[Q] LVM fails to wipe!

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Hey all,
I have a problem with not being able to write anything on my device. I have been trying to doctor it and it fails at 8%.
Since I have no data on my device that I would like to preserve, I am perfectly OK with wiping LVM completely.
I have been following instructions posted here (the part about erasing corrupt LVM):
webos-internals(dot)org/wiki/Last_Resort_Emergency_BootLoader_Recovery (can't post links yet, sorry!)
And when I attempt to remove labels from the physical volume, it says it does it, but the labels are still there!

root@webos-device:/# lvm.static pvremove -ff /dev/mmcblk0p14
Really WIPE LABELS from physical volume "/dev/mmcblk0p14" of volume group "store" [y/n]? y
  WARNING: Wiping physical volume label from /dev/mmcblk0p14 of volume group "store"
  Labels on physical volume "/dev/mmcblk0p14" successfully wiped
root@webos-device:/# lvm.static pvscan
  PV /dev/mmcblk0p14   VG store   lvm2 [14.19 GB / 8.00 MB free]
  Total: 1 [14.19 GB] / in use: 1 [14.19 GB] / in no VG: 0 [0   ]
root@webos-device:/# lvm.static vgscan
  Reading all physical volumes.  This may take a while...
  Found volume group "store" using metadata type lvm2
root@webos-device:/# lvm.static lvscan
  inactive          '/dev/store/root' [568.00 MB] inherit
  inactive          '/dev/store/var' [64.00 MB] inherit
  inactive          '/dev/store/update' [16.00 MB] inherit
  inactive          '/dev/store/log' [24.00 MB] inherit
  inactive          '/dev/store/mojodb' [256.00 MB] inherit
  inactive          '/dev/store/filecache' [136.00 MB] inherit
  inactive          '/dev/store/media' [12.75 GB] inherit
  inactive          '/dev/store/swap' [400.00 MB] inherit
root@webos-device:/#

Can someone help me wipe this thing?

Unfortunately I have had this problem out of the box, and so far HP hasn't been able to help me, as they fruitlessly try to doctor it for several hours now. Waiting for a call from a Level 3 tech now.

you might have to actually mount the volume before you can modify, give that a shot

Originally Posted by Solidus_n313

you might have to actually mount the volume before you can modify, give that a shot

I've tried many kinds of writing. Writing to a file system, writing to a block device, so far none of the changes are persistent.

Mount what? Mount on what? And modify what? There is a lot of different options here.
I appreciate all help, but your suggestion is incomplete.

Also in this thread I am trying to remove LVM labels. LVM resides on a block device and is not mountable. Further, physical volumes and volume groups cannot be removed while logical volumes are mounted.

I can't mount some of the logical volumes (log and var) in the LVM on my TouchPad. Still fail to mount after formatting attempts. Last resort is to nuke the LVM alltogether and write the volume group and all logical volumes from scratch, however, that's the problem discussed in this thread. Removing literally does nothing, vgremove and pvremove execute, however the volume group stays.

wow, my apologies, i didnt even notice how little/useless info i put in the post o.O distracted @ work :/

anywho, since youre looking to wipe and start from scratch (as a last resort, im sure) are you able to clearpart? it might work with pvremove, but im not willing to try it on mine :P (more importantly, are you trying to remove the labels from just the physical volume and consequently the subs? or the logical only?

also, instead of pvremove, try pvchange to see if you can just modify existing labels to see if you can zero in on any changes (if any) are sticking.

also, give pvresize a shot after that, working you way back up to remove cuz at this point, id be willing to try anything to see if it will modify

Originally Posted by Solidus_n313

wow, my apologies, i didnt even notice how little/useless info i put in the post o.O distracted @ work :/

anywho, since youre looking to wipe and start from scratch (as a last resort, im sure) are you able to clearpart? it might work with pvremove, but im not willing to try it on mine :P (more importantly, are you trying to remove the labels from just the physical volume and consequently the subs? or the logical only?

also, instead of pvremove, try pvchange to see if you can just modify existing labels to see if you can zero in on any changes (if any) are sticking.

also, give pvresize a shot after that, working you way back up to remove cuz at this point, id be willing to try anything to see if it will modify

Thanks for the suggestion.

It didn't want to update anything but I did a vg backup and restore combined with pvresize attempts.
clearpart does not exist on the recovery image unfortunately, although I did try to "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk0p14" before, it fails with I/O error.

pvresize was failing with "too many metadata areas for pvresize" error, but i rebooted using "umount -a; tellbootie reboot" anyway. No changes. Doctor and
devicetool still find the volumes.
Doctor fails unmounting /dev/mapper/store-log (same thing as /dev/store/log), and devicetool fails mounting /dev/store/var, both with error "Invalid argument".

I'm afraid I have to declare this unit defective, as it does not correctly perform commands other TouchPads perform during the recovery process.

thats a shame, it sounds like there is a problem with either the NAND, or a flaw with the cpu the last case resort i can think of, which is a 50/50 crapshoot is trying to zero the drive using zerombr (command might be "zerombr yes"), if its available (*should destroy all of the contents of disks with invalid partition tables) and see if you build from scratch with nova...

a daunting task, but if youve accepted the fact that its dead, its worth a shot. and on the upside, if it is dead, you now have spare parts! (hopefully you have another TP, the prices on craigslist etc are ridiculous these days :/)

also, since youve been speaking with HP, are they willing to exchange/repair/replace?

Thank you for your help.

I think its a freak case, because clearly under normal circumstances I should have been able to repair the filesystems with methods many other people have used.

HP is sending me a box for my unit, and I should receive a working one next week. I haven't voided the warranty since I still have WebOS on it, and could never make any changes, so I should be good.

Hopefully next one will play nicer than this one.

thats what i was thinking, when you make drastic changes like that to the filesystem and structure, it should stick or brick.

well at least you can swap it, are they charging for repairs? or listing as defective?

Due to inability to update to 3.0.4 using update app, or doctor they say I have a "software defect" and offered the free repair. I suspect however that I will receive a new or refurb unit, as I can't imagine them doing anything different short of working through the Qualcomm bootloader directly.
I should probably write down my serial number just to check.

Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

thats a good idea, im kinda curious about that as well, considering HP is cutting stall left and right, i wonder if they have available staff to modify the low level , or just take the hit and sent refurb/"new"