Comment 0 for bug 278176

I have installed Intrepid server i386 beta on a Dell PowerEdge 600SC. Everything seemed to install fine but upon boot it always drops into the BusyBox shell. The RAID is *not* degraded. At the BusyBox prompt if I type 'exit' it will proceed to boot normally and both RAID1 drives show healthy with all members. I have tried the install twice.

The disk layout is:
  /dev/md0 / (root)
 /dev/md1 <swap>

The box has dual 36GB SCSI drives on an Adaptec 39160 with BIOS version 2.57.2S2. Total 3GB of RAM.

The console messages just before dropping into BusyBox are like this (transcribed):
    MP-BIOS bug: 8254 timer not connected to IO-APIC
    Loading, please wait...
    uvesafb: failed to execute /sbin/v86d
    uvesafb: make sure that the v86d helper is installed and executable
    uvesafb: Getting VBE info block failed (eax=0x4f00, err=-2)
      <pause for several seconds>
    Gave up waiting for root device. Common problems:
      <snip>
    ALERT! /dev/md0 does not exist. Dropping to a shell!

Some info, after booting:
# fdisk -l /dev/sd?

Disk /dev/sda: 36.4 GB, 36420075008 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4427 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000080

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 4182 33591883+ fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sda2 4183 4427 1967962+ fd Linux raid autodetect

Disk /dev/sdb: 36.7 GB, 36748945408 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4467 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000d6c1e

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 4182 33591883+ fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sdb2 4183 4425 1951897+ fd Linux raid autodetect

# mount | grep md
/dev/md0 on / type ext3 (rw,noatime,relatime,errors=remount-ro)

# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [linear] [multipath] [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid10]
md1 : active raid1 sda2[0] sdb2[1]
      1951808 blocks [2/2] [UU]

md0 : active raid1 sda1[0] sdb1[1]
      33591808 blocks [2/2] [UU]

unused devices: <none>

# mdadm --detail /dev/md0
/dev/md0:
        Version : 00.90
  Creation Time : Fri Oct 3 17:07:47 2008
     Raid Level : raid1
     Array Size : 33591808 (32.04 GiB 34.40 GB)
  Used Dev Size : 33591808 (32.04 GiB 34.40 GB)
   Raid Devices : 2
  Total Devices : 2
Preferred Minor : 0
    Persistence : Superblock is persistent

    Update Time : Sat Oct 4 10:52:42 2008
          State : clean
 Active Devices : 2
Working Devices : 2
 Failed Devices : 0
  Spare Devices : 0

           UUID : 40576586:21a3ec73:fce4d375:9253158f
         Events : 0.6

    Number Major Minor RaidDevice State
       0 8 1 0 active sync /dev/sda1
       1 8 17 1 active sync /dev/sdb1

# mdadm --detail /dev/md1
/dev/md1:
        Version : 00.90
  Creation Time : Fri Oct 3 17:07:55 2008
     Raid Level : raid1
     Array Size : 1951808 (1906.38 MiB 1998.65 MB)
  Used Dev Size : 1951808 (1906.38 MiB 1998.65 MB)
   Raid Devices : 2
  Total Devices : 2
Preferred Minor : 1
    Persistence : Superblock is persistent

    Update Time : Fri Oct 3 18:44:10 2008
          State : clean
 Active Devices : 2
Working Devices : 2
 Failed Devices : 0
  Spare Devices : 0

           UUID : 7653b33c:78f7bd9a:8be10872:a9def14a
         Events : 0.6

    Number Major Minor RaidDevice State
       0 8 2 0 active sync /dev/sda2
       1 8 18 1 active sync /dev/sdb2