> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrew Obusek [mailto:obusek@UDel.Edu]
> Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 11:12 AM
> Cc: port-sparc@netbsd.org
> Subject: Re: CDROM drives
> 
> 
> Hi
> I've had similar problems in that I'm pretty sure I burned 
> the iso image
> correctly with labels and everything, but in using a SCSI Mac cdrom
> extrenally to my Sparc 1+, it will try to boot from teh cdrom 
> (reading it
> for a couple minutes) and finally giving a couple errors 
> about not being
> able to read various disk labels.  I've got a bunch of HDs al of which
> have garbage on them.
I have 3 things to note about this:
When I had problems like this with my cdrom, the disks always read fine
in other drives. Also, I had the same kinds of problems when cd-r's first
were introduced; most readers couldn't handle them 100% of the time.
And as far as the disk labels go, you might be booting from the wrong slice.
My SS1 is *ancient*, having a 1.0 OpenBoot(boot cdrom didn't work). I had
to say boot sd(0,6,2) (I think) to get solaris 2.6 to even think about
installing.
> So my question is, any ideas about the problems booting from teh cd?
> Could it be the cd burned incorrectly?  The fact it isa CDR?  
> Or a problem
> with teh drive itself?  And then, is what you are saying 
> about dd'ing the
> cd over to one of hte hd's possible with my setup?
> -Andy
About dd'ing the cd: Yes. I did exactly that. I took a spare scsi drive
out of my sparc and installed it into a linux box that was already setup.
I then used "dd if=/dev/scd0 of=/dev/sdb" to copy an image of the cd
onto the hard drive. I then reinstalled that harddrive back into the sun.
The original hd was on ID3, I put the "image" hd on ID6, and said:
"boot sd(0,6,2)" to openboot... and it installed. The main benefit of
doing things this way is that you pretty much eliminate problems with bad
media during install, as you'll notice during the dd if there's trouble
reading the original media right away...

Sorry for the continuing linux references here. I've used un*x for a long
time, but I'm fairly new to any of the modern BSD's...

-Greg Lim
glim-at-infistar-dot-com

> 
> On Mon, 27 Jan 2003, Greg Lim wrote:
> 
> > Hi all...
> >
> > I've had trouble also, trying to find a cdrom drive to boot 
> a Sparc from.
> > Here's my solution: Use the "dd" command.
> >
> > I've tried this on x86 and a SparcStation1 as well as even an
> > Intergraph2000 box(running clix though...)
> >
> > I just setup an el-cheapo Linux box and dd'd the entire 
> contents of the boot
> > cdrom to a spare SCSI hard drive. Then I set the spare hard 
> drive up with
> > the
> > SCSI ID normally used by the cdrom. If you have an external 
> enclosure, you
> > can even swap "cdrom's" if you are careful.
> >
> > dd if=/dev/hdc of=/dev/sda
> > or
> > dd if=/dev/scd0 of=/dev/sda
> >
> > Worked great, and it was faster than a cdrom install and I think
> > it may have been faster than a network install.
> >
> > Oh, and if anybody wants the Intergraph box, you can have 
> it. Just ask. I
> > live in
> > Atlanta GA....
> >
> > -Greg Lim
> > glim-at-infistar-dot-com
> > -
> >
>