Problem: Somtimes the system start booting but it stops at this point (last message in the console):
"A start job is running for wait for Monitoring of LVMZ mirrors, snapshots etc. ..."
Solution:
You can deactivate the LVM-monitor service. To do that execute this in a console:
sudo systemctl disable lvm2-monitor
Note: Only do that if you do not have a LVM raid. SGO systems never use LVM raid, but check in case of custom builds.
Problem: The system does not boot, the power button is red or it start doing bips, and the boot process does not even start showing usual messages on the display.
Solution:
This is a hardware issue, but not necessarily a broken component.
First thing analyse what was done to the system, if it was moved or serviced in any way then it is obvious that something went wrong
Disconnect the power cable and press the power button 6 seconds, until it does not light or bip any more. Then try again.
If there are is a sound like "bips", check the bip codes in the manual of your workstation or google for it. Each number of bips indicate a different issue.
Bypass any UPS that could be in the electrical path and use a reliable power plug. Most UPS degrade over the time and there is a point that they can not support the initial power peaks. Also make a test with all the monitors and all devices are connected to the same power stripe as the workstation. Earth level differences and other electrical issues are one of the most common causes for a problem like this.
If you don't know the hardware component that is failing then remove all the cables, all internal boards, internal hard disks, the power supply, and all the external devices and USB peripherals. Then reinstall only the necessary item for basic diagnostics: Just the Power supply, RAM memory, a GPU and the monitors. If it works in this basic setup then start adding the other components one by one. If it does not work replace the GPU (any simple GPU can work for diagnostics). If still does not work contact HP support.
Problem: The system was working fine but now it does not boot and it says "there is no operating system"
Solution:
Remove all external disks and pen-drives and try again, in some systems they could make a mess around with the boot sequence.
If it does not work then please contact support, as there could be a serious problem with the system disk. Please try to describe how it happened and what other changes were made before the last boot.
If possible, connect the system disk to other system (as a secondary drive) just to check that it still works (do not make modifications if you are not sure).
For the particular case of CentOS systems instaled in UEFI mode (default installation of the Mistika installation ISO since March 2018), check this article:
Problem: The system was working fine but now it does not boot, it start booting but then it stop and it says "the filesystem needs to be checked manually"
Solution:
From time to time the OS check the boot disks (also after a system crashs or blackout) . Some errors are considered dangerous to fix and require user to confirm. Typically by using the fsck program. But this can be a bit delicate so please contact support if you are not sure about what happened. Also make a picture of the exact messages on the screen and send it to support.
Problem: The system starts booting but it goes into text mode, there is no graphics login ( it can not start X)
Solution:
Check that we are not in any of the previous cases (that you do not see the previous error messages).
1 - You will need to login in text mode as root, But If it does not even offer a login prompt, then you can force the system to boot in text single user mode as follows:
Power off / Power on the system, and when you see the initial linux grub menu:
- CentOS systems: Press e to edit the options. Then you will need to scroll down with cursor keys until you find the line starting with "Linux16...". (this line is not visible until you scroll down) Then use right cursor arrow to move the cursor to the end of that line (this options line is typically longer that the terminal capabilities, so just keep using right cursor arrow until it does not advance anymore) and add the word single at the end. Then do not press Enter, after adding the word single just press Ctrl + X
That will boot in single mode, offering a text login prompt.
2 - Login as root (type the root password and press Enter) and execute these commands:
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup-failedboot
rm -f /etc/X11/*.conf
nvidia-xconfig
reboot
Note: That procedure will remove previous graphics configuration and it will put a fresh configuration based on the detected hardware. But If for some reason your system needed a special hand made xorg.conf file then try to find a backup of it (It will probably be in the /etc/X11 folder, but with a different extension) and install it with the name "xorg.conf" before the reboot step.
Note: The xorg.conf file should be the only file in this folder using the .conf extension. Any other files with .conf extension will also be executed on every boot stage, so they need to be removed for coming back to default settings as we want.
3 - If it does not work:
If there are monitor extenders it can be a problem with them. Disconnect the extenders , connect at least one monitor directly and restart the system. This will confirm or discard if it is a problem with the extenders or not.
If you have installed a new graphics board recently:
Another cause for this may happen when installing a new graphics board, as they may require a new driver. This is explained here:
http://support.sgo.es/support/solutions/articles/1000240826-how-to-install-nvidia-driver-on-linux
Even if you installed a new driver for it it could be lost on next reboot (some old drivers were installed directly in the boot image and reappear on next reboot). The solution is explained at the end of the document):
(You can contact support if you need help with it. Meanwhile you could reinstall the driver for another session, but in a case like this it will lost again on next reboot)
If it was not that check this points:
if the problem happened just after the system was moved or serviced check that the graphics board is still firmly attached and also the internal power cable that goes to the graphics board. Also remove every other board or internal devices that are not required to boot the system and try again.
Check that the system disk is not full (login in text mode and execute the df command). If it is full make some space (see next point) and reboot
If there is an UPS bypass the UPS with a direct power cable to a reliable power plug. Most UPS degrade over the time and there is a point that they can not support the initial power peaks.
Make a test with all the monitors and all devices are connected to the same power stripe as the workstation. Earth level differences and other electrical issues are a common causes for problems like this.
Problem: The system boots to graphics mode but it does not permit to login (the graphics login screen is there, but it does not let you login)
Solution:
The most common cause is a system disk full or /home partition full. It can happen due to not obvious reasons, like a render or copy process going to the wrong place by mistake, or a a software component going out of control and creating too many logs, big temporal files due to using drag & drop for copying big files, etc. So first thing is to try this:
Login in text mode and execute this command:
df
It will tell you Disk Free for each partition. Check that none of the important partitions are full (mainly "/" and "/home" ). If it is full, execute this to make some space:
rm -rf /tmp/* /usr/tmp/* /home/mistika/.mConfig/.mConfigDiskReserveSlot*
That will give you some extra space. Then boot again and try to find where you have big files that caused the system disk to fill up and to prevent it to happen again.
Problem: The system boots, but only one of the two GUI monitors is working. The other one does not appear or it appears with the wrong resolution
Solution:
Check the monitor extenders. They are the most common cause for a problem like this.