Subject: Re: -current won't boot on weird laptop
To: Peter Seebach <seebs@plethora.net>
From: Andrew Gillham <gillhaa@ghost.whirlpool.com>
List: port-i386
Date: 01/03/2000 15:49:51
Peter Seebach writes:
> Synopsis: I'm trying to update my mom's NetBSD box. It's a Solo 2300. It's
> been running NetBSD since about 1.2, and is currently on a horrible hybrid
> of 1.4_ALPHA and 1.4. I was trying to load -current.
We certainly need to make sure this upgrade goes smooth! Certainly don't
want to read about any problems. :=)
> Behavior:
>
> INSTALL kernel: Gets to "root filesystem type is ffs" (referring to the
> memory filesystem), then sits there. ramdisk.fs has been double-checked, and
> does contain /dev.
Can you hit ctrl-alt-esc and get into ddb? I'm definitely no expert, but
you should be able to glean some information from the output of either
'trace' or 'ps' once you're in ddb.
> Any other kernel: Finishes spinny-cursor stuff, and hard-resets machine.
Any chance for you to use a serial console enabled boot and kernel? That
way you can capture any information that is flashing by just before the
reset.
> I'm probably just not gonna be able to get this today, but any cool ideas
> would be very much appreciated; if I can get one kernel that works, I can
> probably have the whole machine up and running in no time. ;-)
Nothing really, just a serial console, and anything you can do in ddb.
Anybody else have one of these laptops they can test out?
Worst case it should be possible to do a binary search in the CVS repository
for the change that is breaking this. e.g. Checkout a date halfway between
1.4.2_ALPHA and the working 1.4 kernel source date, verify a working kernel
or not, and then split the appropriate side.
-Andrew
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