[BlueOnyx:10777] Re: Blue Onyx 5106R Crash

[Bill Hicks]

> One of my BX servers crashed last night and when it restarted it says 
> there
> is no OS found. Is there a rescue mode for this server, tehre are only a 
> few
> sites I need to get off of there but they are all mysql so I need to
> hopefully get the mysql databases.
>
> BTW Michael this is the same sarve you looked at for me a few months ago
> that "forgot" all the user passwords. I had put in a new HD and 
> reinstalled
> everything thinking it was a bad HD, it appears that was not the issue.
>
> Bill Hicks

I found the Rescue mode, the partition table was destroyed so it appears 
there is no restoring from it. Maybe you learned souls out there could tell 
me does this sound like just bad luck with this server or an HD issue:

1. It is a SuperMicro 2U with Quad processors with 3 GB of ram. It 
originally had a 20gb drive (this is one of 6 that I have all with the same 
specs)
2. Back in February when adding a new site via the gui it reset itself and 
from that point forward you could not log in via the gui - it believed it 
was an initial install. It seemed to narrow down to the passwords getting 
currupted. You could log in via ssh. http, php and mysql was still running 
on the server.
3. I backed up all the sites (was only 3) and replaced the 20gb with a new 
80gb hd. Reinstalled 5106r, did all the updates and rebuilt the sites on 
March 1st.
4. It has been running fine for the past 2 1/2 months, doing updates running 
sites etc.
5. Today I get my notices that 5 servers have updated but this one didn't so 
I go to log in via the gui and get a blank screen, in the address bar I see 
it was redirecting me to intro.html (seen this before)
6. I log in via ssh to see if maybe it is loocked up on the update or 
experiencing a DOS. When I get in and su to root I do a "top" to see what is 
happening and I get "Bus Error". Wow never seen that before.
7. I do a /sbin/shutdown -r now to reboot, system stops in ssh. Still able 
to get websites on it and I am still getting the same emails when I check 
the mail (same email over and over again). I try ssh again, wont let me in, 
after giving password it just stops. If I try ssh under a user that doesnt 
have access I get access deined so somethign is working.
8. When I get to office I try ftp, and it just locks up.
9. I try ssh again, nothing.
10. I go to the server (luckily they are in next room from me), plug in a 
monitor and I see scrolling continuously HD sector error and a number - this 
is not good.
11. I reboot the server with ctrl + alt + delete, starts up, bios message - 
OS not found

-- Move server to office for detailed work --

12. Start server - HD not found. What - Wiggle IDE cable - start again - OS 
not found
13. Move cables, HD not found, on s9ome reboots, OS not found on others, 
changed cable, OS not found consistantly and when I run the rescue mode I 
get continous errors and then it says the it doesnt have a Linux partition

So what should I conclude here, Is the server bad, is the cable bad, could I 
have had 2 bad HD's in a row. Could a bad cable cause it to have exihibited 
these problems? Or could it be the server? What about memory? Could a memory 
failure cause this? It has never crashed or rebooted in the months I have 
had it like other bad servers I have had in the past, it has never given me 
any grief other than this.

Bill H