Re: Upgrade to Debian testing hosed my system

If you are going to try a LiveCD and are able to mount the server's
partitions, I would start by looking at its log files to see what it
reported from the last boot attempt

On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 10:05 AM, Carruth, Rusty <
Rusty.Carruth@smartstoragesys.com> wrote:

> Oh, yeah. I was going to explain my ‘(*)’ - so here is a short version.**
> **
>
> ** **
>
> When you boot a live cd, for things to work well you really want to have
> it look like you have a writable disk available. The nifty trick that
> (some?) live CDs use is to use what amounts to a hierarchical file storage
> system (probably have the wrong name here).****
>
>
> That is, at the bottom is a compressed filesystem on the CD, which you
> expand and see somehow.****
>
> ** **
>
> When you try to write to that expanded filesystem, the data is copied to
> what amounts to a ramdisk and the system now sends all requests for that
> (part of the) file to the ramdisk rather than the original spot. So every
> block on the disk you write ends up taking 512 bytes (or so) of ram. Sort
> of ;-) But, if you download 100Meg, then you need to have that much RAM to
> spare. If you set up swap it might help a little. Or connect an actual
> disk (via usb or whatever) and do your download and extraction and so forth
> there as much as possible, then you will avoid most of the ram usage (since
> you aren’t writing to the boot drive, as it were)****
>
> ** **
>
> Rusty****
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* plug-discuss-bounces@lists.phxlinux.org [mailto:
> plug-discuss-bounces@lists.phxlinux.org] *On Behalf Of *Carruth, Rusty
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 24, 2013 9:58 AM
>
> *To:* Main PLUG discussion list
> *Subject:* RE: Upgrade to Debian testing hosed my system****
>
> ** **
>
> Possible? Maybe. Easy/useful/the_fastest_way_to_get_going? Maybe or
> maybe not J****
>
> ** **
>
> If you have enough RAM to hold everything (remember, a live CD uses ram to
> hold changes ‘written’ to your virtual disk you think you are running
> on(*)), then you can probably do it.****
>
> ** **
>
> However, I’d start with trying other video cards. Do you have any other
> cards laying around you could try? (If not, I’ve got boatloads
> (figuratively speaking!) - I could loan you a few - what’s the bus you
> need? PCI? AGP? Something else?)****
>
> ** **
>
> I was going to say something else but it has escaped me. Oh well.****
>
> ** **
>
> Rusty****
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* plug-discuss-bounces@lists.phxlinux.org [
> mailto:plug-discuss-bounces@lists.phxlinux.org<plug-discuss-bounces@lists.phxlinux.org>]
> *On Behalf Of *Mark Phillips
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 24, 2013 9:54 AM
> *To:* Main PLUG discussion list
> *Subject:* Re: Upgrade to Debian testing hosed my system****
>
> ** **
>
> I tried all sorts of F keys, and no response on the monitor. I am
> wondering if there is something wrong with the driver. I had this problem
> on a different machine, and I had to download, compile, and install a new
> radeon driver. I can take the machine apart and see what the video card is
> and see if that is a problem. Is there a way to fix a driver problem with a
> live cd?****
>
> ** **
>
> Mark****
>
> ** **
>
> On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 8:34 AM, Carruth, Rusty <
> Rusty.Carruth@smartstoragesys.com> wrote:****
>
> If you hit control-alt-F1 (or F2 or … all the way to F6) do you see
> anything?****
>
> ****
>
> What happens on the monitor while you boot?****
>
> ****
>
> I’ve seen cases (personally) where an install decides the monitor can do
> more than it can (and I think I had an upgrade do that once also), leaving
> you with a dead monitor.****
>
> ****
>
> However, given that you cannot ssh into it I’ll bet that won’t be the case
> - but hopefully you can see something on the monitor as it boots…****
>
> ****
>
> Rusty****
>
> ****
>
> *From:* plug-discuss-bounces@lists.phxlinux.org [mailto:
> plug-discuss-bounces@lists.phxlinux.org] *On Behalf Of *Mark Phillips
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 24, 2013 8:21 AM
> *To:* Main PLUG discussion list
> *Subject:* Re: Upgrade to Debian testing hosed my system****
>
> ****
>
> Mike,****
>
> ****
>
> Unfortunately, there is still no signal after a hard reboot. If there
> were, then I would do what you suggest. ****
>
> ****
>
> Any ideas on how I can determine what is wrong by using something like a
> knoppix cd?****
>
> ****
>
> Mark****
>
> ****
>
> On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 6:52 AM, Mike Ballon <mike.ballon@gmail.com>
> wrote:****
>
> If there is no signal to the monitor with the box "up" I would reboot it.*
> ***
>
> ****
>
> From there you'll need to figure out if the boot loader is intact or not.
> If it is you can boot into single user mode and try to figure out what's
> going on with the box. If you do not get the boot loader now we're talking
> about a repair to either the loader or the system as a whole using a disc
> or memory stick.****
>
> ****
>
> ****
>
> http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/grub-boot-into-single-user-mode/****
>
> ****
>
> ****
>
> On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 8:28 AM, Mark Phillips <mark@phillipsmarketing.biz>
> wrote:****
>
> ****
>
> I used aptitude to upgrade a headless server from Debian stable to Debian
> testing. The upgrade did not generate any error messages, but when I
> rebooted I could not ssh into the box (connection refused) nor do I get any
> output on a monitor I attached to the box (no signal). Apache does not
> appear to be running either on the box (could not connect to the box). I
> can successfully ping the box.****
>
> ****
>
> Any suggestions on how to fix this this server would be greatly
> appreciated!****
>
> ****
>
> Thanks,****
>
> ****
>
> Mark ****
>
> ****
>
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> ****
>
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