Greetings, all,

I had the rare problem yesterday that my sparcstation wound to a
grinding halt -- almost.

The console getty was not responding, and I'm not sure why.
But I digress.

The real killer was that I dropped into the debugger ("db>"), typed
'sync' and it gleefully threw me a 'panic: kernel data fault', tried
to dump to disk and threw me another one.  This repeated about twelve
times before I finally convinced it to stop (via the power switch).

"Gee, it's never done *that* before."

Enclosed is my kernel config, if that helps.

NetBSD lothlorien.starwolf.com 1.6D NetBSD 1.6D (LOTHLORIEN) #8: Mon Jul 15 \
13:48:55 PDT 2002
--- begin conf/LOTHLORIEN
# LOTHLORIEN: SPARCstation 5/170, 192MB, CD-RW, 9G/4G/2G/2G
include 	"arch/sparc/conf/std.sparc"

options 	INCLUDE_CONFIG_FILE	# embed config file in kernel binary

maxusers	32

## System kernel configuration.  See options(4) for more detail.


# Options for variants of the Sun SPARC architecure.
# We currently support three architecture types; at least one is required.
options 	SUN4M		# sun4m - SS10, SS20, Classic, etc.

## System options specific to the sparc machine type

# Blink the power LED on some machines to indicate the system load.
options 	BLINK

## Use a faster console than the PROM's slow drawing routines.  Not needed
## for headless (no framebuffer) machines.
#options 	RASTERCONSOLE		# fast rasterop console
#options 	FONT_GALLANT12x22	# the console font
#options 	FONT_BOLD8x16		# a somewhat smaller font
## default console colors: black-on-white; this can be changed
## using the following two options.
#options 	RASTERCONSOLE_FGCOL=WSCOL_BLACK
#options 	RASTERCONSOLE_BGCOL=WSCOL_WHITE

#### System options that are the same for all ports

## Root device configuration: change the ?'s if you are going to use a
## nonstandard root partition (other than where the kernel is booted from)
## and/or nonstandard root type (not ffs or nfs).  Normally this can be
## automagically determined at boot time.

config		netbsd	root on ? type ?

## System call tracing (see ktrace(1)).
options 	KTRACE

## Collect statistics on kernel malloc's and free's.  This does have a
## significant performance hit on slower machines, so it is intended for
## diagnostic use only.
#options 	KMEMSTATS

## System V compatible IPC subsystem.  (msgctl(2), semctl(2), and shmctl(2))
options 	SYSVMSG		# System V message queues
options 	SYSVSEM		# System V semaphores
#options 	SEMMNI=10	# number of semaphore identifiers
#options 	SEMMNS=60	# number of semaphores in system
#options 	SEMUME=10	# max number of undo entries per process
#options 	SEMMNU=30	# number of undo structures in system
options 	SYSVSHM		# System V shared memory
#options 	SHMMAXPGS=1024	# 1024 pages is the default

## Loadable kernel module support; still under development.
#options 	LKM

#options 	USERCONF	# userconf(4) support
#options	PIPE_SOCKETPAIR	# smaller, but slower pipe(2)

## NFS boot options; tries DHCP/BOOTP then BOOTPARAM
options 	NFS_BOOT_BOOTPARAM
#options 	NFS_BOOT_BOOTP
options 	NFS_BOOT_DHCP

#### Debugging options

## The DDB in-kernel debugger runs at panic (unless DDB_ONPANIC=0), or at
## serial console break or keyboard reset, where the PROM would normally
## intercept.  DDB_HISTORY_SIZE adds up/down arrow command history.
options 	DDB			# kernel dynamic debugger
#options 	DDB_HISTORY_SIZE=100	# enable history editing in DDB
options 	DDB_ONPANIC=0		# see also sysctl(8): `ddb.onpanic'

## You may also use gdb, on another computer connected to this machine over
## a serial port.  Both KGDB_DEV and KGDB_DEVRATE should be specified;
## KGDB_DEV is a dev_t encoded device number of the serial port to use, where
## the minor device number encodes the PROM enumeration of the serial ports,
## i.e.:
## 0xc00 = ttya, 0xc01 = ttyb, 0xc02 = ttyc, 0xc03 = ttyd.
## (Note: ttyc and ttyd are available only on some sun4 models)
#options 	KGDB			# support for kernel gdb
#options 	KGDB_DEV=0xc01		# kgdb device number (this is `ttyb')
#options 	KGDB_DEVRATE=38400	# baud rate


## Compile the kernel with debugging symbols (`netbsd.gdb' is the debug file),
## such that gdb(1) can be used on a kernel coredump.

#makeoptions	DEBUG="-g"


## Adds code to the kernel that does internal consistency checks, and will
## cause the kernel to panic if corruption of internal data structures
## is detected.
#options 	DIAGNOSTIC	# extra kernel sanity checking

## Enable (possibly expensive) debugging code that may also display messages
## on the system console
#options 	DEBUG

## Make SCSI error messages more verbose when explaining their meanings.
options 	SCSIVERBOSE

options 	MIIVERBOSE	# verbose PHY autoconfig messages

## `INSECURE' turns off the kernel security level (securelevel = 0 always).
## This allows writing to /dev/mem, loading kernel modules while multi-user,
## and other insecurities good only for development work.  Do not use this
## option on a production machine.
#options 	INSECURE

## Allow non-root users to grab /dev/console with programs such as xconsole.
## `xconsole' therefore does not need setuid root with this option enabled.
#options 	UCONSOLE

## `FDSCRIPTS' allows non-readable but executable scripts by providing a
## pre-opened opaque file to the script interpreter.  `SETUIDSCRIPTS',
## which implies FDSCRIPTS, allows scripts to be set-user-id using the same
## opaque file mechanism.  Perl calls this "secure setuid scripts."

options 	FDSCRIPTS
options 	SETUIDSCRIPTS

## Options for compatibility with previous releases foreign system binaries.
## In the cases of COMPAT_SUNOS and COMPAT_SVR4, you may need to set up
## additional user-level utilities or system configuration files. See
## compat_sunos(8) and compat_svr4(8).

#options 	COMPAT_43	# 4.3BSD system interfaces
#options 	COMPAT_10	# NetBSD 1.0 binary compatibility
#options 	COMPAT_11	# NetBSD 1.1 binary compatibility
#options 	COMPAT_12	# NetBSD 1.2 binary compatibility
options 	COMPAT_13	# NetBSD 1.3 binary compatibility
options 	COMPAT_14	# NetBSD 1.4 binary compatibility
options 	COMPAT_SUNOS	# SunOS 4.x binary compatibility
options 	COMPAT_SVR4	# SunOS 5.x binary compatibility

## File systems.  You probably need at least one of FFS or NFS.
file-system	FFS		# Berkeley Fast Filesystem
file-system	NFS		# Sun NFS-compatible filesystem client
file-system	KERNFS		# kernel data-structure filesystem
file-system	NULLFS		# NULL layered filesystem
file-system 	OVERLAY		# overlay file system
file-system	MFS		# memory-based filesystem
file-system	FDESC		# user file descriptor filesystem
#file-system	UMAPFS		# uid/gid remapping filesystem
#file-system	LFS		# Log-based filesystem (still experimental)
#file-system	PORTAL		# portal filesystem (still experimental)
file-system	PROCFS		# /proc
file-system	CD9660		# ISO 9660 + Rock Ridge file system
file-system	UNION		# union file system
file-system	MSDOSFS		# MS-DOS FAT filesystem(s).
#file-system	CODA		# Coda File System; also needs vcoda (below)

## File system options.
options 	NFSSERVER	# Sun NFS-compatible filesystem server
options 	QUOTA		# FFS quotas
#options 	FFS_EI		# FFS Endian Independent support
options 	SOFTDEP		# FFS soft updates support.

## Network protocol support.  In most environments, INET is required.
options 	INET		# IP (Internet Protocol) v4
#options 	INET6		# IPV6
#options 	IPSEC		# IP security
#options 	IPSEC_ESP	# IP security (encryption part; define w/IPSEC)
#options 	IPSEC_DEBUG	# debug for IP security
options 	GATEWAY		# packet forwarding ("router switch")
options 	MROUTING	# packet forwarding of multicast packets
#options 	DIRECTED_BROADCAST	# allow broadcasts through routers
#options 	NS		# Xerox NS networking
#options 	NSIP		# Xerox NS tunneling over IP
#options 	ISO,TPIP	# OSI networking
#options 	EON		# OSI tunneling over IP
#options 	CCITT,LLC,HDLC	# X.25 packet switched protocol
options 	NETATALK	# AppleTalk (over Ethernet) protocol
options 	NTP		# Network Time Protocol in-kernel support
#options 	PPS_SYNC	# Add serial line synchronization for NTP
options 	PFIL_HOOKS	# Add pfil(9) hooks, intended for custom LKMs.
options 	IPFILTER_LOG	# Add ipmon(8) logging for ipfilter device
#options 	PPP_BSDCOMP	# Add BSD compression to ppp device
#options 	PPP_DEFLATE	# Add deflate (libz) compression to ppp device
#options 	PPP_FILTER	# Add active filters for ppp (via bpf)



#### Main bus and CPU .. all systems.
mainbus0 at root
cpu0	at mainbus0

#### Bus types found on SPARC systems.

obio0	at mainbus0				# sun4 and sun4m
iommu0	at mainbus0				# sun4m
sbus0	at iommu0				# sun4m

## SBus to PCMCIA bridge
# Currently enabling nell* with audioamd* causes panic at attach
#nell*	at sbus? slot ? offset ?		# PCMCIA bridge
#pcmcia*	at nell?

#### Standard system devices -- all required for a given architecture

## Auxiliary system registers on sun4c and sun4m
auxreg0	at obio0				# sun4m

## Power status and control register on Sun4m systems
power0	at obio0

## Mostek clock found on 4/300, sun4c, and sun4m systems.
## The Mostek clock NVRAM is the "eeprom" on sun4/300 systems.
clock0	at obio0				# sun4m

## Memory error registers.
memreg0	at obio0				# sun4m

## ECC memory control
eccmemctl0 at mainbus0				# sun4m

## Timer chip found on 4/300, sun4c, and sun4m systems.
timer0	at obio0				# sun4m

#### Serial port configuration

## Zilog 8530 serial chips.  Each has two-channels.
## zs0 is ttya and ttyb.  zs1 is the keyboard and mouse.
zs0	at obio0					# sun4m
zstty0	at zs0 channel 0				# ttya
zstty1	at zs0 channel 1				# ttyb

zs1	at obio0					# sun4m
kbd0	at zs1 channel 0				# keyboard
ms0	at zs1 channel 1				# mouse

## NS16x50 serial chips and clones.  Present on the
## Sun JavaStation-1 and Tadpole SPARCbook 3
com*	at obio0					# sun4m

# Parallel port.
bpp*	at sbus? slot? offset ?

## PCMCIA serial interfaces
#com*	at pcmcia?
#pcmcom*	at pcmcia?
#com*	at pcmcom?

#### Disk controllers and disks

#

## The following flags may be set for the NCR53c94 based esp driver:
##	bits 0-7:  disable disconnect/reselect for the corresponding target
##	bits 8-15: disable synchronous negotiation for target [bit-8]

dma0	at sbus0 slot ? offset ?			# sun4c/sun4m
esp0	at dma0 flags 0x0000				# sun4m

# FSBE/S SCSI
dma*	at sbus? slot ? offset ?			# SBus
esp*	at sbus? slot ? offset ? flags 0x0000		# SBus (older proms)
esp*	at dma? flags 0x0000				# SBus

scsibus0 at esp?
scsibus1 at esp?

## Qlogic ISP SBus SCSI Card
isp*	at sbus? slot ? offset ?
scsibus* at isp?

## These entries find devices on all SCSI busses and assign
## unit numbers dynamically.
sd0	at scsibus0 target 0 lun 0
sd1	at scsibus0 target 1 lun 0
sd2	at scsibus0 target 2 lun 0
sd3	at scsibus0 target 3 lun 0
sd4	at scsibus0 target 4 lun 0
sd5	at scsibus0 target 5 lun 0
sd*	at scsibus? target ? lun ?		# SCSI disks
st0	at scsibus0 target 4 lun 0
st1	at scsibus0 target 5 lun 0
st*	at scsibus? target ? lun ?		# SCSI tapes
cd0	at scsibus0 target 6 lun 0
cd1	at scsibus0 target 5 lun 0
cd*	at scsibus? target ? lun ?		# SCSI CD-ROMs
ch*	at scsibus? target ? lun ?		# SCSI changer devices
ss*	at scsibus? target ? lun ?		# SCSI scanners
ses*	at scsibus? target ? lun ?		# SCSI SES/SAF-TE
uk*	at scsibus? target ? lun ?		# unknown SCSI


## Floppy controller and drive found on SPARCstations.

fdc0	at obio0				# sun4m controller
fd*	at fdc0					# the drive itself

## A disk-like interface to files.  Can be used to create floppy, CD,
## miniroot images, etc.

pseudo-device	vnd	4

## Concatenated and striped disks; with this, you can create a software-based
## disk array similar to a "RAID 0" setup.  See ccd(4).

pseudo-device	ccd	4

## RAIDframe disk driver: software RAID driver.  See raid(4).

pseudo-device	raid	8
options 	RAID_AUTOCONFIG		# auto-configuration of RAID components
# Options to enable various other RAIDframe RAID types.
#options	RF_INCLUDE_EVENODD=1
#options	RF_INCLUDE_RAID5_RS=1
#options	RF_INCLUDE_PARITYLOGGING=1
#options	RF_INCLUDE_CHAINDECLUSTER=1
#options	RF_INCLUDE_INTERDECLUSTER=1
#options	RF_INCLUDE_PARITY_DECLUSTERING=1
#options	RF_INCLUDE_PARITY_DECLUSTERING_DS=1


## Memory disk device, used on boot floppies with compressed
## kernel-plus-root-disk images.

#pseudo-device	md	1


#### Network interfaces

## LANCE Ethernet - an AMD 7990 LANCE behind specialized DMA glue
## Three flavors of additional SBus ethernets are available.  One attaches
## directly like the sun4c on-board, one uses the ledma device like the
## sun4m on-board, and one uses the lebuffer device.

ledma0		at sbus0 slot ? offset ?		# sun4m on-board
le0		at ledma0				# sun4m on-board
le*		at sbus? slot ? offset ?		# SBus
ledma*		at sbus? slot ? offset ?		# SBus
le*		at ledma?				# SBus
lebuffer0	at sbus? slot ? offset ?		# SBus
le0		at lebuffer?				# SBus
lebuffer*	at sbus? slot ? offset ?		# SBus
le*		at lebuffer?				# SBus


## Happy Meal Ethernet
hme*	at sbus? slot ? offset ?

# MII/PHY support
exphy*	at mii? phy ?			# 3Com internal PHYs
icsphy*	at mii? phy ?			# Integrated Circuit Systems ICS189x
inphy*	at mii? phy ?			# Intel 82555 PHYs
lxtphy*	at mii? phy ?			# Level One LXT-970 PHYs
nsphy*	at mii? phy ?			# NS83840 PHYs
qsphy*	at mii? phy ?			# Quality Semiconductor QS6612 PHYs
sqphy*	at mii? phy ?			# Seeq 80220/80221/80223 PHYs
tlphy*	at mii? phy ?			# ThunderLAN PHYs
ukphy*	at mii? phy ?			# generic unknown PHYs

## Loopback network interface; required
pseudo-device	loop

## SLIP and CSLIP interfaces, for IP over a serial line.
pseudo-device	sl		2

## PPP, the successor to SLIP.  See pppd(8).
#pseudo-device	ppp		2

## PPP over Ethernet (RFC 2516)
#pseudo-device	pppoe

## Starmode Radio IP, a special hardware network device.
#pseudo-device	strip		1

## Network "tunnel" device, allowing protocol stacks to run in the userland.
## This is used by the third-party user-mode "ppp" program, and others.
pseudo-device	tun		4

## Generic L3 over IP tunnel
#pseudo-device	gre		2	# generic L3 over IP tunnel

## Berkeley Packet Filter, required to run RARPD.  A generic C-language
## interface that allows selective examining of incoming packets.
pseudo-device	bpfilter	8

## IP Filter, used in firewall and NAT applications.  See ipnat(8) for
## one example of the use of the IP Filter.
pseudo-device	ipfilter

## for IPv6
pseudo-device	gif		4	# IPv[46] over IPv[46] tunnel (RFC1933)
#pseudo-device	faith		1	# IPv[46] tcp relay translation i/f
#pseudo-device	stf		1	# 6to4 IPv6 over IPv4 encapsulation

## IEEE 802.1Q Virtual LAN encapsulation, see vlan(4).
pseudo-device	vlan

## Simple inter-network traffic bridging
pseudo-device	bridge

#### Audio and video devices

## /dev/audio support (`audioamd' plus `audio')
##
audioamd0	at sbus0 slot ? offset ?		# sun4m
audio*		at audioamd0

audiocs0	at sbus0 slot ? offset ?		# SUNW,CS4231
audio*		at audiocs0


## Sun "bwtwo" black and white framebuffer, found on sun4, sun4c, and sun4m
## systems.  If your sun4 system has a cgfour installed in the P4 slot,
## the P4 entries for "bwtwo" will attach to the overlay plane of the
## "cgfour".

bwtwo0		at sbus0 slot ? offset ?		# sun4c and sun4m
bwtwo*		at sbus? slot ? offset ?		#

## Sun "cgthree" Sbus color framebuffer
cgthree0	at sbus? slot ? offset ?
cgthree*	at sbus? slot ? offset ?
#cgthree0	at obio? slot ? offset ?		# sun4m

## Sun "cgsix" accelerated color framebuffer.
cgsix0		at sbus? slot ? offset ?
cgsix*		at sbus? slot ? offset ?

## Sun "tcx" accelerated color framebuffer.
tcx0		at sbus? slot ? offset ?
tcx*		at sbus? slot ? offset ?

# Sun "cgfourteen" accelerated 24-bit framebuffer.
cgfourteen0	at obio0			# sun4m

## Pseudo ttys, required for network logins and programs like screen.

pseudo-device	pty			# pseudo-terminals

## Random device, used to implement /dev/random (a source of random noise),
## and generate randomness for some kernel formulae.

pseudo-device	rnd

# a pseudo device needed for Coda	# also needs CODA (above)
#pseudo-device	vcoda		4	# coda minicache <-> venus comm.

pseudo-device	clockctl		# user control of clock subsystem

----- end conf/LOTHLORIEN
				--*greywolf;
--
NetBSD: it'll be there when you're ready for it.