Re: extracting base.tgz hangs

[Manuel Bouyer <bouyer%antioche.eu.org@localhost>]

On Fri, May 06, 2011 at 09:37:03PM +0000, Emil Skoeldberg wrote:
> In the process of trying to upgrading from 5.0 to 5.1 (i386) I ran
> into a problem when extracting base.tgz The first attempt
> tar zpxvf base.tgz
> ran for a while, but then hanged. I could get a response
> when pinging the machine, and switch between virtual consoles, but
> nothing more - no response from any shell. A second attempt
> more or less immediately hanged.
> 
> All this is a bit annoying, but a more pressing problem arose during
> the second rebooting after powering off the machine:
> 
> panic: init died (signal 6, exit 5)
> 
> and then I'm in the debugger. I suppose the file system didn't really
> like the power cut. This leaves me with a few questions:
> 
> 1) What is the reason for the tar/pax failure? [I don't know how
> related it is, but I've previously noticed that disk i/o does not
> complete without a bit of nudging - e.g. pressing return a few times
> during fsck etc.]
> 
> 2) What should I have done instead of cutting the power when the
> system became unresponsive?
> 
> 3) Is there anything I can do now? (except for trying to find a
> floppy/cdrom drive from which I can boot and do an upgrade)

You can try to boot using rescue/ binaries:
at boot prompt, type 'boot -a'
when the kernel asks for init path, enter /rescue/init instead
of /sbin/init
then you may be able to recover/complete the upgrade using the tools
in /rescue

-- 
Manuel Bouyer <bouyer%antioche.eu.org@localhost>
     NetBSD: 26 ans d'experience feront toujours la difference
--