E450 won't boot from Solaris 10 1/06 CDROM
Hi
I am trying to install Solaris 10 1/06 on an Enterprise 450 but cannot get it to boot from the CDROM any more. The CDs were burnt from ISOs and I have tried several (e.g. burning at 1x speed).
I have successfully run up the 1/06 installer from CD on this machine, but that was before installing the latest PROM update. I have removed all disks except for the proposed boot disk.
When I boot cdrom I always get:
{1} ok boot cdrom -v
Boot device: /<a href="mailto:pci@1f" target="_blank">pci@1f</a>,4000/<a href="mailto:scsi@2" target="_blank">scsi@2</a>/<a href="mailto:disk@6" target="_blank">disk@6</a>,0:f File and args: -v
Fatal SCSI error at script address 8 Illegal instruction
(i.e. it doesn't even start loading Solaris)
Strangely it will boot from the Solaris 9 and Solaris 10 3/05 installer CDs.
ok probe-scsi
Primary UltraSCSI bus:
Target 0
Unit 0DiskSEAGATE ST318453LC00033JY08TZC
Removeable-Media/External SCSI bus:
...hangs here...
# iostat -En
c1t6d0Soft Errors: 21 Hard Errors: 0 Transport Errors: 0
Vendor: TOSHIBA Product: XM5701TASUN12XCD Revision: 2395 Serial No:
Size: 0.00GB <0 bytes>
Media Error: 0 Device Not Ready: 0 No Device: 0 Recoverable: 0
Illegal Request: 21 Predictive Failure Analysis: 0
I assumed it was related to upgrading the PROM to 106122-11 (latest), i.e.
OBP3.30.0 2003/10/28 15:27
POST6.1.0 2000/10/24 10:49
OBDIAG 4.5.1 2000/10/24 10:48
Therefore I changed the PROM to -10, i.e.
OBP3.26.0 2002/05/06 16:05
POST6.1.0 2000/12/20 16:32
OBDIAG 4.5.1 2000/12/20 16:32
but this hasn't helped. (I've been running the -10 in another almost identical E450 for at least a couple of years without any problems). I have also tried resetting the NVRAM parameters.
I have also tried booting from the disk and copying the CDROM to another disk but then I get random cp errors, e.g. cp: cannot access Solaris_10/Tools/Boot/etc/lvm/md.cf).
Therefore I'm stumped! As far as I can tell the problem could be:
* incompatibility between OBP 3.26/30 with Sun internal CDROM
* some sort of media error on all of the 3 CD images I have burned (although one has worked once)
* some sort of CDROM drive failure (surely an unlikely co-incidence with upgrading the PROM?!)
Any thoughts/suggestions?
Simon
[2533 byte] By [
] at [2007-11-25 22:54:11]
# 1
More info: I'd decided I'd try and jumpstart the machine instead, but am getting funny errors copying the CDs to the jumpstart server:
# cp -pr /cdrom/sol_10_106_sparc .
cp: cannot access /cdrom/sol_10_106_sparc/s1/var/sadm/softinfo/INST_RELEASE
cp: cannot access /cdrom/sol_10_106_sparc/s1/var/ld/32/32/32/32/32/32/32/32/32 /32/32/32/32/32/32/32/32/32/32/32
Definitely looks more like a problem with the CDs themselves now (Memorex 52x CDRs), even though they've worked once. Think I'll try another CD writer and different brand of blank CDs...
at 2007-7-5 17:09:34 >
# 2
Hello,
most likely the CD drive is bad.
The E450 uses a dual-channel SCSI controller, the (optional) tape drive, the CD drive and the external connector are on one channel while the 4 disk backplane is attached to the other (second) channel. If you remove the power- or signal-connector from the CD drive you are able to attach temporarily an external CD (or DVD) drive without the need to change the devalias for the CD drive (must indeed be jumpered/switched as SCSI-ID 6).
(I got a SCSI-IDE converter that allows to use an inexpensive ATAPI DVD drive or burner installed in an external SCSI case).
Archived InfoDoc 21216 with the Device Paths for some systems is still available.
<a href="http://sunsolve.sun.com/handbook_pub/Systems/Exam ple/documents/21216.html" target="_blank"> http://sunsolve.sun.com/handbook_pub/Systems/Example/documen ts/21216.html</a>
Your CD drive is only 12x (won't be able to read CD-RW). Either get a new CD drive or maybe a DVD drive.
Michael
at 2007-7-5 17:09:34 >
# 3
Well, I've just burned another CD - same brand (Memorex) but using Nero Express (5.5.10.26 on Win 2000) at 4x (the slowest speed)... and the E450 booted from it first time!!!
Therefore I've updated the PROM again to 106122-11 latest (since it was nothing to do with that) and have restarted the installer.
Arghh, I've never seen anything like that before! The fact that the first disk I burned worked first time was a complete red herring :-( Before 10 we used to get the Sun media packs but I'm sure I have successfully burned Solaris CDs before (perhaps it was on a different PC).
Thanks for your update Michael - I try to keep well away from the hardware if I can though ;-)
Simon
at 2007-7-5 17:09:34 >
# 4
I was just about to post a lengthy message about very similar problem I've been wrestling with on my E450, but I actually fixed it while writing the message. For what it's worth (it might help someone else):
Solaris 10 failed to install with a CPU panic when I had a secondary disk. I tried everything, including JumpStart, but to no avail. Always with the same message when booting up the installation:
:
:
pseudo-device: trapstat0
trapstat0 is /pseudo/<a href="mailto:trapstat@0" target="_blank">trapstat@0</a>
sd15 at glm0: target 0 lun 0
sd15 is /<a href="mailto:pci@1f" target="_blank">pci@1f</a>,4000/<a href="mailto:scsi@3" target="_blank">scsi@3</a>/<a href="mailto:sd@0" target="_blank">sd@0</a>,0
/
panic[cpu1]/thread=2a100771cc0: BAD TRAP: type=31 rp=2a1007710e0 addr=0 mmu_fsresched: trap type = 0x31
pid=0, pc=0x12407fc, sp=0x2a100770981, tstate=0x4480001607, context=0x0
g1-g7: 8, c, 0, 1c5, 1c4, 10, 2a100771cc0
000002a100770e00 unix:die+78 (31, 2a1007710e0, 0, 0, 2a100770ec0, 1070c00)
%l0-3: 0000000000001fff 0000000000000031 0000000001000000 0000000000002000
%l4-7: 0000000001819368 0000000001819000 000002a100771378 00000000fa222000
:
:
The last thing I did, based on a gut feeling that the device probe somehow went wrong, was to remove the fully working Solaris 9 disk in position 0 and move the secondary disk into it's place. And all by a sudden it worked.
Wild guesses? Solaris 10 gets upset when Solaris 9 is installed? Secondary device causes device probing error? Sunspots? Tony Blair?
The thing is that I'm fairly sure I tried to just remove the second disk. Beats me.
My E450: 4 X UltraSPARC-II 296MHz, 512 MB, OpenBoot 3.16 with CDROM and 2 x 9GB disks:
/<a href="mailto:pci@1f" target="_blank">pci@1f</a>,4000/<a href="mailto:scsi@2" target="_blank">scsi@2</a>
Target 6
Unit 0 Removable Read Only device TOSHIBA XM6201TASUN32XCD1103
/<a href="mailto:pci@1f" target="_blank">pci@1f</a>,4000/<a href="mailto:scsi@3" target="_blank">scsi@3</a>
Target 0
Unit 0 Disk IBM DDRS39130SUN9.0GS98E
Target 1
Unit 0 Disk IBM DDRS39130SUN9.0GS98E
I wasted three night on this, so I hope it can spare someone else the same nuisance.
Cheers,
Dan
at 2007-7-5 17:09:34 >
# 5
E450 Users:
I am interested in hooking up an external DVD to the E450 using a SCSI case. Years ago there used to specifications (sectors sizes being 2048 I believe) and such other limitations that prevented a commodity CD-ROM (or DVD) from booting up on Suns.
What DVD drive can I attached to an E450 (that's SCSI) externally such that it can be booted up for installation of Solaris 10 using an external DVD?
Thanks,
Stuart
