Subject: Differences in boot-time behavior between sparc/sparc64 CD-ROMs
To: None <port-sparc@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Greg Earle <earle@isolar.DynDNS.ORG>
List: port-sparc
Date: 12/13/2000 01:28:05
I've downloaded & burned 2 CD-R's with the "sparccd.iso" and "sparc64cd.iso"
files kindly provided on ftp.NetBSD.ORG.  (Thanks!!!)

I notice that the SPARC CD dumps one into the "microroot setup utility":

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ok  boot cdrom
...
md0: fixed, 1360 blocks
root on md0a dumps on md0b
WARNING: clock gained 18 days -- CHECK AND RESET THE DATE!
root file system type: ffs
Welcome to the NetBSD/sparc microroot setup utility.

We've just completed the first stage of a two-stage procedure to load a
fully functional NetBSD installation environment on your machine.  [...]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whereas I can't tell where the SPARC64 CD leaves me on my Ultra 5+:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ok  boot cdrom
...
wd0 at pciide0 channel 0 drive 0: <ST39140A>
wd0: drive supports 16-sector pio transfers, lba addressing
wd0: 8693 MB, 17662 cyl, 16 head, 63 sec, 512 bytes/sect x 17803440 sectors
wd0: drive supports PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2, Ultra-DMA mode 2
wd0(pciide0:0:0): using PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2 (using DMA data transfers)
pciide0: secondary channel configured to native-PCI mode
pciide0: disabling secondary channel (no drives)
pcons at mainbus0
No counter-timer -- using %tick at 333MHz as system clock.
Using tick -- intr in 3330000 cycles...done.
raidattach: Asked for 4 units
Kernelized RAIDframe activated
root device:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

At this point I don't know what to do.  Typing "? yields

use one of : raid0[a-h] raid1[a-h] raid2[a-h] raid3[a-h] hme0 wd0[a-h] halt
root device:

Where is the "md0a" choice for the "microroot" install I would expect here?

I have no clue what to use/do at this point.  if I specify "wd0", I get asked
for "dump device" and "file system" type, after which I see (if I type in
"wd0b" and "ffs", respectively - even though I'm convinced these answers are
wrong anyway)

root on wd0a dumps on wd0b
pciide0:0:0: lost interrupt
	type: ata tc_bcount: 512: tc_skip:0
pciide0:0:0: lost interrupt
	type: ata tc_bcount: 512: tc_skip:0
pciide0:0:0: lost interrupt
	type: ata tc_bcount: 512: tc_skip:0
pciide0:0:0: lost interrupt
	type: ata tc_bcount: 512: tc_skip:0
pciide0:0:0: lost interrupt
	type: ata tc_bcount: 512: tc_skip:0
pciide0:0:0: bus-master DMA error: missing interrupt, status=0x20
wd0: transfer error, downgrading to PIO mode 4
wd0(pciide0:0:0): using PIO mode 4
wd0c: DMA error reading fsbn 0 ( wd0 bn 0; cn 0 tn 0 sn 0), retring

Followed by another 4 sets of "lost interrupt" messages and then a

wd0c: device timeout reading fsbn 0 (wd0 bn 0; cn 0 tn 0 sn 0), retrying

Eventually it returns (after several more of the above cycles) with

wd0: disk label read error
cannot mount root, error = 6
root device (default wd0a): 

What now?  Why is the kernel choking on reading the internal EIDE hard disk?

Why are there no "md0[a-h]" and/or "cd0[a-h]" choices for "root device", as
one might expect?

I realize there are "traditional" methods of installing (load a miniroot and
boot from it; or set it all up manually from Solaris, as per the INSTALL
file), but I was really looking forward to being able to do the full install
while being booted off of the CD-ROM ... (also, there's no "miniroot.fs" as
per the INSTALL document, I don't know what to do with what's in "misc" -
"ofwboot" et al. - and finally, there's "ramdisk.fs.gz" but you can't use that
from a CD-R ... )

Thanks,

	- Greg