RHEL AS 4 update 4 kernel panics when installing on IBMx3650
 

Hello,

I need to install RHEL AS 4 update 4 on IBM x3650.
I get kernel panic oops message after the boot prompt.

Here is the situation:
1)We are on 4.4 and can not change the OS at this point.

2)IBM says they were successful installing 4.3 - which is older - so I assumed that 4.4 will install too.
groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems/browse_thread/thread/9886685033b4ba91?pli=1

3)Red hat is not showing this installation in their certified installations
hardware.redhat.com/list.cgi?product=Red+Hat+Hardware+Certification&quicksearch=x3650

I tried 4.5 and it worked fine. So I am sure that it is a kernel problem.
The box has the latest BIOS and Firmware from IBM.
I tried providing options to the kernel at install time as IBM suggested but none worked.

Any assistance with this problem is appreciated.

../Al

Hi

This could be a number of things. I had similar issues on a DL380 about 2 years back and it turned out to be the way in which Redhat(e) changed the handling of the drives, so that it pretty much nuked the handling of the fstab file. fstab to the kernel was wrong so it then wouldn't boot. I just fixed the fstab file and tada.

It was to do with changing the handling names from /dev/hda to /dev/sda.

Good luck.

arckane, thanks so much for the feedback.
Where did you fix the fstab?
I get the kernel panic right after I press enter at the boot prompt.
I am installing straight from the OS CDs.

Thanks for the help.
../Al