Subject: Re: Erratic booting & panics
To: Jeffrey Ohlmann <jaohlma@wcnet.org>
From: Simon Raahauge DeSantis <xiamin@scdesantis.ne.mediaone.net>
List: port-mac68k
Date: 10/12/1998 21:06:35
On Mon, Oct 12, 1998 at 05:49:36PM -0400, Jeffrey Ohlmann wrote:
> 
> I have a Q650, running NetBSD 1.3.2 with a generic kernel.  The machine is 
> very nice when it's up and running, often for weeks at a time.  When 
> circumstances make it necessary to shutdown & reboot, the following 
> sequence of events occurs, with alarming regularity:
> 
> 1. shutdown -r from NetBSD; Mac reboots and I get chimes of death and a 
> sad mac.
> 2. Restart Mac.  Boots into MacOS fine.
> 3. Boot NetBSD.  Boot proceeds a short way and then the kernel panics.  
> Reboot from the debugger.  Mac OS boots fine.
> 4. Boot NetBSD again.  This time a nasty kernel panic with pages and 
> pages of errors flying by.  Restart the Mac with the power button.  MacOS 
> boots fine.
> 5. Boot NetBSD again, and this time no problems, we're back up and running.
> 
> Any thoughts on why this is happening?  I am making no changes to 
> anything between the boot attempts.
> 

Hmmmm, I have a Q650 myself. It's been such a long time since I
actually used shutdown -r that I'm not sure if I've encountered a
similar thing. I do remember the chimes of death problem, and I think
I remember that something weird happened also, but not what. ;)
Here's what I did: I screwed in the power switch in the back. A
quarter turn will do it. That way if the power goes out, the machine
boots right up when the power comes back (I live in what's called the
'historical district' of town, and power outages are more than
infrequent). Additionally the machine boots back up after shutdown
-h. It powers down for a second or two, and then switches right back
on. The few times I've really wanted to switch the machine off I've
just done something like 'shutdown -h +1' and crawled under the desk
so I can just switch off the power strip when the machine powers
down. This may not be what you want of course, but it certainly does
avoid the problem you've described (I think).

-- 
-Simon Raahauge DeSantis