Bug#275627: [sparc][netinst][20041007] failure: sun blade 100

[Vincent McIntyre <Vince.McIntyre@atnf.csiro.au>]

Package: installation-reports
Severity: critical

INSTALL REPORT

Debian-installer-version:
 netinst 20041007 from
 http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimage-testing/daily/sparc/20041007/sarge-sparc-netinst.iso (md5sum b370379763a9e7efbe3439ab5c16113e )

 % file sarge-sparc-netinst.iso
  sarge-sparc-netinst.iso: Sun disk label 'CD-ROM Disc with Sun sparc boot created by mkisofs' 768 alts/cyl, 768 data cyls, 127 alt cyls, 8323840 blocks, boot block present

uname -a: 2.4.27
Date: 2004 10 8
Method:
  hit L1-A after openboot banner appears
  type 'boot cdrom'  in OpenBoot Prom 4.0
  type <return> to start installer

Machine: Sun SunBlade 100
Processor: Ultrasparc-IIe  (ie sun4u, or "sparc64" arch)
Memory: 384Mb
Root Device: ide
Root Size/partition table:

Output of lspci and lspci -n:

Base System Installation Checklist:
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it

Initial boot worked:    [E]
Configure network HW:   [ ]
Config network:         [ ]
Detect CD:              [ ]
Load installer modules: [ ]
Detect hard drives:     [ ]
Partition hard drives:  [ ]
Create file systems:    [ ]
Mount partitions:       [ ]
Install base system:    [ ]
Install boot loader:    [ ]
Reboot:                 [ ]

Comments/Problems:

The netinst cdrom is _still_ panicing with this message:
 Allocated 8 Megs of memory at 0x40000000 for kernel
 Loading initial ram disk of 2890906 bytes at 0x2F800000 phys ...something...
 .... lots of messages missing ....
 NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0.
 RAMDISK: couldn't find valid ram disk image starting at 0
 Freeing initrd memory: 2823k freed
 cramfs: wrong magic
 Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 00:00
  Press L1-A to return to the boot prom

However if I boot _again_, I get to the "Choose Language" prompt.
Unfortunately at this point the USB keyboard does not work, not even L1-A.

If I boot a third time, I get to the same situation.

I tried unplugging the usb mouse, leaving just the keyboard in.
This made no difference.


I could not obtain any boot logs, apart from what I could transcribe
from the screen.

The woody installer fails too, with
   Cannot find /boot/sparc64.gz
(this may be my fault, I am not sure if the disc was sparc32-only)