PowerScale Gen6/MLK node fails to boot with GEOM start failed
Summary: A node fails to boot with the message GEOM start failed.
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Symptoms
When rebooting a node for any reason, the node fails to come back online. If you attach to the node with a null modem cable, the boot sequence ends with messaging similar to the following:
kldload: acpi_sel0: <System Error Log (SEL) GPE Hook> numa-domain 0 on acpi0
an error occurred while loading module lnv. Please check dmesg(8) for more details.
Early ELF ldconfig path: /lib:/usr/lib:/usr/lib/compat:/usr/local/lib:/usr/likewise/lib:/usr/local/apache2/lib:/usr/local/apache2/bin:/usr/local/lib/compat/pkg:/usr/lib:/usr/likewise/lib:/usr/local/lib/compat/pkg:/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.32/mach/CORE:/usr/local/llvm40/lib
<isi_rc> Executing script hostid
Setting hostuuid: 03000200-0400-0500-0006-0c0000002000.
Setting hostid: 0x0fb9b77f.
Executing GEOM bootdisk startup...
GEOM start failed
To prevent a DL situation, contact Dell EMC Customer Support immediately:
United States: 1 800 782 4362 (1 800 SVC 4EMC)
Canada: 1 800 543 4782 (1 800 543 4SVC)
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Command Options:
1) Enter recovery shell
2) Continue booting
3) Reboot
option>
If you enter the recovery shell and check the mounted file systems, root is mounted as read-only:
# mount
/dev/mirror/root1 on / (ufs, local, read-only)
devfs on /dev (devfs, local)
#
Checking the boot partitions, you see something similar to:
# gpart list | grep -B9 bootdisk | egrep "uuid|Name|label"|paste - - -
4. Name: da16p4 rawuuid: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx label: bootdiskid
4. Name: da17p4 rawuuid: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx label: bootdiskid
4. Name: da18p4 rawuuid: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx label: bootdiskid
3. Name: da19p4 rawuuid: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx label: bootdiskid
4. Name: da21p4 rawuuid: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx label: bootdiskid
2. Name: ada0p2 rawuuid: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx label: bootdiskid
Cause
There is an invalid boot partition on ada0. Gen6/MLK nodes should not have a boot partition on that device.
Resolution
Contact technical support and quote this knowledge base document.
Affected Products
Isilon Gen6, PowerScale Archive A300, PowerScale Archive A3000, PowerScale A310, PowerScale A3100, PowerScale Hybrid H700, PowerScale Hybrid H7000, PowerScale H710, PowerScale H7100, PowerScale PA110Article Properties
Article Number: 000337624
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 26 Jun 2025
Version: 1
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