Kernel panic error after coping /boot dir!!
 

Hi,

I have 2 machines(same hardware & both are running with Centos 5.3).
Unfortunately one of the servers is not booting up. so i placed the hard disk of this server into the other one.
Then,
i mounted it..was shocked as i didn't find the /boot directory(i dont know why this happened). so i copied the /boot dir of the current server into the hard disk(in which /boot is missing).
i placed the disk back into the machine and started it,
which results in kernel panic error.
Can any one please help me?
& let me know , are there any other parameters that i have to change in order to get this machine work??
I'm ready to post any other further info. if you need.

Thanks :)

You mounted it as what?
When did you mount the external hard drive? Hot plugged?
What file systems you used with the additional drive? and the the one running?


This is where a little problem becomes a big real problem. You should have not altered anything on the "guest" harddrive. If two machines are of same 'brands' they might be similar to you, but they are not mathematically "equal", much to the kernel.


What else do you expect? That's the result of altering root files and having fed to the /proc and /sys something that the /boot and /var did not expect. I might favor divorce but I always give due respect to the marriage between machine and operating system after solemnizing the installation: either of the two panics before any hint of surprise.

Do not boot the guest hard drive yet. Plug it again as an external storage to a running system. Find out what root directories are missing. Run 'fsck' without 'a' nor 'p' switch. If the file system is corrected fill it up with the missing root files. rsync or tar it from your back ups (you certainly have back ups, right?). Then try boot it to its own native machine (do not boot it as a swapped to another machine.) You may need to reconfigure few things from the boot loader.

Hope that helps.

Good luck.