Re: 2.4.x on sun4cdm? (Sparc station 2)
"David J. M. Karlsen" wrote: > > I've tried to compile 2.4.17 - and boot from it. Compiling works fine - > and a nice kernel-image*deb comes out. But on reboot the machine hangs > right after the xxx kb freed. (when washing away obsolete kernel syms). > > Doesn't the 2.4.x series run on 4cdm? This is a "known" problem - it seems that 2.4.17 doesn't boot on any sun4c box. You can subscribe to sparclinux@vger.kernel.org or have a look at the list archive (don't ask me where you can find it - I don't know :). On Jan 13th there was a thread about that problem and right now the sun4m people have similar troubles with their boxes. The last thing Rob Radez wrote was "PS. What's the last good kernel people have had booting up on a SS2?" - but no answer to this on the list. I wanted to try some older sources but while compiling 2.4.2 one harddisk of my SS2 died and I didn't have the time to replace it. But from monday on I'll try some older versions... Regards, Andreas
Re: Segmentation fault for man-db _2.3.20-12 on woody
> I have this SUNW,SPARCstation-5 (SUNW,501-2286, Fujitsu FMI,MB86904 > sun4m) that I have woody installed on. Now, the man-db package > (version 2.3.20-12) core dumps like this: > > /etc/cron.daily/man-db > /etc/cron.daily/man-db: line 22: 5975 Segmentation fault > +start-stop-daemo\n+--start --pidfile /dev/null --startas > /usr/lib/man-db/mandb > +--oknodo --chuid > +man -- --no-purge >/dev/null 2>/dev/null > > > Any ideas of what's going on? > > Cheers, > > /ChJ Same for me (sun4c: SparcStation 2). Take a look at this: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=123130 Regards, ab -- To err is human; effective mayhem requires the root password :-) -- GMX - Die Kommunikationsplattform im Internet. http://www.gmx.net
SS2: 2.4.17-rc2 boots and then nothing!?
Sorry 'bout my poor English... SparcStation 2, woody (20th dec 2001, ftp.de.debian.org), kernel 2.2.20, running more or less fine, only some some small problems (updating mandb segfaults, some messages "unimplemented sparc system call" while the startup scripts are running, magicfilterconfig doesn't work). But that's all not the point. I know kernel 2.4.x has some problems with sparc32 and especially with the sun4c architecture (SS2 = sun4c). I hoped for 2.4.17-rc2 but here are the symptoms: - after selecting the kernel image on the silo prompt and just before the text "booting linux" is printed and the kernel switches to the framebuffer display some messages show up on the OBP console and IIRC the text was something with "ASM" in it - I can't really read it - it just disappears too fast... - Kernel seems to boot fine but the last message on the screen is the one telling how much of unused kernel memory has been freed, just after the message that the root-fs (ext2) has been mounted. After that nothing happens - the process just stops there. The box accepts keyboard input but the only working thing is -- to do a reboot... - kernel configuration: no modversions, no smp, only the things I need are in the kernel, only a few modules: minix, openprom, vfat, loop I can put my .config on a website if somebody wants to have a look at it... Is this a kernel bug or compiler bug or bug in daemon/application/ library (woody) or is the user (me) just too stupid :-) ? Greetings, Andreas -- To err is human; effective mayhem requires the root password! --
Re: My sparcstatin 2 just died
"David J. M. Karlsen" wrote: > > and quicly after a bootup it now says: > > 204 *** > PMAP = 00094000, Exp = , Obs = 800 > > and doesn't display anyting on the screen (the output above came from > the serial port). > > Anybody knows what this means? > Sorry, I don't, but here are some URLs that might be helpful: http://www.sunhelp.org/ http://www.octree.de/sparc/index.html http://docs.sun.com/htmlcoll/coll.690.1/iso-8859-1/SS2FIELDSVC/index.html There's also a mailing list at sunhelp.org, info: http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/sunhelp Greetings, ab -- To err is human; effective mayhem requires the root password! --
Reason to use 2.4.x on SparcStation 2?
I'm running potato on a SparcStation 2 (sun4c), Kernel 2.2.20. The system is running smooth (more or less since the SS2 is really slow compared to current hardware). Only the X server makes some problems (Xsun) - it behaves extremly sluggish and while running X sometimes messages like "unknown keyboard ioctl" or something like that show up in the syslog. I don't know if the Xsun or the keyboard driver is the problem but I hope that things will get better with woody and XFree 4.1.x (I'm using a cgsix (Turbo-GX) btw). The SS2 will be used as X client (XDMCP via LAN to another box) and apache will serve static data but performance isn't really important, just two clients... One question: Does upgrading to kernel 2.4.x make sense? I know that at the moment there are some problems with 2.4.x on sparc32 (may be especially on sun4c?) and of course I only would consider upgrading provided that someday there will be a stable 2.4.x for the sun4c architecture. I don't really _need_ 2.4.x since 2.2.20 fully supports the SS2 but would there be any reason to upgrade - maybe some magic "improved overall performance" or whatever? :-) Greetings, Andreas Behnert -- To err is human; effective mayhem requires the root password! --
Re: CD Instalation / "not block device"
"Del Campo, Damian" wrote: > > Hi, I changed the CD drive in my SunSparc2 as I thought it may be the cause > of my installation woes. Funnily enough, I could boot to it and the base > installation was a sinch and was all from the CD. > However, after the base installation, when it rebooted and then came to the > package installation it couldn't use the CDRom, it wouldn't mount the device > saying that it was "not a block device". The SS2 (and AFAIK many other Sparcs) needs a CD drive that supports a blocksize of 512 byte. I do not know what blocksize is used by the Linux SCSI CD driver, may be 1024 oder 2048 or something like that, but if you want to boot from CD the "Open Boot PROM" expects a blocksize of 512 bytes. This is also the reason why bootdisks created with "dd of=/dev/fd0 if=image.bin bs=512" work and disks created with "... bs=1024" don't. I'm using a "Teac 532S" on my SS2 and I don't have any problems... > *The CDRom is actaully a burner, this shouldn't matter though should it? Hmm. If it's an old one or if it's a very cheap new one there could be all sorts of problems. Better get something that is known to work. I tested my "Teac 532S" with Open Boot PROM V2.4.1 and 2.9 ... > *Also, in the base installation, when it asks you do change the kernel > modules, should I have tried to install generic SCSI support if it could > already read my CDRom & hard drives. Well I did try but unsuccessfully. > Should I not try and install modules at all? If it can read your HD and CD there is no need to install a driver for it. And AFAIK every Sun box has a SCSI controller and the older ones don't have anything else but SCSI so the kernel on the Debian Sparc bootdisk should have SCSI support compiled in. Greetings, Andreas Behnert -- To err is human; effective mayhem requires the root password :-) --
Update OpenBootPROM on SS2?
Sorry 'bout my poor English :-) Sun SparcStation2 (sun4c): Is it possible to update the OpenBoot PROM of such a machine? I have access to an EPROM/Flash programming device so there shouldn't be a problem with the hardware. Like many (if not all) sun4c boxes my SS2 hat the limitation of not being able to boot from a harddisk > 1 GB (still have to look exactly which OBP version I have). Are there any updates available? I know that the OBP of Ultra boxes is updated within Solaris 8 but AFAIK the older Non-Ultra boxes aren't equipped with a FlashROM. Instead they use a EPROM. So I would need something like a .BIN or .HEX file... Greetings from Germany, Andreas -- To err is human; effective mayhem requires the root password :-) --
Re: Booting Linux on a SS2 with broken EPROM
(Sorry 'bout my poor English...) Fabbione wrote: > > I don't think I can replace the EPROM with a new one (are still > available?)... > > Thanks a lot > Fabbione Yes, you can replace it and these "Timekeeper" ICs are still produced by SGS-Thomson and are still available. Replacing is really easy. Take a look at http://www.squirrel.com/sun-nvram-hostid.faq.html and please follow _exactly_ the steps shown in this manual. SS2 ist a "sun4c" or a "4/75" and this box uses a M48T02. AFAIK the speed of the M48T02 is not important as long as the new chip isn't slower than the original one. My SS2 had a 200ns, now I use a 150ns (because it was the cheapest one :-) - no problems ... The only bad thing is that if you get the message "Invalid format type..." you've already lost your original Ethernet-MAC-# , but the manual tells you how to create a new one ... Greetings from Germany Andreas -- To err is human; effective mayhem requires the root password :-) --
Re: SPARC 20 firmware error at boot
Noah Meyerhans wrote: > > I've got a SPARC 20 running sid that will no longer boot. It fails > before running the kernel with the following error: > PROMLIB: obio_ranges 5 > IDPROM: Checksum failure (nvram=5d, calc=d0)! > The Good: Please have a look at the Sun NVRAM FAQ. This page helped me to replace the NVRAM chip (SparcStation 2) and most important to reprogram the new one. Now I know how to change the Ethernet MAC to whatever I like :-) May be you find something useful there or the author can help you. The Bad: I can't exactly remember the URL. If I'm right it was something like squirrel.com and the page was called "Sun Host ID FAQ" or something like that. av.com or google.com should know this page... Greetings from Germany Andreas -- To err is human; effective mayhem requires the root password :-) --
