non-SMP Kernel on Sparc machines using dual-cpu boards
Hi,
I'm duscissing the problem with a contact at Sun, we'll investigate
further - but here's the first summary from him:
---
SPARC machines from Sun boot in single-processor mode until the kernel
enables multiprocessing. POST (Power On Self Test) runs in parallel
but when OBP (OpenBoot Prom) is entered the machine is back in single
processor mode. You can switch to another processor with the OBP command
switch-cpu . Solaris boots in single user mode and then switches on
multiprocessing at a certain stage. In SunOS 4.1.x and in the early
Solaris 2.x versions this was indicated on the console, but the message
was eliminated later to display only important messages.
I am not sure, whether the message is still visible, if you boot
Solaris with -v (f.e. on the ok prompt enter: boot disk0 -sv).
Looking at the output of the boot process it looks to me like the cache
of the UltraSPARC III processor is not initialized properly - and that
causes the panic.
But the real interpretation can be done with interpreting AFAR and AFSR
register outputs.
On which machines does the kernel boot properly?
Remember that UltraSPARC II processors have a different architecture
and UltraSPARC IIi and IIIi also are different!
Perhaps you should have a look into the Gentoo source
(if the political situation between Gentoo and Debian allows this...).
I once had a heavy discussion to get the UltraSPARC III docs for Rock
Linux and even TDR from FreeBSD shouted on me (perhaps I am now on his
list...).
The situation is, that the UltraSPARC port was done by an intern over
the summer break, he was able to use the docs, but not allowed to
publish them. The boot code was allowed to be published.
The problem is, that somebody has to pay the lawyer to check the docs
for publication. It is difficult to get the money for a dead end product.
Because Sun does not produce US-III anymore and sells only the rest stock.
Suns new architectures are published shortly after they reach the market
see the UltraSPARC T1 docs on opensparc.net. Recently also the follow-on
processor (T2) docs were published there before the product has
general availability.
---
I'll keep updates posted.
--
Bernd Zeimetz
<bernd@bzed.de> <http://bzed.de/>
Reply to: