I tried to upgrade my VAXstation 3100 M38 (with a 2 GB sd0) with
sysinst. It seems to fail when it wants to fsck the disk. It also
executes an illegal instruction when you hit ^C. When rerunning sysinst
to capture the serial console output, it already hits the illegal
instruction sooner.


 Welcome to sysinst, the NetBSD-4.99.17 system installation tool.  This
 menu-driven tool is designed to help you install NetBSD to a hard disk, or
 upgrade an existing NetBSD system, with a minimum of work.
 In the following menus type the reference letter (a, b, c, ...) to select an
 item, or type CTRL+N/CTRL+P to select the next/previous item.
 The arrow keys and Page-up/Page-down may also work.
 Activate the current selection from the menu by typing the enter key.

 


                +---------------------------------------------+
                |>a: Installation messages in English         |
                | b: Messages d'installation en français      |
                | c: Installation auf Deutsch                 |
                | d: Komunikaty instalacyjne w jezyku polskim |
                | e: Mensajes de instalación en castellano    |
                +---------------------------------------------+



 Welcome to sysinst, the NetBSD-4.99.17 system installation tool.  This
 menu-driven tool is designed to help you install NetBSD to a hard disk, or
 upgrade an existing NetBSD system, with a minimum of work.
 In the following menus type the reference letter (a, b, c, ...) to select an
 item, or type CTRL+N/CTRL+P to select the next/previous item.
 The arrow keys and Page-up/Page-down may also work.
 Activate the current selection from the menu by typing the enter key.

 If you booted from a floppy, you may now remove the disk.

 Thank you for using NetBSD!

               +-----------------------------------------------+
               | NetBSD-4.99.17 Install System                 |
               |                                               |
               | a: Install NetBSD to hard disk                |
               |>b: Upgrade NetBSD on a hard disk              |
               | c: Re-install sets or install additional sets |
               | d: Reboot the computer                        |
               | e: Utility menu                               |
               | x: Exit Install System                        |
               +-----------------------------------------------+



 Ok, lets upgrade NetBSD on your hard disk.  As always, this will change
 information on your hard disk.  You should have made a full backup before 
 this procedure!  Do you really want to upgrade NetBSD?  (This is your last
 warning before this procedure starts modifying your disks.)
 
 
 

 
                               +---------------+
                               | yes or no?    |
                               |               |
                               | a: No         |
                               |>b: Yes        |
                               +---------------+




 Ok, lets upgrade NetBSD on your hard disk.  As always, this will change
 information on your hard disk.  You should have made a full backup before 
 this procedure!  Do you really want to upgrade NetBSD?  (This is your last
 warning before this procedure starts modifying your disks.)
 
 
 

 
                               +---------------+
                               | yes or no?    |
                               |               |
                               | a: No         |
                               |uid 0, pid 26, command sysinst, on /: file system full                         +---------------+

/: write failed, file sypid 26 (sysinst): user write of 135172@0x175000 at 70348 failed: 28
stem is full
[1]   Illegal instruction     sysinst
# 

After a reboot, it manages to continue beyond this point, like it did
the first time:


 I found only one disk, sd0.
 Therefore I assume you want to upgrade NetBSD on it.
 
 
 
 
 

 
                           +-----------------------+
                           |>Hit enter to continue |
                           +-----------------------+
 


 The NetBSD distribution is broken into a collection of distribution sets.
 There are some basic sets that are needed by all installations and there are
 some other sets that are not needed by all installations.  You may choose to
 install a core set (Minimal installation), all of them (Full installation) or
 you select from the optional distribution sets.
 
 

 

 
                        +-----------------------------+
                        | Select your distribution    |
                        |                             |
                        |>a: Full installation        |
                        | b: Minimal installation     |
                        | c: Custom installation      |
                        +-----------------------------+



     Status: Command failed
    Command: (null) -p -q /dev/rsd0a
     Hit enter to continue
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
: execvp (null): No such file or directory



 It appears that /dev/sd0a is not a BSD file system or the fsck was not
 successful.  The upgrade has been aborted.  (Error number 1.)
 






                           +-----------------------+
                           |>Hit enter to continue |
                           +-----------------------+


 It appears that /dev/sd0a is not a BSD file system or the fsck was not
 successful.  The upgrade has been aborted.  (Error number 1.)
 






                           +-----------------------+
                           |uid 0, pid 13, command sysinst, on /: file system full                         +-----------------------+

/: write failed, file syspid 13 (sysinst): user write of 135172@0x175000 at 80864 failed: 28
tem is full
[1]   Segmentation fault      sysinst
# 

-Olaf.
-- 
___ Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert      -- You author it, and I'll reader it.
\X/ rhialto/at/xs4all.nl        -- Cetero censeo "authored" delendum esse.