Re: Fail. Interrupt loop during install.

[Mark Kahrs <mark.kahrs%gmail.com@localhost>]

So, let's start at the beginning.  This is a 3100 M38, a.k.a. VS42.
It passes POST.  I elected to install 7.0 --- the latest and greatest.
According to the install instructions, I should be able to find a
bootloader.  And I quote:

"First, you need to get a copy of the bootloader. This can be found in
the NetBSD distribution as: installation/netboot/boot"


But you know what?  This isn't a mop file.  The most recent document I
could find:

http://gunkies.org/wiki/Netbooting_a_VAXstation

points to a valid boot.mop --- and, I assure you, my openbsd mopd
serves this up just fine otherwise I wouldn't be able to load the
install kernel.

As I stated, the 7.0 install kernel loads and then results in an
infinite loop of interrupts.

But today I had an idea: Knowing that the SIMH user had a problem in
2013, maybe if I tried an install kernel from before 2013 it might
work.  So, I grabbed 5.0.2 and you know what?  I was right.

So, something changed in 6.0.  Something bad.

And, allow me to point out that the documentation on:

https://www.netbsd.org/docs/network/netboot/intro.vax.html

references Brian Chase's document:

http://world.std.com/~bdc/projects/vaxen/VAX-netboot-HOWTO.html

That doesn't even exist.  Furthermore, if you go to the wayback
machine, you'll see it hasn't been around for at least 10 years.  I
know, as does everyone on this list, that writing documentation isn't
fun.  But...

I've been using, modifying and otherwise futzing with Unix since 1975.
I am not a newbie.


On Sun, Mar 13, 2016 at 4:22 PM, Martin Husemann <martin%duskware.de@localhost> wrote:
> On Sun, Mar 13, 2016 at 09:25:10AM -0400, Mark Kahrs wrote:
>> after futzing around with netboot installation (and, for the record, the
>> existing installation documentation is seriously out of date), I
>> finally got the install
>>  file to boot, only to eventually encounter an infinite loop of :
>
> You are not providing a lot of details, so it is hard to tell what
> your problem actually is.
>
>> This is actual hardware: a 3100 model 38.
>
> Which version of NetBSD are you trying to install?
>
>> The mop bootloader has to be obtained from 1.5 and that ain't right.
>
> Why is that?
>
>
> Martin