Very Computer

Folks !

I have  seen this question asked for external/CD-ROm drive etc.
but I am trying to get it to boot from the IDE/Internal CD-ROM
that came with my 1-yr old Blade 100. Even the original boot/install
CD-ROM (Solaris 8 01/01) that came with Blade 100, doesn't boot when
I give command on ok "boot cdrom". Screen goes blank, disk seems to
spin for a moment (green light comes on) but it complains about:

can't read disk label
can'open disk label package

And then it proceeds to boot from hard disk that is trashed
(thats another strange Blade 100 problem, after a year of relatively
smooth operation it started crashing with screen filled with gibberish.
I used to recycled power to reboot (bad idea, I know) and eventually
the disk got corrupted. Something about /usr/lib/libnsl.so.1 being
corrupt or something. Disk is fine, but I can't fsck it. So In  thought
its good time to upgrade to Solaris 9).

I have tried with boot/installation CD for Solaris 9 also
and there the CD-ROM doesn't even spin, machine doesn't try to
reboot at all and gives same error "can't read label" etc.

So what do I have to do to get the machine to boot from internal
IDE/CD-ROM ? This is standard Blade 100 (with some memory added, that
hasn't caused any problem otherwise). I haven't changed any of the nvram
settings and cabling seems to be fine (or disk won't spin, right ?).

When I can't get standard IDE/CD-ROM to boot, switching to SCSI
seems like a nightmare.

thanks for your help.

regards,

-Sanjay Kumar

Have you opened it up and switched cables around/maybe added new
drives/changed the jumpers on the drives?  Assuming your media is correct,
it looks like the labels are pointing to the wrong places.  If you have not
done anything internally, I would suggest starting over by going to the ok
prompt and issuing a "set-defaults"

I definitely didn't change jumpers though I may
have moved cables and stuff but I thought I restored
it back to where it was. I see cables connected
properly now. When I do "probe-ide" it shows the ATAPI
CDROM drive as "Primary Slave".

I am little leery of changing nvram setting (set-defaults)
just yet since I recall Sun  support person asking me to
(over phone) to enter some commands lasy year when we swapped
faulty CPU. (may be it was set-defaults, can't recall.).
Is set-defaults harmless or will it trash things irreperably
given that motherboard and then CPU was swapped at some point ?

btw, I also tried

instead of

as was suggested in earlier threads. But that didn't work either.

I am wondering what the best course at this time would be:

-try repairing hard disk (but /usr/lib/libnsl.so.1 is trashed
and I seem to need that to force fsck)

-try fixing CD-ROM boot problem, set-default nvram, replace PROM etc.

- try booting from floppy (how do you do that ?)

1 year warranty expired in March. And sun will charge me $300/hr
to send an engineer (min 2 hours) plus material. Software
support is $150/hr (min two hours). Should have known better
before buying flaky Sun hardware. Is there an alternative, cheaper
source for sun support (in Chicago ?)

thanks,

-Sanjay

Quote:> I definitely didn't change jumpers though I may
> have moved cables and stuff but I thought I restored
> it back to where it was. I see cables connected
> properly now. When I do "probe-ide" it shows the ATAPI
> CDROM drive as "Primary Slave".

Just for shits-and-giggles, what does the output of "show-disks" say?

Quote:> I am little leery of changing nvram setting (set-defaults)
> just yet since I recall Sun  support person asking me to
> (over phone) to enter some commands lasy year when we swapped
> faulty CPU. (may be it was set-defaults, can't recall.).
> Is set-defaults harmless or will it trash things irreperably
> given that motherboard and then CPU was swapped at some point ?

It is harmless in the sense that it will indeed return your settings to
defaults.  If you have any user-created aliases (maybe you created an alias
for a second boot disk), they will go bye-bye.  From what you are saying, it
will not hurt anything.

You can try, but when this happens, it is a pretty fair determination that
you really screwed up this library--ususally by not shutting down the box
properly.  It may only be this file (and maybe you can restore it from the
cd or pristine install from another box), but it may be more than this file.
It is up to you.

Quote:

> -try fixing CD-ROM boot problem, set-default nvram, replace PROM etc.

I would definitely try resetting the defaults before I go around replacing
the PROM, but if you really believe it is hardware, you can indeed replace
it.

Quote:

> - try booting from floppy (how do you do that ?)

Not possible in recent versions of Solaris.  I had wished for a while that
Sun would stop sending their boxes with a floppy drive, and now, with some
new boxes, they have.

Quote:

> 1 year warranty expired in March. And sun will charge me $300/hr
> to send an engineer (min 2 hours) plus material. Software
> support is $150/hr (min two hours). Should have known better
> before buying flaky Sun hardware. Is there an alternative, cheaper
> source for sun support (in Chicago ?)

I would be a bit hesitant about make a sweeping statement such as this.  As
far as I can tell, for most people the Blade 100s have wound up being just
as stable as any other Sun hardware--and that Sun hardware is typically more
stable than most (there are definitely exceptions).  Sun support is indeed
expsensive, but so is support from ever other major unix vendor--it is just
something the market allows for.

From what you have written so far in this thread, I really doubt that
hardware is the problem.  But maybe it is.  Anyway, if cost is the deciding
factor, you can probably find a consultant who deals in Sun
hardware/software--but only a few of them would probably take on a
1-client/1-box scenario.  Maybe someone on this group lives near you :)

Quote:

> thanks,

> -Sanjay

Manwe,

thanks so much for your reponse.

show-disks shows:

I did set-defaults reset-all and it doesn't seem to have fixed
the problem.

I also tried putting in another ATAPI CD-ROM drive from a PC
(which it recognized) but again didn't boot from - same
error "can't read label", "can't open device" etc.

I agree that most likely the hardware is not the problem.
But I am thinking now if frequent forced powerdowns somehow
trashed the nvram (or is it prom ?).

I don't know what I can do now (new NVRAM ?) given I can't
boot from floppy and I can't flash the PROM since I can't
boot from CD and the hard-disk is trashed.

thanks again.

-Sanjay

 >
 > Just for shits-and-giggles, what does the output of "show-disks" say?
 >
 >
 > It is harmless in the sense that it will indeed return your settings to
 > defaults.  If you have any user-created aliases (maybe you created an alias
 > for a second boot disk), they will go bye-bye.  From what you are saying, it
 > will not hurt anything.
 >
 >
 >
 >>-try fixing CD-ROM boot problem, set-default nvram, replace PROM etc.
 >
 > I would definitely try resetting the defaults before I go around replacing
 > the PROM, but if you really believe it is hardware, you can indeed replace
 > it.
 >
 > I would be a bit hesitant about make a sweeping statement such as this.  As
 > far as I can tell, for most people the Blade 100s have wound up being just
 > as stable as any other Sun hardware--and that Sun hardware is typically more
 > stable than most (there are definitely exceptions).  Sun support is indeed
 > expsensive, but so is support from ever other major unix vendor--it is just
 > something the market allows for.
 >
 > From what you have written so far in this thread, I really doubt that
 > hardware is the problem.  But maybe it is.  Anyway, if cost is the deciding
 > factor, you can probably find a consultant who deals in Sun
 > hardware/software--but only a few of them would probably take on a
 > 1-client/1-box scenario.  Maybe someone on this group lives near you :)
 >
 >
 >>thanks,
 >>
 >>-Sanjay
 >
 >
 >

Right there is your problem. Rejumper it to Cable Select (CS) and it
should work just fine.

Quote:> thanks,

> -Sanjay

William

Well, the jumper is set to "CS" cable select
(just as it originally was) and it shows up
as Slave disk on primary channel in probe-ide.
Thats what I meant as "primary slave".

Should I set the jumper to "Slave" or "Master"
to make it boot ? This is original CD-ROM with
original cable.

thanks,

-Sanjay

not to sound silly but did you try;

boot cdrom -browser ?? by any chance? i've reinstalled about 30 Sb100's now
from the Solaris 8 media kit and that what always works for me, and I've
re-installed my own that way twice..

Matt

My colleges tried to install Solaris on a Blade 100 from the scratch
and it didn't work (didn't boot from media; don't know what message
appeared). They looked into the Blade 100 package box and found an
environmental CD for the Blade 100. With that CD boot was possible and
the installation worked...

amo

--
no spam == more fun; for email remove (keinmuell)

is this the CD you are referring to??
"Solaris is preinstalled on the Sun Blade 100 workstation. If
reinstalling Solaris 8 10/00 or Solaris 8 1/01 for any reason, the
corresponding Solaris Operating Environment CD (OECD) must be used:

OECD 10/00 (704-7610)
OECD 1/01 (704-7617)"

Solaris 8 (01/01) had an extra CD just for Blade 100
as stock Solaris 8 could not boot Blade then.
I am looking at the OECD label and it says 704-7610
for the part no.

I am less optimistic of being able to boot from Solaris 8
CD right now since I hear somee people saying here that
while Solaris 8 CD didn't boot, Solaris 9 did.

-Sanjay

Quote:> is this the CD you are referring to??
> "Solaris is preinstalled on the Sun Blade 100 workstation. If
> reinstalling Solaris 8 10/00 or Solaris 8 1/01 for any reason, the
> corresponding Solaris Operating Environment CD (OECD) must be used:

> OECD 10/00 (704-7610)
> OECD 1/01 (704-7617)"

I, too, had this problem.  I tried different IDE
CD drives (Lite-On, Sony, and Philips) and I finally
had success today booting Solaris 9 on my Sun Blade
100 with the following drive:

Polaroid BurnMax 32X

It's a Read/Write drive...I haven't tried to
write to it yet.

And here's the clincher...  OfficeMax has a
great deal on these ($15 after $50 rebate and
$25 coupon off $100) until July 21, 2002.

I just checked and it's backordered (item #
is 20149929) so I don't know if you can take
advantage of the $50 rebate offer.  Here's
the info (from BensBargains.net)

1. Grab this $25 off $100 coupon
   http://officemax.com/special/verified
2. Add the CDRW (item 20149929) at $90, and this $10 phone (item
20081233)
3. Top it off with some clips (item 09015424) to reach $100

Total: $100 stuff - $50 CDRW rebate - $10 phone rebate - $25 coupon =
$15 shipped AR.

Todd,

thanks so much for your response.
I will go get the Polaroid and see if it works.

BTW, I suspect CD media could be another problem for me.
How did you burn your bootable CD ? I beleive there
are issues with cluster size, Joliet/ISO etc.

thanks again,

-Sanjay Kumar