netbooting octane problem

dj604 · n00b Joined: 30 Mar 2004 Posts: 26 Location: milwaukee

Ok- i'm trying to netboot an octane using the kernel found at: http://dev.gentoo.org/~kumba/mips/netboot/ip30/. It seems to grab the image ok, but then gives me an error:
5316742+196874 entry 0xa8000000000204b0000 (i might've typed that last bit wrong)..

and then stops...

I'm guessing i did something wrong???

any ideas or suggestions? i'm new to netbooting a linux install in general...

thanks!

libellous · n00b Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 8 Location: LONDON

I'm guessing that there's a mistake in the file you're netbooting off - a lot of netboot images give a running progress of what's going on i.e. 23544/1265444 (I believe there's two numbers as they come in two blocks - a kernel and an initrd - feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) - this therefore looks like there has been some kind of problem with the transfer - it may be it's downloaded badly to yourself from the net, or that there's something wrong with your network. At least you can take comfort in the fact that the netboot process seems to be working!

Try pulling the file down again from the net and see what happens.

dj604 · n00b Joined: 30 Mar 2004 Posts: 26 Location: milwaukee

I'm pretty sure the file I downloaded off the net is ok- I redownloaded it and got the same error- also, the original file checks out when I do an md5sum on it.

I also get a similar error if i use an older kernel.

Sometimes the numbers in the error change, esp if I move ram around in the octane (I had a problem with some bad ram, which i've now removed from the system), so I'm wondering if maybe this octane has some issues? although irix seems to run ok on it.

thanks for the reply!

I can probably get another octane from my workplace (they had 3! that were just sitting around doing nothing, plus an r10k O2, which is now happily running netbsd at my apt), and try this out with that one as well.

libellous · n00b Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 8 Location: LONDON

It is indeed possible a bit of a chip has popped! I hadn't thought of that. Whatever it is, it's related to something bad happening to the kernel somewhere between your pc and its blue friend bootstrapping it.

As most SIMMs in older SGI machines are tin lead types and the boards were designed to take gold lead ones, there is a slight problem with capacitance sometimes - especially if the leads are dirty. Generally I find giving the contacts on both the machine and the board a good clean helps. That said, I can't see this applying to the Octane as much as it uses a customer type of DIMM. I'd also try using a new patch lead betwixt your switch and the octane - that was the root of a five day networking "issue" i had last year with my UltraSparc machine. It might be worth checking the network card in the machine as well.

Kumba · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 6:59 pm Post subject:

dj604 · n00b Joined: 30 Mar 2004 Posts: 26 Location: milwaukee

I think that's the problem- I got this error both on the console and via a serial connection- but I didn't have the envvars dbaud and console set. I'll try those when I get home tonight.

thanks for the help!

dj604 · n00b Joined: 30 Mar 2004 Posts: 26 Location: milwaukee

hmm...still no luck.. here's the output of my serial console:

>> printenv
AutoLoad=Yes
diskless=0
dbaud=9600
volume=80
sgilogo=y
autopower=y
netaddr=10.5.5.10
eaddr=08:00:69:0b:bc:a4
boottune=1
cpufreq=174
SystemPartition=xio(0)pci(15)scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(

OSLoadPartition=xio(0)pci(15)scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(0)
OSLoadFilename=/unix
OSLoader=sash
NoAutoLoad=CONSOLE OPEN FAILED.
ConsoleOut=serial(0)
ConsoleIn=serial(0)
console=d1
>> bootp(): root=/dev/ram0 console=ttyS0,9600
Setting $netaddr to 10.5.5.10 (from server )
Obtaining from server
4376304+4063366+2Setting $netaddr to 10.5.5.10 (from server )
+241696 entry: 0xa800000020798000

and there it's been sitting for 20 min.

any idea what that "NoAutoLoad" envvar is?

Redhatter · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 12:23 am Post subject:

Try this:

dj604 · n00b Joined: 30 Mar 2004 Posts: 26 Location: milwaukee

er- isn't that what I typed above??

either way, I cut and pasted it into my terminal program and got the same thing....

>> bootp(): root=/dev/ram0 console=ttyS0,9600
Setting $netaddr to 10.5.5.10 (from server )
Obtaining from server
4376304+4063366+2Setting $netaddr to 10.5.5.10 (from server )
+241696 entry: 0xa800000020798000

Redhatter · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 1:01 am Post subject:

My apologies... didn't see that. :oops:

Are you able to use the PROM via serial?
_________________
Stuart Longland (a.k.a Redhatter, VK4MSL)
I haven't lost my mind - it's backed up on a tape somewhere...

Gentoo/MIPS Cobalt developer, Mozilla herd member.

Kumba · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 5:56 am Post subject:

dj604 · n00b Joined: 30 Mar 2004 Posts: 26 Location: milwaukee

got it working finally... with a different octane. Maybe that first one I tried is hosed for good- oh well..

thanks everyone for your help!

now to get the install going.

btw redhatter- thanks for the updated install doc- that's what i'm using.