Comments on: Fixing Solaris hosts that boot to a grub> prompt

By: Javier

Javier — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:20:18 +0000

Hi Ryan

One of my servers is a HP DL 380 G5 that has a Smart Array Controller, the driver was installed when installing Solaris (add drivers on installation menu). The server has been working for a long time but after installing Virtual Box and rebooting all I get is a grub prompt.

I have followed your instructions using a Solaris 10 DVD, adding the Smart Array drivers but I still get the grub prompt.

Do you know if in order to fix grub I have to do something with the Smart Array driver?

Thanks in advanced!

By: dean

dean — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:16:45 +0000

just a gentle reminder about the grub cheat sheet ;+)

By: matty

matty — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:14:22 +0000

Hey Alex,

I’m planning to release my notes sometime over the holidays. There is a bunch of stuff I need to clean up and re-test, which will take a bit of time (I scribble down tons of notes in the middle of the night, and I need to make sure the stuff I release works without issue).

- Ryan

By: alex

alex — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:23:58 +0000

Got an ETA on that grub cheat sheet? :D

Looking forward to it!

-Alex

By: matty

matty — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:57:31 +0000

Hey Brian,

You are spot on. I learned this the hard way, but fortunately I had my cheat sheet to get me back up and running in no time. It would be awesome if ‘zpool upgrade’ would invoke installgrub if the stage1/stage2 loaders need updating. That would rock!

- Ryan

By: BrianDKing

BrianDKing — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:39:42 +0000

We’ve had similar issues, and it’s something you have to watch out for with x86 and zfs root. If you upgrade zfs or zpool versions, and the grub you have installed doesn’t understand the new version, it won’t boot.

You should also make sure if you are upgrade zfs or zpools, that you have a version of the OS around on CD/DVD (or jumpstart), that understands the new version, or you won’t be able to boot to repair it.

By: Robert jaudon

Robert jaudon — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:10:41 +0000

Thanks for the post. My company is moving away from Sparc onto x86 and help with the grub menu would be great. I have been having issues with getting a fully automated x86 jumpstart going and ran into an issue with the console output going to the VGA(monitor port) port and not the putty window. I have read that modifying the grub menu will let me redirect the output back to the shell.

Thanks
rob

By: Randy

Randy — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:40:19 +0000

Good Stuff! I’ve had to do this a couple of times on some failed Opensolaris updates.

thanks Matty!