Hi Adrian, On 7/31/23 9:15 AM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote: > > >> On Jul 31, 2023, at 4:33 PM, Stan Johnson <user...@yahoo.com> wrote: >> >> I don't think a kernel bisect will identify the issue, since the kernel >> boots ok. This has something to do with the initrd, and I don't know how >> to troubleshoot that. Any recommendations? > > It can still be a bug in the kernel, especially since we’re not seeing this > issue on the T5220 and the SPARC-T4. > > I bet if you rebuild the initrd for the older kernels, these will still boot > fine which would prove my theory. > ...
Booting an older working kernel (vmlinux-5.16.0-6-sparc64), I rebuilt these initrd files: # mkinitramfs -o initrd.img-5.16.0-6-sparc64 5.16.0-6-sparc64 # mkinitramfs -o initrd.img-6.1.0-7-sparc64 6.1.0-7-sparc64 # mkinitramfs -o initrd.img-6.4.0-1-sparc64 6.4.0-1-sparc64 Then I tried booting the following combinations of kernels and initrd files, 1) vmlinux-5.16.0-6-sparc64, initrd.img-5.16.0-6-sparc64 -- pass 2) vmlinux-6.1.0-7-sparc64, initrd.img-6.1.0-7-sparc64 -- fail 3) vmlinux-6.4.0-1-sparc64, initrd.img-6.4.0-1-sparc64 -- fail Note: For these tests: fail -> "Fast Data Access MMU Miss" while loading the initrd pass -> normal boot to multiuser I rebuilt the above initrd files again while booted into my custom 6.2 kernel and tried booting the following combinations: 4) vmlinux-5.16.0-6-sparc64, initrd.img-5.16.0-6-sparc64 -- pass 5) vmlinux-6.1.0-7-sparc64, initrd.img-6.1.0-7-sparc64 -- fail 6) vmlinux-6.4.0-1-sparc64, initrd.img-6.4.0-1-sparc64 -- fail So that suggests the problem is not with mkinitramfs, since each initrd behaves the same regardless of the kernel that was booted while each initrd was built. Next, I tried this: 7) vmlinux-6.4.0-1-sparc64, initrd.img-5.16.0-6-sparc64 -- fail So I could try a kernel bisect next, but it would be a long process: a) Cross-compile stock kernels and modules using the latest Debian SID config file. b) Copy new kernels and modules to the Ultra 30; boot a known working kernel to build each corresponding initrd file. c) Try booting the new kernel/initrd; a "Fast Data Access MMU Miss" while loading the initrd is a failure; otherwise it passes. Alternately, I could use a spare disk and install a default Debian SID installation that includes GRUB. Perhaps there's a memory or some other issue with SILO (I'm using SILO 1.4.14). I won't be using GRUB on my Ultra-30 as long as the GRUB partition must remain mounted, since there's a risk of data corruption if the system crashes. SILO works more like yaboot in that it doesn't require its filesystem to remain mounted, so it will not be affected by a crash, and once configured, there's no need to update silo.conf, just the symbolic links to the kernel and initrd. But I'll be happy to do a clean-install test if anyone thinks that the "Fast Data Access MMU Miss" error might be related to SILO; otherwise, I'll try a kernel bisect. Let me know if there's a preference. -Stan
