moving HD with 32bit Feisty from 64 bit motherboard to 32 bit motherboard

[Krsnendu dasa]

On 19/02/2008, Gavin McCullagh <gmccullagh at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
>
> On Mon, 18 Feb 2008, Charles Austin wrote:
>
> > On Feb 15, 2008 1:57 PM, Krsnendu dasa <krsnendu108 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > Now I want to try two things simultaneously:
> > > 1. Reinstall Edubuntu on the 64bit server using 32bit Gutsy
> > > 2. Take one hard drive from the raid one and trying it on another
> > > machine which is AMD 2500XP 32 bit machine.
>
>
> Is this software RAID1 or hardware RAID1?  If it's software, you need to
> make sure GRUB is installed and configured into both disks' MBRs (which is
> not done by default).  If it's hardware RAID, you may need to use the disk
> with the same disk controller.


I am using Software RAID1. This was a bit of a problem. I set up GRUB on
both disk fine, but there is a bug in Ubuntu software RAID that stops it
booting unless if finds both disks in a RAID1. Anyway I found a workaround
and left one drive behind while it transfered the other drive to the other
box.

> > Is this possible or will the system not handle changing from quad core
> > > 64bit system to 32bit single core?
> > In my experience, unless the hardware platforms are EXACTLY the same,
> > this will not work.  Too many drivers are loaded and configured during
> > the OS install that are specific to the hardware present at the time.
> > Granted, Kudzu will try to detect and install new drivers for new
> > devices, but I don't think it will be able to handle a wholesale swap
> > of your hardware environment.
>
>
> I haven't tried it, but my instinct would be to disagree.  In terms of
> hardware support, I'd suggest:
>
> 1. Ethernet -- shouldn't be a problem, though device numbers might swap,
> eg
>         eth1 for eth0
> 2. Video -- might not work but you can fix it with
>         dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
>    in any case, you shouldn't need X running on a thin client server
> 3. Sound -- probably should autodetect, but again, you shouldn't need it
> on
>    a thin client server
> 4. Disk controller -- the most likely problem.  If the initramfs doesn't
>    support your disk controller, booting will probably fail.  If this
> fails
>    though, you won't have lost anything -- just pop it back in the
> existing
>    machine.


No problems. Video doesn't work on the server box, but the clients work fine
and that is what counts. It's cool how Linux can do that. I don't think
Windows is that flexible.

> > I want to do both simaltaneously so that
> > > a. current users can keep working as before, while I set up the
> upgraded server.
> > > b. I can confirm that it is the hardware on the current machine that
> > > is causing the problem
> > >
> > Why not do a clean install on the new hardware?
>
>
> I guess that wouldn't be a fair comparison so if it works he won't know if
> his hardware was bad or his config was.


Correct. So far I am having the same problems, so it doesn't seem to be the
hardware. Once I get Gutsy installed I can see how things are then.

> > > Is it possible to transplant the system HD or will the system not
> > > handle changing from quad core 64bit system to 32bit single core?
> > Again, it is more than changing from a 64 bit system to a 32 bit.  It
> > sounds like all of the hardware (Hard Drive controllers, video card,
> > etc) will be different as well.  These present just as much of a
> > challenge.
>
>
> I think it's worth a try.  Moving from running 32-bit on an amd64 machine
> to a regular 32-bit shouldn't be a big deal.
>
> That being said, I think Charles suggestion of debugging the problem on
> the
> current hardware is worth trying first.


I took the advice of Charles and a friend who is a geek. I installed
Wireshark. Straight away I noticed a lot of bad checksum messages. Thousands
of them! I am not sure what that means, but I'm sure it has something to do
with the problem. Any ideas what causes checksum errors?

My friend told me that sometimes networks go down in a broadcast storm
caused by a network cable plugged into the same switch twice.

To summarize  so far:

Problem: Network disconnects frequently (especially the main server). Thin
clients freeze for a few minutes then come up with the regular screen with 4
untitled windows tabs. Logout and login needed to start work again.
The server cannot be pinged and Samba shares are unaccessible for 2-3
minutes. Backups are interrupted.

Troubleshooting steps so far:
1. Changed the network cable from the main server to the main switch. No
change.
2. Changed the main switchh. (from a gigaswitch to a 100Mhz switch- both
unmanaged.)
3. Installed a pci network card and disabled the onboard port. No change.
3. Moved the system hard drive to a new box. No change.
4. Installed Wireshark - it reported many checksum errors and some ssh
errors. What does this tell me? Can this help me pinpoint the problem?

Current situation:
Disconnections as before.
Now server cannot connect to network printer by ip address even though other
computers on the network can. It cannot ping  the printer or access the web
interface.
Other computers occasionally get disconnected from the network printer. The
network printer and the other computers are on a secondary switch that
connects to the main switch.
Perhaps the secondary switch is causing problems for the main switch?

Next steps: Try to isolate the problem more.
1. Connect the server to just one client and see if it disconnects. If that
works...
2. Connect to one client through the switch
3. Connect the second server
4. Connect secondary switches
etc...
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