dude67

Does it work with lilo also? I was told that grub doesn't allow booting from md0 (in my RAID1 array), so I installed and am using lilo.

Thanks Ian, I'll do these checks tomorrow - starting with the memtests. I believe you are referring to this https://mandrivausers.org/index.php?s=&...st&p=496544 The SATA cables are new (except for the one used with the old 500GB HDD that's still hooked on). But I will check them again if the memory modules (2) are working fine.

I've been having a great deal of problems with this PC at home. This is only some 18 months old HW and it 'should' be OK and working fine but still... For several months already I've had some problems booting my Mandriva 2008.0 and 2008.1. The system would start loading, but would freeze at some point - I couldn't really tell what it is that's causing it. I always thought it was some software related problem and didn't really pay that much attention to it. The main reason beeing that I would always get it up and running even though in the worst cases it would require more than five reboots to get it running. And the WinXP home I have installed in it also seems to boot fine all the time. Then two weeks ago (or there abouts) it lost my /home partition! I did reinstall Mandriva 2008.1, but on the second boot it had lost the root-partition (/-partition). I was certain it was the HDD (500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10) that was acting up and getting ready to go to hard disk heaven. I then bought two 750GB Samsungs and made a RAID1 array out of them. Now it seems that I had it covered. But now it's doing weird stuff again. It takes even more times rebooting (sometimes ten isn't enough) to get Mandy up&running than it did before. It usually ends somewhere where it says it has loaded eth0 [OK] and ath0 [OK] and then freezes. Then it may produce a very long list of some checks (with some different PIDs all the time), but I really couldn't understand what it was doing... Then in the end it would give kernel panic note - or sometimes it said that some problems were solved, but the system needed to be rebooted. But I can get Mandriva running in the end (KDE desktop - if that makes any difference) and everything seems to be operating just perfect. It has never crashed (knock, knock) when Mandriva KDE is fully loaded. I have also installed WinXP home on the sda (first before the mandriva installation), but now I cannot boot there either. It seems the windows partition has also been damaged... I did the RAID1 array with Mandriva installation DVD, so I couldn't make it take the windows partition into the RAID array. Any idea or suggestions what it could be? I'm suspecting the motherboard is damaged, but is it? I wouldn't want to get a new MB just to find out that the first one is working fine and the problem is somewhere else... Oh, and the system logs don't reveal anything. I tried finding the kernel panic note or anything else from the failed boots, but there is nothing in the syslogs about that! I read them from MCC system logs (messages and syslog). This is the hw I have: Motherboard MSI 945P NEO3-F Processor Intel Core 2 Duo / E6400 2.13GHz/2MB HDD OLD: 1 x 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA NOW: 2 x 750GB Samsung SATA2 (HD753LJ) Memory 2 x Buffalo 1GB DDRII 533 MHz

Very impressive! Congratulations!

Thanks for all of you. I didn't know (before this i.e.) that the PCI controllers usually come with SW RAID (at least in my price-range) instead of HW RAID. I bought the card (Promise TX2300 RAID Controller) in vain, but let this be a lesson to all you other newbies... I've paid for my lesson - you don't have to! So my advice is to try to get the software raid to work - it's fairly simple during Mandriva installation. I can write a short how-to here, but I first need to sort a few things out first. I disconnected the sda HDD and booted up the system, but was dropped to command line - with only "/" operating. If you have any idea as what to do or what went wrong, I'd appreciate it. I have two 750GB HDDs and have windows installed first (some 20GB for C-drive and 80 GB for D-drive). Then I installed Mandy for the remaining 600 GB. I configured the sda so that the first mandy part (to be "/") is 19GB, then there is swap (around 1GB), and two other partitions (100GB for "/home" and 480GB for "/storage"). All these (except for the swap) I formated as Linux RAID. I then added new RAIDs: first 19GB became md0, the 100GB became md1 and the last partition 480GB became md2. In the RAID page I then formatted the md0 as "/", md1 as "/home" and md2 as "/storage". The sdc (the second 750GB drive is sdc) is configured the same way, except the windows part is left empty and the rest are exactly as in sda - all formated as Linux RAID also). And finally I added these partitions to the same RAID partitions (/ = md0, /home = md1 and /storage = md2). Then I could see that these were operating fine (at least reported to be fine): <code>[dude67@localhost ~]$ cat /proc/mdstat Personalities : [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] md2 : active raid1 sda9[0] sdc8[1] 506272256 blocks [2/2] [UU] md1 : active raid1 sdc7[1] sda8[0] 102398208 blocks [2/2] [UU] md0 : active raid1 sda6[0] sdc5[1] 20474688 blocks [2/2] [UU] unused devices: <none> [dude67@localhost ~]{:content:}lt;/code> I did add the bootloader (lilo) when installing Mandriva to md0 (OK, I did add it only to sda first, but then in MCC added it to md0). But then I tested the redundancy by disconnecting the SATA cable from sda drive. I could only get working "/" partition - no other partition would be working. This is the same in command line: <code>md2 : inactive sda9[0](S) 506272256 blocks md1 : inactive sda8[0](S) 10239820/8 blocks md0 : active raid1 sda6[0] 20474688 blocks [2/1][U_] unused devices: <none></code> So any suggestions as to what went wrong? Anything to do with the fact that the partition numbers differ from one HDD to the other like this: md0 ... "/" ... sda6 ... sdc5 md1 ... "/home" ... sda8 ... sdc7 md2 ... "/storage" ... sda9 ... sdc8 This is due to the fact that in sda the windows occupies two partitions and in sdc there is only one empty partition.

I'm not sure if it's good for memories, but in some cases a regular pencil eraser is used to clean electrical contacts. Just be sure that none of that eraser rubber is left there on the contacts as it will act as insulator. And best to use a clean eraser (if you have graphite left from a pencil, rub it off first).

OK, if I then understood correctly, I can pretty much do software RAID with my dual boot installation, all except the Win C:\ part? So, I will install the C:\ partition for Windows, but will keep it fairly small and make a D:\ partition where I should keep all the data I can. Well, Windows is mainly for gaming and some video editing, so I can easily save all the files into D:\ partition. But if I set it up like this, then if the primary HDD is broken, I would need to do a reinstallation of the whole WinXP into the first partition. Am I correct? In that case, I would need to install all the apps again, even though the data (and perhaps the apps themselves) would be on the D:\ partition. I think the registry would be lost if it's stored in C:\ partition... I don't know - this seems so much harder nut to crack than I originally thought... I'll give it a try anyway.

I was pointed to this article in a Finnish forum. How would it differ from this if I wanted to make it RAID1? http://www.overclock3d.net/articles.php?ty...ndows_and_linux

This is from www.promise.com site: What would that mean in terms of .... What do I do with that? :unsure: Do I need to build something into the kernel or what...?

I don't have mandriva available to me currently, so could someone verify, if this Promise card is supported by kernel version 2.6.24.x Promise FastTrack TX2300 (2-port SATA RAID adapter) This seems like to card that would work, so I'm trying to find this from the local stores. But, if someone could check if this is already supported by the kernel, I'd appreciate it. :)

This is getting absurd... I went and bought the card. But you know what; it isn't a RAID controller - even though I asked for one. I'm going to take it back to the store tomorrow. I just don't know what to do as the only other card they have available (other types are on order) is the Adaptec. But if the Adaptec one doesn't work out-of-the-box in Mandriva, I don't want that one. I may end up making the software raid of my system. But does that work with the whole disk as I also have Windows in it?

but your sig doesn't say you have Mandy installed...! :deal:

OK, thanks Ian. But I currently have no linux kernel installed as I currently have only WinXP. And after I install the RAID1, I'll first re-install Windows and only then install Mandriva. Should I not already have the RAID1 array operating at that time? Or do you mean that by the time I come to install Mandriva and the linux kernel, I may have trouble when rebooting in RAID1 mode? Anyway, I'll pick up the Promise card on my way home soon. I'll post back my progress, whenever I have an operable system running - either from windows or from Mandriva. (Sorry for the very noob questions... :P Hope you bear with me awhile. )

That's understood. I was just thinking out loud wondering what other choises I have besides the RAID controller card. Very detailed instructions for the SW RAID - nice work, Ian!

I'm not currently at home, but does anyone know, what's the current kernel version with mandriva? Is it above the kernel 2.6.24.x that Ian mentioned? So if I (again) understood correctly, it would seem that the promise card has a better chance of working with mandriva? Anyway, how would I start the installation of the RAID1 array? I just yesterday installed WinXP home on the first drive (on the first 250 GB) and the rest (some 500 GB of the first HDD and the other HDD completely unformated) is just "sitting there". I don't mind if I need to install the windows xp again - but if I get the Promise card, I would install this in to the PCI slot and connect the two HDDs into the card's SATA connectors. What then? I don't need to flash the BIOS or anythign? I will most likely need to install Windows XP again and then proceed with installing Mandriva. But when and how do I install/configure the RAID1 bit? The card will come with a manual, I hope...

I could change my MB to a one that supports RAID. That, and I could give Ian's software raid installation walk-through a go...

OK, now you got me a little confused... As I did admit, I know very little of making a Raid array, so a few questions. If I understood Ian's point correctly, the Adaptec cards tend to work out-of-the-box only with Red Hat/CentOS or SUSE Linux (and with windows). Unless I would compile from source (I would definitely need some assistance there...). I called my local store and this is what they have on shelf: Promise SATA300 TX2plus (data sheet) Adaptec 1210SA (tech info on this page) When I look at the data for these two cards, I would seem that they only promise RH/CentOS and SUSE. And if I again understood correctly, the PCI-x slot is usually only in server HW; is that correct? I believe my MB has one PCI-e (used for my NVidia) and the rest are plain PCI. Here are the specs for my MB: http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=pr...p;cat3_no=#menu I seem to be no closer to fixing this. When I look at the two cards that seem available at the local store, I don't know if either of them is what I'm looking for. Oh, one thing: If I connect the two HDDs to the RAID controller and that controller card is connected to regular PCI slot, will that slow the computer down (compared to being connected directly to the MB via SATA)?

I recently had my main PC crash (some 18 mo old hw) and I suspect it had to do with HDD giving in. I at first lost /home partition and after re-installing Mandriva 2008.1 (Free, from DVD) it wouldn't fire-up the second time as it said that I missed root partition... The system was a dual boot with WinXP Home. The XP started OK, but I still suspected a dying HDD (Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.10 SATA) I didn't have the patience to dig any deeper, so went to the local computer store and bought me a set of two 750GB Samsung HDDs. I thought I confirmed that my MB would support RAID, but it turned out it didn't... (I read some manual on the net, that turned out to be a manual of a similar but not the same MB). The motherboard is MSI 945P NEO3-F. OK, so now I have two nice 750GB disks that I want to make into RAID1 array with the system that has WinXP Home (some 200GB for that) and Mandriva (the rest: 550GB). I was thinking of buying a RAID controller card (since I don't want to install the whole PC anew with a new MB) and wanted to ask you if there's anything I need to know before buying one. As Ian said here, there are sw RAIDs and hw RAIDs; are the both types available for PCI RAID cards also? I would like to go with hw RAID as it's said to be more reliable. Here are some of the PCI cards I found with my local PC dealer. Innovision DM-8301R at 35€ Adaptec 1210SA at 75€ Promise at 79€ Dawicontrol DC-150 at 65€ Dawicontrol DC-154 at 55€ I'm totally new to making any disk arrays so your advice is greatly appreciated.

My guess is that it's the desktop pager for Metisse. Are you using Metisse for 3D effects? If you are and you want to keep using Metisse, I'm not sure how to remove it (if at all possible). The more obvious choise is to start using 2D desktop or Compiz for "real" 3D. One possibility may be this. I'm currently using Compiz, so I cannot say if this works, but the regular pager can be removed from the panels by clicking on the small "bar handle" next to it and choosing "Remove desktop preview and pager" option from the list. Perhaps the same works for the Metisse pager.

Go for HP. (not Canon for sure - don't really know about Epson)

Thank you! :)

Sorry, I totally forgot to bring the screenshots here... Here's a link to AMO page where there are some screenshots. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7362

I've made a firefox theme (for firefox 2) and thought I'd link it here as well. It's called starryskin (I know it's a bit crappy name, but I had to come up with it quite quickly). It's a theme for firefox 2 (the current published version). This skin was made with Mandriva in mind as the colours are mostly Mandriva blue and orange. :D The theme is in the sandbox of addons.mozilla.org until it gets accepted by Mozilla folks. But you can get if from my deviantart page as well: http://dude67.deviantart.com/art/starryskin-0-9-0-86789389 Comments here as well as in the sandbox of addons.mozilla.org would be greatly appreciated. To download and review it in the addons.mozilla.org requires the user to log in first. But if any of you are registered there, I'd appreciate your reviews as this would help Mozilla to approve it as public theme for FF2.

In my Mandriva 2008.1 KDE all I have to do (in Konsole) is write "firefox" and it'll start. So without the path to the programme.

I used the Mandriva .rpm from repos.