       Installed Size: 2048 MB (Double-bank Connection)
<       Enabled Size: 2048 MB (Double-bank Connection)
---
>       Installed Size: 1024 MB (Double-bank Connection)
>       Enabled Size: 1024 MB (Double-bank Connection)
298c298embedded IBM security hardware
<       Status: Disabled
---
>       Status: Enabled
320c320system event log
<       Change Token: 0x000000FC
---
>       Change Token: 0x000000FB
341c341different installed RAM
<       Size: 2048 MB
---
>       Size: 1024 MB
360c360
<       Size: 2048 MB
---
>       Size: 1024 MB
386,387c386,387different RAM means different memory range
<       Ending Address: 0x000FFFFFFFF
<       Range Size: 4 GB
---
>       Ending Address: 0x0007FFFFFFF
>       Range Size: 2 GB
394,395c394,395
<       Ending Address: 0x0007FFFFFFF
<       Range Size: 2 GB
---
>       Ending Address: 0x0003FFFFFFF
>       Range Size: 1 GB
402,404c402,404
<       Starting Address: 0x00080000000
<       Ending Address: 0x000FFFFFFFF
<       Range Size: 2 GB
---
>       Starting Address: 0x00040000000
>       Ending Address: 0x0007FFFFFFF
>       Range Size: 1 GB
424,425c424,425different physical battery pack 
<       SBDS Serial Number: 0411
<       SBDS Manufacture Date: 2008-07-09
---
>       SBDS Serial Number: 0282
>       SBDS Manufacture Date: 2008-01-04
different "OEM-specific" data
476c476
<               86 0D 32 00 25 07 08 20 00 00 00 00 00
---
>               86 0D 32 00 13 02 08 20 00 00 00 00 00
481c481
<               86 10 33 00 00 41 54 4D 4C 01 01 00 00 02 01 02
---
>               86 10 33 00 00 41 54 4D 4C 01 01 00 00 03 01 02
524,525c524,525
<               8A 28 3A 00 14 01 01 01 07 01 01 0C 01 01 0C 01
<               01 0C 00 40 42 49 4F 53 20 50 61 73 73 77 6F 72
---
>               8A 28 3A 00 14 01 02 01 40 02 01 40 02 01 40 02
>               01 40 01 40 42 49 4F 53 20 50 61 73 73 77 6F 72
Other than the "IBM Security" widget (which I don't have a clue what it is or does), I don't see any differences that would result in the wholesale rejection of disk_B installed into box_A.

Stumpled,
~~~ 0;-Dan
 
  


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