Cant open boot device ?!? 1

[UnknownEntity]

Hi, Im trying to install Ubunto on my Sun system to try it out, I am not adept or experienced in Unix at all but am in windows. Im basically getting a recurring error when im trying to boot from CD-ROM drive.

After reboot I press STOP A. Then type in boot cd rom the message i get is the following
Boot device: /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@6,0:f

Can't open boot device.

Then the OK prompt appears.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks.

 

[bfitzmai]

I am assuming your cdrom drive is a SCSI device. By default, solaris looks for the cdrom drive as target 6. There should be some type of toggle switch on the back of your cdrom drive. Make sure it is set to 6.

You can also check to see if your cdrom drive is being seen on the SCSI bus. Try the following after you hit stop "A".

At the OK> prompt:
setenv auto-boot? false
reset-all

At the OK> prompt:
probe-scsi-all

The probe-scsi-all command will scan the SCSI buses and display the devices found.


When you are done, reset auto-boot as follows:
At the OK> prompt
setenv auto-boot? true

 

[UnknownEntity]

Tried the procedure but no luck. After I type in probe-scsi-all after OK prompt i get the following >

/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3,1


/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3
Target 0
Unit 0 Disk Seagate ST318404lsun18g 4203
Target 1
Unit 0 Disk Fujitsu MAB 3091S SUN9 .0G1806
Target 6
Unit 0 Removeable Read Only device Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M14011007

Then its just the OK prompt. Is there an equivalent way to see a boot order like there is in BIOS in a normal PC? Is there anything else I can try?

Thanks.

 

[Annihilannic]

There is only one boot device (set via the boot-device variable), so no concept of a "boot order" as such. You are effectively overriding that anyway by typing boot cdrom.

Sorry if it's already obvious to you, but this is a SPARC (i.e. not x86) version of Ubuntu, right?

Annihilannic.

 

[UnknownEntity]

Correct. This is a SPARC Sun architecture and the version I have of Ubuntu is Sparc. I did find something before which I tried. Heres the link

http://www.filibeto.org/sun/lib/hardware/enterprise_4500/diskbrd_aliases.html

When this person writes probe-scsi-all after OK prompt, am I right in assuming that the first line of the outputted result would be the first boot device? If so Does Boot CD rom after OK prompt override this?

Is there a diagnostic command that Unix has that can let me know whether the device is physically working?

Thanks.

 

[bfitzmai]

The boot-device specified in NVRAM (enter printenv from the OK> prompt) is the default boot device when the workstation is turned on. If you want to boot to the cdrom drive, you need to specify the device from the OK> prompt. In your case it would be "boot cdrom". The cdrom entry is a default alias stored in NVRAM. You can look at the device path for all the default aliases by entering "devalias" at the OK> prompt.

As far as your initial problem, your cdrom drive is visible on the SCSI bus. Since you system is actually running, you need to check to see if the device path for your cdrom drive is actually "/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@6,0:f". To do this, boot up your system and go to /dev. Run command "ls -aFl cdrom". If you device is as specified you should get a response like "../devices/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@6,0:f". If you actual device path is different than what is stored in NVRAM write down everything after ../devices, you should be able to boot to the cdrom drive by entering at the OK> prompt boot <new device path>. If this is the case, we can cover how to create an new devalias later.

 

[UnknownEntity]

After typing in ls -aFl cdrom after OK prompt I get a list of 14 things all of which start with f00 then followed by five letters or numbers. I dont see the "/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@6,0:f specified anywhere.

After hitting stop A during memory initialisation, Im assuming im in the DEV directory. If not not how to I access the Dev directory? I tried cd dev afetr OK prompt but it says 'Device not found'.

Thanks.

 

[bfitzmai]

UnKnown... You misunderstood me... Boot your workstation up completely...

I did make a mistake on the device path.

Change directory to /dev/dsk and enter command ls -aFl c0t6d0s0. This should give you the actual path for the cdrom drive. You should see something like "../../devices/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@6,0:a".

 

[UnknownEntity]

My solaris installation got corrupt ages ago and have never been able to get into any login prompt. I have tried to install a clean installation of Solaris 9 but never got past this error message. So I thought I would try another OS like Ubuntu. Sorry I should have made this clearer, as soon as I boot, no solaris OS gets booted at all. I'm just stuck at the OK prompt. I'm completely new to Unix but am eager to get past this first point of installtion.

Must I have Solaris installed on my Sun box first in order to run Ubuntu? Or can I just have Ubuntu installed without Solaris?

Thanks.

 

[Annihilannic]

In theory you should be far more likely to get Solaris running on it than any other OS, so it's possible you've got a hardware issue there.

To be honest I'm not sure where bfitzmai is going with this... the boot device path looks fine to me based on the output of probe-scsi-all which matches the prefix of the "Boot device: /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@6,0:f" message you get when you try boot cdrom.

Are you sure the CDs you are using work fine, can you try them in any other systems? Is the copy of Solaris 9 you tried to install one that you downloaded and burned to CD, or an original?

No, you would not need Solaris installed to run Ubuntu.

Annihilannic.

 

[UnknownEntity]

The version of Solaris 9 I have is original and authentic. I just tried putting that Solaris CD in the system now and I have a new error. One that I have never seen. After hitting Stop A during memory initialisation prompt I do the following;

ok> boot cdrom
Boot device: /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@6,0:f File and args:
Bad magic number in disk label package
Can't open disk label package

Can't open boot device

'Then Im back at the OK prompt.'

After I let memory initialisation finish and I get to OK prompt, I try boot cdrom again, and this is what I get >

Boot device: /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@6,0:f

Can't open boot device

OK>

'Thats it'

I am really baffled, why am I getting another message? I will attempt to fire up the Solaris CD and Ubunto in a system I know works later to eliminate hardware malfunction. Far as I remember when I did the same thing (tried to load Solaris in a working system) I had the same initial error. What does bad magic number mean? Please help

Thanks.

 

[bfitzmai]

The "Bad magic number in disk label package" indicates that the disk Volume Table of Contents or VTOC can not be read. What type of cdrom drive do you have. Many external cdrom drives have a jumper setting that will set the drive to read a block size of 512 blocks. This must be set to install Solaris.

 

[Annihilannic]

It sounds to me like you have a dodgy DVD-ROM drive, but we'll find out when you try it on another system. I believe the 'magic number' is just a byte (or couple of bytes?) on the beginning of the filesystem to identify it as such.

man magic on a working Solaris system will tell you a bit about magic numbers (there'll be a copy out on the web somewhere too no doubt).

Annihilannic.

 

[Mike042]

I am puzzled by the boot device string:
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@6,0:f

Which says to me, boot from Target 6, Unit 0, Slice f (or 5) of the disk/cdrom.
Surely it should be looking for the bootstrap code on Slice a (or 0)? [or even Slice c (or 2) - the whole disk]

Unsure what the hardware is, but please try the following commands from the 'Ok> ' prompt:
show-devs - should show the actual device pathnames
devalias - display their aliases
printenv - display 'variables'

Has an alias or 'variable' been set up that mis-directs the 'boot path' to Slice f ?

I hope that helps.

Mike

 

[Annihilannic]

Not sure of the explanation Mike042, but it does seem to be normal; from the devalias output on a working Ultra-5:

[tt]cdrom /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3/cdrom@2,0:f[/tt]

Incidentally, UnknownEntity, what Sun hardware is this?

Annihilannic.

 

[UnknownEntity]

bfitzmai, The CDROM drive is Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M14011007, thats the information probe-scsi-all gives me.

Annihilannic, you maybe right about the drive being dodgy, I booted the Solaris 9 CD in the old working system, it initially came up with transciever control errors, but eventually I got the installation going, completely installed Solaris, rebooted, came to login screen but Solaris did not accept my username and passwd?! So anyway, at least I know the Solaris CD is working fine. The hardware on the system I am trying to configure has the following information on boot, if there is a command that gives me more information than this that would help you, please let me know. On boot I see the following;

Sun Ultra UPA/PCI (2xUltraSPARC-II 360MHz), Keyboard present OpenBoot 3.23 2048 MB memory installed, Serial #(8numbers) and info about ethernet card. Supposedly it has 3 x 512 bit Graphics cards installed, and 2 SCSI hard drives a seagate and fujitsu.

Mike042, Annihilannic, Here is what I recieve on the failing system when I enter the commands you requested;

show-devs >

/SUNW,ffb@1d,0
/SUNW,ffb@1e,0
/SUNW, UltraSPARC-II@2,0
/SUNW, UltraSPARC-II@0,0
/counter-timer@1f, 1c00
/pci@1f,2000
/pci@1f,4000
/virtualmemory
/memory@0,0
/aliases
/options
/openprom
/chosen
/packages
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3,1
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3
/pci@1f,4000/network@1,1
/pci@1f,4000/ebus@1
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3,1/tape
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3,1/disk
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/tape
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk
/pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/SUNW,CS4231@14,200000
/pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/flashprom@10,0
/pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/eeprom@14,0
/pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/fdthree@14,3023f0
/pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/ecpp@14,3043bc
/pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/su@14,3062f8
/pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/su@14,3083f8
/pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/se@14,400000
/pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/sc@14,500000
/pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/SUNW,pll@14,504000
/pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/power@14,724000
/pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/auxio@14,726000
/openprom/client-services
/packages/sun-keyboard
/packages/SUNW,builtin-drivers
/packages/disk-label
/packages/obp-tftp
/packages/deblocker
/packages/terminal-emulator


devialias >

screen /SUNW,ffb@1e,0
mydisk /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk6
net /pci@1f,4000/network@1,1
disk /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@0,0
cdrom /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@6,0:f
tape /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3,1/tape@4,0
tape1 /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3,1/tape@5,0
tape0 /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3,1/tape@4,0
disk6 /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@6,0
disk5 /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@5,0
disk4 /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@4,0
disk3 /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@3,0
disk2 /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@2,0
disk1 /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@1,0
disk0 /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@0,0
scsi /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3
floppy /pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/fdthree
ttyb /pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/se:b
ttya /pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/se:a
keyboard! /pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/su@14,3083f8:forcemode
keyboard /pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/su@14,3083f8
mouse /pci@1f,4000/ebus@1/su@14,3062f8
name aliases

printenv >

Variable Name Value Default Value

scsi-initiator-id 7 7
keyboard-click? false false
keymap
ttyb-rts-dtr-off false false
ttyb-ignore-cd true true
ttyb-rts-dtr-off false false
ttyb-ignore-cd true true
ttyb-mode 9600,8,n,1,- 9600,8,n,1,-
ttyb-mode 9600,8,n,1,- 9600,8,n,1,-
pcia-probe-list 1,2 1
pcib-probe-list 1,3,2,4,5 1,3,2,4,5
enclosure-type 540-3251
banner-name Sun Ultra 60 UPA
energystar-enabled? true
mfg-mode off off
diag-level max min
#power-cycles 52
system-board-serial# (13 numbers)
system-board-date 3a97862a
fcode-debug? false false
output-device screen screen
input-device keyboard keyboard
load-base 16384 16384
boot-command boot boot
auto-boot? true true
watchdog-reboot? false false
diag-file
diag-device net net
boot-file
boot-device mydisk disk net
local-mac-address? false false
ansi-terminal? true true
screen-#columns 80 80
screen-#rows 34 34
silent-mode? false false
use-nvramrc? true false
nvramrc devalias mydisk /pci@1f, ...
security-mode none
security-password
security-#badlogins 0
oem-logo
oem-logo? false false
oem-banner
oem-banner? false false
hardware-revision
last-hardware-update
diag-switch? false false

So that your aware Mike042 I am a novice and do not know what you mean when you ask 'Has an alias or 'variable' been set up that mis-directs the 'boot path' to Slice f ?' But i did something earlier a week before I posted this link with mydisk as alias see further up my post.

I couldnt help notice the forth line down after typing in printenv after OK prompt >

ttyb-ignore-cd

Could this be the reason why CD ROM drive is not working?

Have I exhausted all my options now? Shall I try swapping the CD ROM drives? with my old system?

 

[Annihilannic]

I couldnt help notice the forth line down after typing in printenv after OK prompt >

ttyb-ignore-cd

Could this be the reason why CD ROM drive is not working?

Nope, ttyb is a serial interface, I guess that option tells it to ignore "carrier detect", i.e. "cd".

Have I exhausted all my options now? Shall I try swapping the CD ROM drives? with my old system?

That sounds like a good idea to me.

Annihilannic.

 

[bfitzmai]

ttyb-ignore-cd is a parameter for Serial Port B to ignore carrier detect

 

[UnknownEntity]

Changed CDROM drive from working system to new system. No luck. I get the message

'Can't open boot deice'

What am I doing wrong here? The CDROM drive works 100% as its just been tested and Solaris was fully loaded on old system.

Thanks.

 

[UnknownEntity]

I forgot to mention that when I did probe-scsi-all after OK prompt, I recieved the details about the Target 6

>

Target 6
Unit 0 Removeable Read Only device TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-M14011007

This is the same information as before with the old cdrom drive.