V490 can't successfully boot any gentoo install media.

[ibtim13]

I've been running gentoo on sparc64 for a long long time and never had a problem with an install before. I have a handful of Ultra2's and an E4500 that have been running gentoo for well over a decade. I recently came into possession of a V490 and tried to install gentoo only to run into walls at every turn (in some ways literally, I had to run a 240V circuit in my house just to turn the thing on).

I tried the latest minimal cd (2014) and at first it kept losing the serial console, I got around that with keep_bootcon, only to run into a kernel bug with the PCI controller, which was addressed in 3.17.4, but the install CD has 3.14.14.

I then tried something I had seen suggested on the forums and tried the 2007 and 2008 install cds. All fail to boot in different ways. I've tried every trick and work-around I've seen on the internet and still I can't get them to boot.

So my main question (unless someone has installed on a V490 from the 2007, 2008, or 2014 media and already knows a solution) is, what do I need to do to build a new minimal install cd for sparc with an updated kernel?
Any documentation at all, even if it's just high level, would be helpful. It seems like if I could just bump the kernel on the existing install cd from 3.14.14 to 3.17.4 that would be enough to get around this.

Thanks
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Grrr, can't think of anything clever right now, I'll go back and edit this later (9/12/2003)

[Jaglover]

Have you tried to find a CD that boots, this maybe: https://oss.oracle.com/projects/linux-sparc/
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My Gentoo installation notes.
Please learn how to denote units correctly!

[ibtim13]

[cb88]

Does your box have a framebuffer? if so... you'll need to pass the correct parameter to the kernel to disable it so the console stays on the serial port I ran into this on my recent U45 install.

I had to pass video=radeonfb:off or if you have a mach64 based card video=atyfb:off

Also note that current portage seems broken on sparc64 install of kernel and such went mostly fine pciutils installed a lib in /usr wierd I said.. and then when I emerge -uDNa @world things started breaking with libs in / and /usr instead of their correct locations ... but ymmv I would suggest grabbing portage from mid last year since I don't think it was happening then and upgrade after it gets fixed.

I've had this happen on two of my boxes and someone else has confirmed on thier box with recent portage.

Also the current kernel works fine with my framebuffer... it would be nice if the autobuilds started up again maybe monthly or quarterly?

[ibtim13]