On 2025-05-13 00:56, Stuart Henderson wrote:
On 2025-05-12, Nicole Findlay <nicolefind...@airmail.cc> wrote:
I am trying to install OpenBSD 7.7 amd64 install77.iso in a VM, but
it panics while installing the sets. This is the error message:
"wdc_atapi_start: not ready, st = 50"
The VM then reboots within approximately 30 seconds to a minute.
These web pages I found have screenshots that are like what I am
experiencing, including the full error message:
<https://www.wezm.net/v2/posts/2023/openbsd-db-atapi-start-not-ready/>
<https://www.reddit.com/r/openbsd/comments/12jzg2y/comment/jhhk1gx/>
They suggest that configuring the VM's virtual CD drive as SATA,
rather than IDE, is a way to avoid it.
Unfortunately for me, the bespoke and strange QEMU-based (I think)
hosting infrastructure I am stuck using does not give me such
control or insight, so I cannot try that. There are several existing
pre-7.7 OpenBSD VMs hosted by this infrastructure, although I do not
know their provenance. This infrastructure's bespoke management web
app also makes extracting log messages impossible for me so far.
Is this panic a bug, or expected behavior? (This is my first
experience with OpenBSD, so I am ignorant.)
Probable that it's a bug, but not sure whether it's in OpenBSD or your
VM environment.
After further digging on my local computer, completely separate from
the aforementioned remote infrastructure, I think it may be an OpenBSD
bug.
I can now reproduce this panic locally using QEMU on macOS:
$ qemu-system-x86_64 --version
QEMU emulator version 9.2.3
Copyright (c) 2003-2024 Fabrice Bellard and the QEMU Project developers
$
I have downloaded:
<https://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/7.7/amd64/install77.iso>
I then create a disk image for the OpenBSD VM:
$ qemu-img create -f qcow2 openbsd.qcow2 8G
I then start QEMU like this:
$ qemu-system-x86_64 \
-no-user-config \
-nodefaults \
-machine pc,hpet=off \
-cpu qemu64 \
-vga std \
-drive id=drive0,file=openbsd.qcow2,if=none,format=qcow2 \
-drive id=drive1,file=install77.iso,if=none,media=cdrom \
-device ide-hd,drive=drive0 \
-device ide-cd,drive=drive1
When installing the sets, the panic occurs, like this:
wdc_atapi_start: not ready, st = 50
fatal protection fault in supervisor mode
trap type 4 code 0 rip ffffffff81007c89 cs 8 rflags 10286 cr2
94c77b09c2b4da1a cpl 3 rsp ffff800003e514d8
gsbase 0xffffffff8195eff0 kgsbase 0x0
panic: trap type 4, code=0, pc=ffffffff81007c89
syncing disks...
I noticed that if "hpet=off" is changed to "hpet=on" (along with
creating a fresh disk image with qemu-img), the panic does not
happen for me:
$ qemu-system-x86_64 \
-no-user-config \
-nodefaults \
-machine pc,hpet=on \
-cpu qemu64 \
-vga std \
-drive id=drive0,file=openbsd.qcow2,if=none,format=qcow2 \
-drive id=drive1,file=install77.iso,if=none,media=cdrom \
-device ide-hd,drive=drive0 \
-device ide-cd,drive=drive1
Additionally, I think the problem starts with 7.3.
It panics (with "hpet=off") when using install73.iso, but not with
install72.iso.
Likely easiest to sidestep it by doing a network install (you can still
use the iso to boot the installer, but configure the network and
install
over http).
I will certainly give that approach a try.
Many thanks,
- Niki
