Subject: HD stability/script execution/adduser (was: panic on no init)
To: Mike Long <mike.long@analog.com>
From: Jaime Kikpole <jk7023@cnsvax.albany.edu>
List: netbsd-help
Date: 01/02/1996 14:36:00
>>        At this point, it would "panic: no init". near the very end of a
>>boot-up.  (Just after the announcement that wd0 is the root.)  I have no
>>idea what this means.  However, I did find a /init on the floppies, so I:
>>        mount -v /dev/wd0a /mnt
>>        mount -v /dev/fd1a /mnt2
>>        cp /mnt2/init /mnt/init
>
>That's not where it goes.  It should be in (from your POV) in
>/mnt/sbin/init.  However, that will only delay the inevitable--there
>are too many other files that are needed to make the system boot, even
>in single-user mode (e.g. the contents of /bin, /sbin, and /dev).

        OK, I _think_ that I've gotten past this point.  Here's what I did....

        Boot from floppies.  Run the install script.  Answer all questions
and let it use the whole drive (wd0).  "mount -v /dev/fd1a /mnt2"  "cp
/mnt2/netbsd /mnt/netbsd"  I did this because the copy_kernel script was
NEVER recognized as something that could be executed.  Whenever I typed
"copy_kernel" it would reply by telling me that it couldn't find that
command.
        "sync"  "halt"  Press-a-key to reboot.  I got a few lost interrupt
messages at this point.  Four of them, I think, all status
58<k-something,k-something,k-something> and something about ino.  I asked
for the sh shell.  Another lost interrupt.  etc....

        "cd /usr"  "mkdir instdir"  "cd instdir"  "Set_tmp_dir"  "Load_fd"
Flip through the floppies as instructed.  There was an occasional soft
error or lost interrupt.  "<CNTRL>-c" when done.
        "Extract <set>" repeated for each set.  Its odd, but "Extract base"
worked better than "Extract base11".  So I used this syntax for each set.

        At this point, I have a very annoying requirement, in order to boot
from hard disk.  First I have to boot from floppies, "fsck /dev/wd0a",
"mount -v /dev/wd0a /mnt", "fsck /dev/wd0a", "umount mnt", "fsck
/dev/wd0a", "sync", "halt", and THEN I can boot from the hard drive.
However, I get a those lost interrupt messages during boot-up, still.
        Also, when I hit the backspace while at the prompt, I get "^?" on
the screen.  It _acts_ right, it just looks odd.  Another major problem
that I have is that it never executes a script.  Instead, it complains that
it can't find the command.  The same thing happens with various
executables.

        All help appreciated!  Thanks a lot.

                                                                Jaime