[mythtv-users] HELP! I want my mythtv!

Sun Apr 13 00:21:03 UTC 2014

On 04/12/2014 07:54 PM, Joseph DeGraw wrote:
> On 04/12/2014 07:47 PM, Hika van den Hoven wrote:
>> Hoi Joseph,
>>
>> Sunday, April 13, 2014, 1:29:55 AM, you wrote:
>>
>>> On 04/12/2014 06:21 PM, Hika van den Hoven wrote:
>>>> Hoi Joseph,
>>>>
>>>> Sunday, April 13, 2014, 12:03:59 AM, you wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I am running a mythbuntu 12.04 install on a FE/BE box. I am using 
>>>>> a 500
>>>>> gig system drive and then setup a striped raid with mdadm using 
>>>>> two 2tb
>>>>> drives - all sata. Well, One of my raid drives finally died and I 
>>>>> have
>>>>> replaced it physically only. My problem is that I cannot get 
>>>>> mythbuntu
>>>>> to boot. It keeps booting to the busybox initram prompt no matter 
>>>>> what I
>>>>> do.
>>>>> I get the normal prompt to bypass the raid mounting and I have tried
>>>>> selecting either Y or N and I still get to the busybox initram 
>>>>> prompt.
>>>>> Drive /dev/sda shows fine in checking the the smart data. Short 
>>>>> test ran
>>>>> fine. Drive also mounted just fine in test box with hot swap bays.
>>>>> My thinking is that because the raid I use for storage of 
>>>>> recordings is
>>>>> not available mythbuntu just pukes and goes to the busybox initram
>>>>> prompt no matter what.
>>>>> I would like to recover this and not have to do a complete reinstall.
>>>>> Frankly, I didnt like mythbuntu because of network issues after 
>>>>> updates
>>>>> caused me fits. I used to use fedora for my mythtv but didnt like the
>>>>> constant upgrading.
>>>>> Any help on how you would recover this?
>>>>> Joseph
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> mythtv-users mailing list
>>>>> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
>>>>> http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>>>> http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
>>>>> MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
>>>> Give some more info about what it says it fails at.
>>>> Also to disable the raid start remark the relevant lines in
>>>> /etc/mdadm.conf. Also remark out the relevant lines in your
>>>> /etc/fstab so it won't try to mount absent volumes.
>>>>
>>>> Tot mails,
>>>>     Hika                            mailto:hikavdh at gmail.com
>>>>
>>>> "Zonder hoop kun je niet leven
>>>> Zonder leven is er geen hoop
>>>> Het eeuwige dilemma
>>>> Zeker als je hoop moet vernietigen om te kunnen overleven!"
>>>>
>>>> De lerende Mens
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
>>>> http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>>> http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
>>>> MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
>>>>
>>> Hello Hika,
>>> Basically this is what I have:
>>> /dev/sda - 500 gig system drive running mythbuntu 12.04 and mythtv .27
>>> /dev/sdb - raid device 1 - 2tb drive member of /dev/md127
>>> /dev/sdc - raid device 2 - 2tb drive member of /dev/md127
>>> Since the raid device 1 died I no longer have a raid. So, I thought 
>>> -Ok,
>>> I will pickup another drive and build a new raid with it. All the data
>>> is gone. I understand that and can live with it.
>>> However, With the raid non existent the system will not load all the 
>>> way
>>> and during the boot process it comes to a prompt asking if I want to
>>> skip loading a degraded raid. Doesnt matter if I choose yes or no. It
>>> will then drop to a Initramfs prompt in busybox. So, I cannot start the
>>> operating system without my raid intact. This leads me to the question
>>> of - "How do you repair a raid if it the system will not boot without a
>>> raid?" - To me that is so stupid.
>>> Very similar to this bug report:
>>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/initramfs-tools/+bug/778520
>>> Evidently, Nothing has been done about it and its still going on.
>>> I did remove my mdadm.conf file as its useless now. But the system is
>>> still looking for /dev/md127 which no longer exists really. I tried the
>>> boot argument for not loading the raid but that seems to not work. I
>>> will try removing my mount statement for the raid in fstab though.
>>> Is that enough info?? let me know.
>> The kind of raid array you used cannot be rebuild, since half the data
>> is gone.
>> Did you physically remove both the died and the surviving drive? The
>> kernel will on startup find the raid signatures on the drives. The
>> numbering '/dev/md127' indicates an automatically detected raid which
>> the kernel tries to start readonly. You can remove that signature
>> with: mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/<your-physical-device> or just
>> disconnect them for now.
>>
>> Tot mails,
>>    Hika                            mailto:hikavdh at gmail.com
>>
>> "Zonder hoop kun je niet leven
>> Zonder leven is er geen hoop
>> Het eeuwige dilemma
>> Zeker als je hoop moet vernietigen om te kunnen overleven!"
>>
>> De lerende Mens
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> mythtv-users mailing list
>> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
>> http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>> http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
>> MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
>>
> I will go up and disconnect the drives right now and see if I can 
> boot. Anyways, I found a very interesting thread at Ubuntu Forums 
> about this from way back as far as 2011 and the problem is still not 
> fixed. Here is a qoute from what I have read so far that applies to me:
>
> -------------------- This is a qoute below ----------------------
> DANGER - DO NOT USE UBUNTU 12.04 IF YOU HAVE ANY SOFTWARE RAID
>
> There is a race condition that randomly marks good RAID arrays as 
> failed. This triggers an error that, due to another bug, ignores the 
> "bootdegraded=true" kernel work-around parameter. The end result is 
> you end up in an initramfs shell called "busybox" that is a blackhole 
> of doom and downage.
>
> ----------- End of qoute -------------------
>
> Thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1861516&page=5
>
> I will try disconnecting drive and see what I can do.
>
> Joseph
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
> MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
>
OK! Making progress now!! :)

Pulled the remaining raid drive and was able to get the system up. Now I 
have the old drive loaded in my "service box" and will wipe the raid / 
partition info out of it.

THANKYOU!!

Joseph