(SOLVED) Can't boot any iso's on Ultra 5.

[chris_andrew]

Hi, guys!

I've just taken delivery of a 'new' Ultra 5. It's a while since I've had a Sparc and I'm struggling to boot any iso's. I think this is due to the media I'm using. Can't anyone remind me wht CDs these machines accept. I know they don't do CDRW, but need to know which they will accept, before buying some more.

Can anyone help?

Cheers,

Chris.
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[loxins]

i did not know you needed special cd media for the ultra5. I've had a few ultra5 and ultra10 some years ago and never had any problems with any cds for booting.
on the other hand, yearlier this year i did have problems booting a cdrom on a sunblade100, i ended up netbooting the machine, by then i had burned at least 10cds of different types and iso-files and no-go.

the sparc netboot guide still works pretty good
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skammastu thin svo

[chris_andrew]

loxins,

Thanks for your reply. I'm not familiar with netbooting. Does it involve RARP? One possibility is that when I type

[loxins]

yes it involved the RARP.
here is the netboot guide.
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-sparc-netboot-howto.xml

and if you have problems with the OPB then this is absolute gold. check your environment varibles and aliases.
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-sparc-obpreference.xml

I hope you get it up and running, these machines are truly great.
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skammastu thin svo

[chris_andrew]

Thanks, loxins.

I'm still struggling to work out whether my CDROM device is set correctly. I'm struggling a bit with devalias, though. I Googled my CDROM device and it should support the CD's I have, so I think the problem is OBP, not the CD's. I looked at the Gentoo guide and am still stuck, so I'll look at the other links at the end of the Gentoo document.

Fingers crossed.

Chris.
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[chris_andrew]

Hmmm, still no luck!

When I do devalias, I notice that I have two entries for cdrom! Is it possible to delete one, as I only have one cdrom device?

Last time I needed to change the cdrom devalias (a couple of years ago), I used a command that allowed me to yank (copy) a device path straight into something like devalias. This meant I didn't miss any characters out. Can anyone remind me what that command me have been?

Cheers,

Chris.
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[chris_andrew]

Well I now have one devalias for cdrom, so that's better. Unfortunately I am still no further forward than this. Can anyone give me a step-by-step guide to seeing how my cdrom is identified (or where) and then help me to associate that location with the cdrom alias. I've done and un-done this so many times, that I have got myself confused, now. Failing this, I may need to do the RARP thing which looks intimidating.

Cheers,

Chris.
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[loxins]

dear chris,

you have my sympathy.

i know this can be a pain.

is your cdrom connected as master or slave settings ? default settings are that it is as master on the secondary controller, if i remember correctly. maybe your settings are not so default anymore it would be great if it would solve your problem to change the cable order in your box.

shame i dont have my ultra10 no more. and i cannot access the opb on my sunblade to check the device parameters because its always on

how does your devalias look like ?

you shouldn't be intimidated by rarp. in my opinion it a lot easier work then the opm. probably the easiest way for you is to boot the tftpimage via windows.
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skammastu thin svo

[chris_andrew]

Really sorry, guys. I just burned another cd-r and it booted first time. Rather than suspecting the good old Ultra was at fault, I forgot that the problem could be between the keyboard and seat (me). Thanks for all the replies.

Cheers,

Chris.
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