vgcreate --> "Command failed with status code 5." what does this mean?

i'm playing around w/ LVM on a centos domU in a xen-based vps. I'm in rescue mode and I've created one physical volume (pvcreate /dev/xvda1) for my entire drive, which is formatted as LVM. i'm now trying to create a volume group using vgcreate main /dev/xvda1, but it's returning "Command failed with status code 5.". I've been unable to find an explanation for this error code. does anyone know what it means?

for what it's worth, my goal is to create multiple logical volumes on my drive using lvm.

thanks

I was having this same problem with a CentOS recovery disc on a Xen system. Turns out the error code is due to a read-only file system, specifically /etc/lvm is read-only. Quick fix, as suggested by this blog entry, is to create a tmpfs over /etc/lvm to enable writing. This worked for me.

from the comments it looks like your pv is already corrupt: Total PE 0. recreate your pv and try it again.