Re: Problem booting CD for serial console
Attempt two ;) On Mon, Jun 04, 2007 at 09:52:19PM +1000, RW wrote: | Mounting it shows the expected directory structure and when it is | booted it announces that it is using a 2.88 floppy image and then gives | out ERR M and locks up. This 'ERR M' error message is from the first-stage system bootstrap. Read the biosboot(8) manpage for more details and to find this : ERR MBad magic. The ELF ``magic number'' \7fELF in boot(8)'s header was not found. This indicates that the first block of boot(8) was not read correctly. This could be due to disk corruption, failing to run installboot(8), giving an invalid boot(8) program as the boot argument to installboot(8), or incorrect geometry translation. Try not using floppy emulation but build your own ISO with bsd.rd, cdboot and cdbr. My first reply contains some pointers that may get you going in this direction. The best hint is in cvs[1]. Cheers, Paul 'WEiRD' de Weerd [1]: http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/~checkout~/src/distrib/i386/cdfs/Makefi le?rev=1.7content-type=text/plain -- [++-]+++.+++[---].+++[+ +++-].++[-]+.--.[-] http://www.weirdnet.nl/ [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type application/pgp-signature]
Re: Problem booting CD for serial console
RW wrote: I have a Commell LE564 which will work happily with a serial console including doing BIOS stuff. The BIOS allows use of a USB CD drive and that works too. Well, it works perfectly if you can just time it right and blindly type in the magic string to redirect the console to com0 and then you can do all of the install and thankfully some really kind dev gave us a choice to use serial console for running the installed OS. So I thought it would be cool to modify the CD boot to do the console switch that I remembered somebody describing some time back, and did the svnd mount of the cdrom41.fs, added /etc/ and put in a boot.conf containing set tty com0. I noted that the image contained /boot and /bsd as expected. I then did mkhybrid with all the buttons and knobs and burned the resulting ISO to a CD. Mounting it shows the expected directory structure and when it is booted it announces that it is using a 2.88 floppy image and then gives out ERR M and locks up. I haven't suffered that before and found it in the FAQ but I'm none the wiser as to what could have happened in a CD boot situation. Anybody who has had this problem and worked it through can feel free to be very superior and lay a clue on me because I'm sure that it is a painful thing to debug except for the authors of the boot processes. Well, the ERR M translates to being a message from the PBR which means, roughly: I grabbed what was hard coded in me to grab, but whatever it was, it sure didn't look like /boot, so I'm giving you the most explicit error message I can, but be glad tom@ wrote this code and not nick@, otherwise you would quickly find that 512 bytes is not much to stick verbose error messages in So, the question is, why didn't it look like /boot? I'm not entirely sure, but could you have moved/deleted/re-copied the /boot file? Personally, I'd suggest using cd41.iso, and altering the already existing /etc/boot.conf file that is on that. From what we have seen, cd41.iso is actually a bit more compatible with newer systems than the floppy emulation process used on cdrom41.fs's 2.88M floppy. Uh..you DID test that an unaltered cdrom41.fs DOES work, didn't you? I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't -- some machines don't like the floppy emulation at all, some don't like 2.88M floppies, etc. I could easily see a bug producing that error. OH!! USB CD!!! yeah, definitely use the cd41.iso, and/or non-floppy-emulation for your custom bootable CD. It's been a while (and I don't have much to even test it with), but I think the floppy emulation just doesn't work on USB CDROM drives (or was very buggy on many of 'em) Nick.
Problem booting CD for serial console
I have a Commell LE564 which will work happily with a serial console including doing BIOS stuff. The BIOS allows use of a USB CD drive and that works too. Well, it works perfectly if you can just time it right and blindly type in the magic string to redirect the console to com0 and then you can do all of the install and thankfully some really kind dev gave us a choice to use serial console for running the installed OS. So I thought it would be cool to modify the CD boot to do the console switch that I remembered somebody describing some time back, and did the svnd mount of the cdrom41.fs, added /etc/ and put in a boot.conf containing set tty com0. I noted that the image contained /boot and /bsd as expected. I then did mkhybrid with all the buttons and knobs and burned the resulting ISO to a CD. Mounting it shows the expected directory structure and when it is booted it announces that it is using a 2.88 floppy image and then gives out ERR M and locks up. I haven't suffered that before and found it in the FAQ but I'm none the wiser as to what could have happened in a CD boot situation. Anybody who has had this problem and worked it through can feel free to be very superior and lay a clue on me because I'm sure that it is a painful thing to debug except for the authors of the boot processes. Thanks, _Rod Depressed? Me? Don't make me laugh! :Spike Milligan:1918-2002:
Re: Problem booting CD for serial console
On Mon, Jun 04, 2007 at 09:52:19PM +1000, RW wrote: | So I thought it would be cool to modify the CD boot to do the console | switch that I remembered somebody describing some time back, and did | the svnd mount of the cdrom41.fs, added /etc/ and put in a boot.conf | containing set tty com0. I noted that the image contained /boot and | /bsd as expected. Try http://www.weirdnet.nl/openbsd/serial/ ;) Cheers, Paul 'WEiRD' de Weerd -- [++-]+++.+++[---].+++[+ +++-].++[-]+.--.[-] http://www.weirdnet.nl/ [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type application/pgp-signature]
Re: Problem booting CD for serial console
RW wrote: I have a Commell LE564 which will work happily with a serial console including doing BIOS stuff. I then did mkhybrid with all the buttons and knobs and burned the resulting ISO to a CD. Mounting it shows the expected directory structure and when it is booted it announces that it is using a 2.88 floppy image and then gives out ERR M and locks up. I haven't suffered that before and found it in the FAQ but I'm none the wiser as to what could have happened in a CD boot situation. Anybody who has had this problem and worked it through can feel free to be very superior and lay a clue on me because I'm sure that it is a painful thing to debug except for the authors of the boot processes. uh, pxeboot? you can put the CD contents on your pxeboot server and there's no need to hook up a CD drive. me thinks that's how you're supposed to do it for headless machines. have had the same bad magic errors in the past when using usb cdrom drives. Thanks, _Rod Depressed? Me? Don't make me laugh! :Spike Milligan:1918-2002:
Re: Problem booting CD for serial console
On Mon, 04 Jun 2007 08:55:09 -0500, Jacob Yocom-Piatt wrote: uh, pxeboot? you can put the CD contents on your pxeboot server and there's no need to hook up a CD drive. me thinks that's how you're supposed to do it for headless machines. have had the same bad magic errors in the past when using usb cdrom drives. Uhh, pxeboot? It MIGHT work if it was in the BIOS but it is not. The local distributor has just got a copy of an update which he has promised to test and to forward to me if it works. To do the first install I pulled the card out of the 1U case, stripped the plank off an fxp PCI card and installed from my pxe server. I'm not doing that on a regular basis and in the field I don't have pxe servers on tap anyway. I have installed from the USB CD since but, as I said, it depends on typing in the console switching line blindly at the boot prompt. I can't expect junior admins to do that at customer sites and get it right first time every time with a customer looking on. Thanks, Rod/ From the land down under: Australia. Do we look umop apisdn from up over?
Re: Problem booting CD for serial console
RW wrote: On Mon, 04 Jun 2007 08:55:09 -0500, Jacob Yocom-Piatt wrote: uh, pxeboot? you can put the CD contents on your pxeboot server and there's no need to hook up a CD drive. me thinks that's how you're supposed to do it for headless machines. have had the same bad magic errors in the past when using usb cdrom drives. Uhh, pxeboot? It MIGHT work if it was in the BIOS but it is not. The local distributor has just got a copy of an update which he has promised to test and to forward to me if it works. To do the first install I pulled the card out of the 1U case, stripped the plank off an fxp PCI card and installed from my pxe server. I'm not doing that on a regular basis and in the field I don't have pxe servers on tap anyway. no pxeboot? if it's missing in a board like this it is a design fuckup, IMO. i see * BIOS: *Phoenix-Award D686 4Mb PnP flash BIOS with PXE in the specification listing ( http://www.commell-sys.com/Product/SBC/LE-564.htm#Specification ) along with Integrated CompactFlash type-II interface supports CFC (Compact Flash Card) and IBM MicroDrive SSD (Solid State Disk) with flash memory capacity up to 1 GB. if there is indeed no pxeboot, then prepare a CF card to boot bsd.rd and redirect the console over the serial port, exactly as you'd do with the pxeboot server. you could even have all the install sets comfortably fit on the CF card. if you can boot from the usb cdrom you should be able to do a usb CF reader. a CF card is cheaper and smaller than a usb cdrom. cheers, jake I have installed from the USB CD since but, as I said, it depends on typing in the console switching line blindly at the boot prompt. I can't expect junior admins to do that at customer sites and get it right first time every time with a customer looking on. Thanks, Rod/ From the land down under: Australia. Do we look umop apisdn from up over?
