Full Root Partition now wont boot

[ejmilne]

Hi,
I am new to Solaris and I have a version 9 server that had a full root partition, unfortunatly the box was rebooted while it was in this state, and now it wont boot normally, I just get an OK prompt......does anyone know of a way around this?

Thanks,
Emma

 

[KenCunningham]

Emma, take a look at Faq60-1568 for details of how to boot from CD and mount the / filesystem. That should enable you to clear any junk in it and reboot normally, assuming everything else is OK. Let us know how you get on.

 

[ejmilne]

Hi, thanks for replying!I am trying to boot from the CDROM, after I type the command boot cdrom -s it says "Enter Filename (kernel/sparcv9/unix) " If I press enter at this point, it says it cant find it.....is it looking for me to point it to an area on the CDROM?

 

[KenCunningham]

What is the model of the box? It seems (from the little I've read by Googling) that you may need to boot from a CD which matches and 'knows' about the hardware involved, rather than an older CD which might not. I'll keep looking for workarounds.

 

[ejmilne]

Its a "Sunfire". The CD's I am using are brand new as the box was built offsite by another company unfortunatly! There are about 6 CD's in the pack, labelled Documentation, Installation, and the one I am using to try and boot off is labelled Software - is this the right one do you think?

 

[KenCunningham]

I don't think so - you'll need the 'Solaris Installation' CD, I believe.

 

[bfitzmai]

You should be using Software disk 1 of 2. I have seen this problem on one Sunblade 100. When I tried to boot from CD, the kernel path could not be found. Almost as if the CDRom drive was not configured properly to read the Solaris CD. The CDRom drive must be configured to read 512 Blocks.

 

[KenCunningham]

Oops. My bad - Software 1 of 2 it is.

 

[bfitzmai]

Here is an article from SunSolve... You state you have a SunFire... Not the model... So I am not sure if this article is for your problem...

http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/docu...chclause=Enter Filename (kernel/sparcv9/unix)

 

[ejmilne]

can I use chdev as in AIX to change the block size?

 

[bfitzmai]

The Solaris OS Disk is formatted a in a block size = 512 blocks. That is why only certain CDRom Drives can be used on Sun Workstations. Did you read the article I posted?

 

[ejmilne]

Yes, it seems that the software I should have for the model of machine is 4/03 and the disks I am trying to use are 05/02......

 

[bfitzmai]

I would think that is your problem. On the bright side your post has solved why I was getting the same error a couple years ago with a SunBlade. I learned something new today... Does that mean I don't have to go to work today?

 

[KenCunningham]

As for release 4/03, see:

http://www.netsys.com/sunmgr/2003-08/msg00261.html

which seems to indicate a problem with Western Digital drives in the Sunfire 100. I think I'd be going back to the company that built the box to ask for the media they originally used. Is this an option?