Summary: sparcstation 2 boot question

From: Martin Meadows (PZXKYS@atdva3.atd.gmeds.com)
Date: Mon Feb 08 1999 - 10:29:42 CST


Thanks to the following people who responded to my question:

Scott Iseminger, Dave Floyd, Stefan Voss, Jay Lessert, Syed Zaeem Hosain,
T Karthikeyan, Stephen Vazquez, David B. Harrington, Michael Wang and
Jon LaBadie.

Unfortunately, I only received a few of the responses before I actually
did the work on Sunday. Sunday came & it still wasn't clear to me
whether I could actually use "b -r". Also, unfortunately, when I then
attempted to use "b -r" it appeared that the system accepted this command
and was booting with it. I had swapped the old disk drive with the new one
(I realize now that I didn't make it clear in my original mail that I
was actually doing a drive swap) and during the boot I then got a message
from the system that it had a "bad superblock" and a bad magic number.

The surprise was that the bad superblock was on scsi device 3. The
disk drive swap I was performing was with scsi device 0. The system
wouldn't come all the way up. Eventually, I decided to put things back
like they had been. At that point, I quit getting the bad superblock
problem on SD3 & the system came up okay.

We'll retry this on another Sunday & I'll now take into account all
the great advice that was offered from all the excellent Sun Managers
out there who tried to offer assistance!

Thanks very much,
Martin Meadows

Here are the responses & the original question:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The default prompt for the older SPARC systems, such as the
IPX, SPARC2 etc was ">". By typing "n" at this prompt you will arrive
at the "ok" prompt, as found on newer systems

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The -r option is passwd along to the OS. SunOS does not recognize this option
only Solaris 2.x.x.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I havn't seen a Sparc 2 for years, but as far as i remember, the old boot
prom offers three commands:

   c continue (aka "go")
   b boot (aka "boot")
   n new command mode

If you have "n" available, then this will bring you into the new command mode
(which is the mode that you know from other SUNs as their default boot prom).
If this works, you should be able to do a "boot -r".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You configure it yourself. See /dev/MAKEDEV.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am assuming that you are running Solaris 2.X, which is the only
place where the -r option matters, by the way.

You need to put your prom into the the "new" mode before issuing
the "boot -r" command. In case anybody else does not respond with
a more accurate answer, I will provide you with what I remember
from that early prom rev information.

Basically, you first type "n" and a carriage return. This gives
you the new boot prompt option (with the "ok" prompt) and then you
can type "boot -r" from there. The only caveat I will add is that I
do not remember if the command to enter the new prom prompt is just
"n" or needs to be "new". Experiment and you will figure it out - as
soon as you see the "ok" prompt, you know you are ready to go for it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you check "reboot -- -r " ?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My guess is that it will work anyway. It's been a while since I've used
a sparc2. I'd also try touching the file /reconfigure and rebooting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>From the Rom Prompt, type 'n' for New. Then type 'boot -r'

Or create the file /reconfigur. Since I may have spelled it wrong, it may
be '/reconfigure'.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Type n at ok prompt, if it does not work, update your nvram.

You can also do touch /reconfigure

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

works on my ss2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's the original question:

>> I'm guessing this will be a pretty easy question for someone.
>>
>> I will be booting a sparcstation 2 with a new disk drive on Sunday
>> and I know that the console prompt will be a little different than
>> the newer systems. I know, for example, that on a sparc 10 I can
>> type "boot -r" to get the system to recognize the new device.
>>
>> However, when I checked the sparc 2 man pages for the boot command
>> "b", I didn't find a "-r" option to reconfigure. What do I need to
>> know to accomplish this task? Did I miss something in the doc?
>>
>> Thanks very much,
>> Martin Meadows
>> Indianapolis, IN.



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