Subject: NetBSD bug or hardware issue?
To: None <port-sparc64@NetBSD.org>
From: Raymond Meyer <raymond.meyer@rambler.ru>
List: port-sparc64
Date: 05/31/2007 23:33:32
Hi, I have Ultra 10 which I use with NetBSD and Solaris. I noticed a weird
behaviour that occurs when I run NetBSD on this machine:

The machine has been running NetBSD for several days and compiling software
from pkgsrc. I needed to reboot it, so I exited X11 and at the console I typed
'reboot'. The machine got reset, but it didn't boot again, i.e. the monitor was
blank and it wouldn't boot into openboot. I turned the power off, waited a few
minutes then turned it back on, the discs and power supply fan started
spinning, but the green light above the power button would not come on and the
machine would not boot. It seemed like it was left braindead and there was
nothing I could do about it. I left the machine turned off and disconnected for
several days and then I tried it again and it was working fine!

This happens on rare occasions and I don't think it can be reproduced. It
happened to me several times when I typed 'reboot' from NetBSD. The annoying
thing is the machine does not boot anymore and needs to be left disconnected
for several days.

This has never happened while it was running Solaris and it was running Solaris
all the time, much longer than it was running NetBSD. This makes me think it's
not a hardware problem, but something to do with NetBSD.

Is it possible that NetBSD accesses certain parts of the system I/O space or
something else, that causes the machine to fail to boot after a reboot? Can
anyone think of anything?