port-hpcmips/50885: NetBSD/hpcmips >= 6.0 is unusable on VR4121 processors

[miod%online.fr@localhost]

>Number:         50885
>Category:       port-hpcmips
>Synopsis:       NetBSD/hpcmips >= 6.0 is unusable on VR4121 processors
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       critical
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    port-hpcmips-maintainer
>State:          open
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Wed Mar 02 18:25:00 +0000 2016
>Originator:     Miod Vallat
>Release:        >= 6
>Organization:
>Environment:
NetBSD assac.gentiane.org 5.2.3 NetBSD 5.2.3 (GENERIC) #0: Sat Nov 15 21:23:59 UTC 2014  builds%b41.netbsd.org@localhost:/home/builds/ab/netbsd-5-2-3-RELEASE/hpcmips/201411152021Z-obj/home/source/ab/netbsd-5-2-3-RELEASE/src/sys/arch/hpcmips/compile/GENERIC hpcmips

>Description:
Any NetBSD version after 5.2.3 is unusable on the VR4121-powered NEC MobilePro 790.

NetBSD 6.x (up to 6.1.1) are unusable because sets extraction fail with a lot of ``tar: Invalid header, starting valid header search.'' and ``tar: Header checksum XXXXX does not match YYYYY''. Then ``gzip: invalid compressed data--crc error''. It is not possible to install enough of base in order to try and continue.

NetBSD 7.0 onwards (up to NetBSD-daily from 201602280600Z) drop into the kernel debugger during sets extraction, which yields something like this:
Stopped in pid 0.34 (system) at 8002a4c4:       lw      v0,8(s0)
db> show panic
Panic string: (null)
db> c
Stopped in pid 0.34 (system) at 8002947c:       lw      v1,0(v0)
db> c
ktlbmod: 0xdeadbeef: invalid pte

Of course, since hpcboot.exe can not load symbols from a separate file, nothing more can be done from the debugger: `ps' fails with `db_read_ptr: cannot find `allproc'', and other functions fail due to other unknown symbols.

The last working version is 5.2.3, which installs and runs without any noticeable problem. dmesg from 5.2.3:
Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,
    2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
    The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.  All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993
    The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.

NetBSD 5.2.3 (GENERIC) #0: Sat Nov 15 21:23:59 UTC 2014
        builds%b41.netbsd.org@localhost:/home/builds/ab/netbsd-5-2-3-RELEASE/hpcmips/201411152021Z-obj/home/source/ab/netbsd-5-2-3-RELEASE/src/sys/arch/hpcmips/compile/GENERIC
NEC MobilePro 780 (NEC VR4121 rev1.2 168.521MHz)
total memory = 32768 KB
avail memory = 23948 KB
timecounter: Timecounters tick every 10.000 msec
mainbus0 (root)
cpu0 at mainbus0: NEC VR4100 CPU (0xc60) Rev. 6.0 with software emulated floating point
cpu0: 16KB/16B direct-mapped L1 Instruction cache, 32 TLB entries
cpu0: 8KB/16B direct-mapped write-back L1 Data cache
vr4102ip0 at mainbus0
vrbcu0 at vr4102ip0 addr 0x0b000000-001f
vrbcu0: CPU 168.521MHz, bus 28.086MHz, ram 56.173MHz
vrcmu0 at vr4102ip0 addr 0x0b000060-007f
vrgiu0 at vr4102ip0 addr 0x0b000100-011f
pwctl0 at vrgiu0 port=46 id=0 on=1
vrdmaau0 at vr4102ip0 addr 0x0b000020-0037
vrdcu0 at vr4102ip0 addr 0x0b000040-004b
com0 at vr4102ip0 addr 0x0c000000-0007: ns16550a, working fifo
vrrtc0 at vr4102ip0 addr 0x0b0000c0-00df
vrkiu0 at vr4102ip0 addr 0x0b000180-019f
hpckbd0 at vrkiu0
wskbd0 at hpckbd0: console keyboard
vrpmu0 at vr4102ip0 addr 0x0b0000a0-00bf
vrdsu0 at vr4102ip0 addr 0x0b0000e0-00e7
vrled0 at vr4102ip0 addr 0x0b000240-024f
vrpiu0 at vr4102ip0 addr 0x0b000120-013f, 0x0b0002a0-02bf
wsmouse0 at vrpiu0 mux 0
vrpiu0: WARNING: powerhook_establish is deprecated
mqvideo0 at vr4102ip0 addr 0x0a000000-7fffff: MQ200 Rev.00 video controller, console
mqvideo0: framebuffer address: 0xaa180100
mqvideo0: WARNING: powerhook_establish is deprecated
hpcfb0 at mqvideo0: 640x240 pixels, 65536 colors, 80x24 chars
hpcfb0: WARNING: powerhook_establish is deprecated
wsdisplay0 at hpcfb0 kbdmux 1: console (std, vt100 emulation), using wskbd0
wsmux1: connecting to wsdisplay0
vrc4172pwm0 at vr4102ip0 addr 0x15003880-3885
vraiu0 at vr4102ip0 addr 0x0b000160-017f
audio0 at vraiu0: half duplex, playback, capture
vrisab0 at vrgiu0: ISA port 0x14000000-0x18000000 mem 0x10000000-0x14000000
isa0 at vrisab0
pcic0 at isa0 port 0x3e0-0x3e1 iomem 0x70000-0x73fff irq 589827
pcic0: controller 0 (Ricoh RF5C396) has sockets A and B
pcmcia0 at pcic0 controller 0 socket 0
pcmcia1 at pcic0 controller 0 socket 1
btnmgr0 at mainbus0
wskbd1 at btnmgr0 mux 1
wskbd1: connecting to wsdisplay0
hpcapm0 at mainbus0: pseudo power management module
apmdev0 at hpcapm0: Power Management spec V1.2
timecounter: Timecounter "clockinterrupt" frequency 100 Hz quality 0
timecounter: Timecounter "vrrtc" frequency 32768 Hz quality 100
pcic0: using irq 589827 for socket events
pcic0: WARNING: powerhook_establish is deprecated
pcic0: WARNING: powerhook_establish is deprecated
wdc1 at pcmcia0 function 0: <HITACHI, microdrive>
pcic0: port 0x14000400-0x1400040f
wdc1: i/o mapped mode
pcmcia0: card irq 3
atabus0 at wdc1 channel 0
ne0 at pcmcia1 function 0: <D-Link, DFE-650, Fast Ethernet, Rev. D1>
pcic0: port 0x14000420-0x1400043f
pcmcia1: card irq 3
ne0: Ethernet address 00:50:ba:7b:b7:fd
ukphy0 at ne0 phy 1: Generic IEEE 802.3u media interface
ukphy0: OUI 0x0008bb, model 0x0001, rev. 2
ukphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
ne0: WARNING: powerhook_establish is deprecated
wd0 at atabus0 drive 0: <HMS360604D5CF00>
wd0: drive supports 32-sector PIO transfers, LBA addressing
wd0: 3906 MB, 7936 cyl, 16 head, 63 sec, 512 bytes/sect x 7999488 sectors
wd0: drive supports PIO mode 4
boot device: wd0
root on wd0a dumps on wd0b
pcmcia0: card irq 3
pcmcia0: card irq 3
root file system type: ffs

>How-To-Repeat:
Try and install anything later than 5.2.3 on a NEC MobilePro 790.
>Fix: