Re: SILO problems

[LannerHawk@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/22/99 10:36:36 AM US Mountain Standard Time, 
yashi@nortelnetworks.com writes:

>   Installing on a sparcstation two, I'm trying to reboot. 
>    In my /etc/silo.conf:
>  
>    partition=1
>    root=/dev/sda1
>    timeout=100
>    image=vmlinuz
>    label=Linux
>  
>    I then run: # /sbin/silo
>     and it brings me back to a root prompt.
>     However when I reboot, I don't even get the "S" from SILO, but the
>  followong error message:
>  
>     File and args:
>     Illegal Instruction
>     Type help for more information
>     ok



This was a big problem that I had with my SS10 when I first put Debian on it, 
and it took a few weeks before I figured out the problem.  I had to boot from 
a floppy every time I started the SPARC10.  I am by no means a LINUX or SPARC 
expert, so quickly strike down what might be misinformation from me.

I was new to the type of support that a SPARC requires, but had Debian on an 
Intel based machine previously.  The SPARC will require a "Big Partition", or 
"Whole Disk partition" which I believe is the same thing as what some refer 
to as the "Sun Disk Label," thought I am not absolutely sure that is 
accurate.  The Whole Disk partition is type 5, if you use the L list command 
within the partition program.  You need a Whole Disk partition on the disk, 
and then your Linux Native partition and Linux Swap partition inside of this. 
 The S command does this all for you, usually.  If you are not getting that 
"S" option under fdisk, then you that disk might not be bootable.  You have 
no been playing around with the hardware, have you?

Setup of partitions on a SPARC is nowhere near the same as it is on an Intel 
machine, which may be where your previous experiences come from.  I am a 
Novell admin, trying to learn UNIX.  Shoot me.





In a message dated 9/22/99 11:54:24 AM US Mountain Standard Time, 
jfraley@sansgarbage.com writes:

> there is an option in fdisk (option s)
>  that allows you to do this ..



This is a very good idea, but on my resuce disk, this option is not always 
listed.  It is there after I have configured the disks right, but was not 
listed in the fdisk prompt during dbootstrap the first few times around.  
Pressing M should gives you the help list of options, but S sometimes goes 
away if the fdisk program thinks that the disk is not bootable, for what 
reasons I do not know.  The option will still be available, but not listed.  
This problem had been addressed before on the Debian SPARC eMail list a few 
months back, but I do not know if anything was ever done about it.





In a message dated 9/23/99 10:01:55 AM US Mountain Standard Time, 
yashi@nortelnetworks.com writes:

> I tried "setenv boot-device /dev/sda1" at the ok prompt, but had no
>  luck. How do I specify for it to use the first partition on the first
>  harddrive in a sparcstation10?



Type "help boot" at the PROM prompt to get examples of the syntax.  Use 
"printenv" to list out the environment variables.  To my understanding, the 
typical ID that a SPARC uses to boot from disk is SCSI ID 3, though I do not 
think that this matters so long as the PROM is programmed right.  Use 
"probe-scsi", or "probe-scsi-all" to get the ID listing of your SCSI devices. 
 The IDs will be listed after the word "Target."



I hope that this assists you in some way



Jesse Molina-Lanners                    LannerHawk@aol.com
Phoenix Arizona