Subject: Re: Installation problems...
To: billy ball <bball@tux.org>
From: Adam K Kirchhoff <adamk@voicenet.com>
List: port-hpcmips
Date: 10/04/2001 10:09:36
On Thu, 4 Oct 2001, billy ball wrote:

> 
> 
> On Thu, 4 Oct 2001, Adam K Kirchhoff wrote:
> 
> > 
> > formatted the Microdrive under Linux using a USB CF reader.  I gave it a
> > 20 meg DOS partition, and the rest I gave to NetBSD.  I copied all the
> 
> so, you partitioned and made the first partition type msdos and the second
> type Linux ext2 and then *formatted* both partitions properly, right?

No.  I only formatted the first partition as msdos.  I had fdisk change
the label for the second partition to BSD, but I didn't format it as
anything at that point (which is the same thing I did with the
CompactFlash).

> > base NetBSD sets (base.tgz, etc.tgz, and kern.tgz) onto the 128 meg CF
> > card, booted off the install kernel, mounted the CF card, ran disklabel on
> > the Microdrive, and then installed on to the Microdrive.  The installation
> > ran without a hitch.
> 
> > Now here's the problem...  When booting off the regular kernel (from Greg
> > Hughe's website), everything starts fine.  It detects both the network
> > card and the Microdrive.  It properly identifies the Microdrive as 340
> > megs...  And then, when it goes to mount the root partition, this is what
> > I get:
> > 
> > root file system type: msdos
>                          ^^^^^
> 
> the root filesystem should not be type 'msdos,' but should be formatted
> during the NetBSD installation process!

And it did...  I saw it run the newfs command on wd0a, and there were no
error messages from it.

> > warning: no /dev/console
> > init: not found
> > panic: no init
> > Stopped in pid 1 (init) at	0x8014e468:		jr	ra
> > 		bdslot: nop
> > db>
> > 
> > I'm assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that the base of my problem is that it
> > sees the root filesystem as msdos.  This is just not true.  wd0a is,
> > without a doubt, ffs.  I've booted off the install kernel at least four
> > times to confirm this.  I've checked, rechecked, rechecked again, and then
> > again.  When I break out of the installation process and drop to the
> > shell, I can mount /dev/wd0a without any problems.  I've even gone through
> > the installation process twice, and gotten the same results both times.  
> 
> are you performing the install using the 1.5.1 install kernel or the 1.5.2
> install kernel?

1.5.1

> > I've noticed something else that makes things even more interesting... The
> > install kernel sees the microdrive as both wd0 and wd1, and shows the
> > exact same disklabel for both.
> 
> corrupted install kernel? 

Hmmm...  Possible but unlikely, IMHO.  I had two copies of the install
kernel floating around, one from the CompactFlash and one that I copied
off my home machine onto the Microdrive.  The md5sums from both are the
same, and they also match the md5sum from the 1.5.1 install kernel on
ftp.netbsd.org.

> > So, am I doing something stupid?  Is there some strangeness about the
> > Microdrive that I'm just not familiar with?  Any help would be greatly
> > appreciated.
> 
> the only 'strangeness' i've encountered was with a 1GB microdrive... you
> must force a re-ordering of the automatic partitioning map because for
> some reason NetBSD won't/can't use /usr if it is 'below' swap in the
> partition table generated automatically...
> 
> the microdrive should work just fine (mine does, using the 1.5.1 install
> kernel)...

Huh... I wonder if there's something wrong with the Microdrive, though I
bought it brand new.

Adam