xen discuss - Oct 2007 - Booting from nv66 iso drops to grub prompt

Hi All,

Im almost embarrassed to ask this but here I go.  I have downloaded and 
burned the nv66-Xen iso''s.  Upon booting the first one I just get a
grub
prompt instead of the installer.  Is there something special I need to do?

Thanks in advance,
Christian

Since you''re inside SUN, you should instead get the hot off the
presses nv75 .iso''s. This is the regular opensolaris build 75 and
now includes xVM (nee xen).

ftp to nana.sfbay, then look in /solaris_media/nv/75/x86/
for either the DVD or CD images, whichever you prefer.

Joe

Christian Smith wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> Im almost embarrassed to ask this but here I go.  I have downloaded and 
> burned the nv66-Xen iso''s.  Upon booting the first one I just get
a grub
> prompt instead of the installer.  Is there something special I need to do?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Christian
> _______________________________________________
> xen-discuss mailing list
> xen-discuss at opensolaris.org

> Im almost embarrassed to ask this but here I go.  I have downloaded and 
> burned the nv66-Xen iso''s.  Upon booting the first one I just get
a grub
> prompt instead of the installer.  Is there something special I need to do?
GRUB behaves like this when it can''t read the file boot/grub/menu.lst 
from the boot media.

Possible reasons why GRUB is unable to read boot/grub/menu.lst:

-  The user did forget to concatenate the parts of the downloaded
  dvd image before burning the ISO.  That is, the boot media the system
  is trying to boot from contains just a truncated ISO9660 filesystem.


-  optical media is defective, that is, the cd/dvd device is unable to
   read the contents of the boot/grub/menu.lst file


-  BIOS bugs, like the one from bug 6513165:
  "Error 25: Disk read error", when booting from usb dvd device
  http://bugs.opensolaris.org/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6513165
  
  (For 6513165, an "ASUS M2N-SLI deluxe" BIOS upgrade did fix the
problem)
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

I downloaded files for nv66-Xen , merged  pieces on Windows as instructed and
created ISO image for resulting file by Nero. DVD works fine and displays Grub
Menu as any other SNV build. If checksums are correct I guess DVD has not been
burned properly.
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

this is happening to me too - if I type "boot" at grub, it tells me I
have to load a kernel first
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

this gets odder and odder

took a look at the DVD and discovered that just a few of the files had errors
(notably menu.lst) was unreadable

reburned the DVD, now it starts to boot, comes up with a menu saying chose 1:
1. solaris interactive
2. apply driver updates
3. single user shell

choosing 1, comes back with:
Using install cd in /dev/dsk/c1t0d0p0
ERROR: ''Solaris Express.. can only be installed from DVD media.  Either
use DVVD media or install by chossing he ''Solaris Express''
option from the Grub menu

huh?  it''s a DVD in the drive and a standard GRUB menu never came up -
looks like the drivers think the DVD is a CD (could be a BIOS thing, but other
DVDs boot just find)

anybody else come across this?

if I choose single user shell, any thoughts on how to proceed to fake things out
and proceed with the installation process
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

Miles Fidelman wrote:
> this gets odder and odder
>
> took a look at the DVD and discovered that just a few of the files had
errors (notably menu.lst) was unreadable
>
> reburned the DVD, now it starts to boot, comes up with a menu saying chose
1:
> 1. solaris interactive
> 2. apply driver updates
> 3. single user shell
>
> choosing 1, comes back with:
> Using install cd in /dev/dsk/c1t0d0p0
> ERROR: ''Solaris Express.. can only be installed from DVD media. 
Either use DVVD media or install by chossing he ''Solaris
Express'' option from the Grub menu
>
> huh?  it''s a DVD in the drive and a standard GRUB menu never came
up - looks like the drivers think the DVD is a CD (could be a BIOS thing, but
other DVDs boot just find)
>
> anybody else come across this?
>
> if I choose single user shell, any thoughts on how to proceed to fake
things out and proceed with the installation process
>  
>  
> This message posted from opensolaris.org
> _______________________________________________
> xen-discuss mailing list
> xen-discuss@opensolaris.org
>   
Oh I see the problem Miles. Everyone on #opensolaris keeps telling me to
wait for binary builds of 75. You can build a BFU now if you have
patience, although when I was building ON and rebooted, the system
wouldn''t boot, tons and tons of missing symbols, and I followed the
instructions down to a T. Waste of 4 hours of my time. build-workspace
is missing from ON-src which Xen''s instructions need, and I''ve
heard
from the xVM (Xen) maintainer for OpenSolaris that he will be releasing
newer build scripts soon and hopefully binary builds before ON 76 is
out, although I need ON 76 because of the notorious nge driver link
state bug which has so far since NV 53 has exluded being fixed due to
unrelated bugs. The problem isn''t a major issue though, I just want to
try Xen right now. The official BFU for ON 75 does not include Xen,
it''s
a separate archive, and as I said, binary builds are yet to be released.

Sorry about being abrasive in my previous e-mail, I wasn''t in a good
mood. The current Xen drop doesn''t work as transparently as it should.
Cross-compiling Solaris stuff on Linux is not gonna work except for gcc
stuff, since Sun Studio compilers are used for OpenSolaris, and gcc
isn''t fully supported yet for building the kernel. Personally I prefer
Sun Studio to gcc, but it isn''t capable of cross compile from a
completely different os even though it is available on Linux.

James

James Cornell wrote:
> Miles Fidelman wrote:
>   
>> this gets odder and odder
>>
>> took a look at the DVD and discovered that just a few of the files had
errors (notably menu.lst) was unreadable
>>
>> reburned the DVD, now it starts to boot, comes up with a menu saying
chose 1:
>> 1. solaris interactive
>> 2. apply driver updates
>> 3. single user shell
>>
>> choosing 1, comes back with:
>> Using install cd in /dev/dsk/c1t0d0p0
>> ERROR: ''Solaris Express.. can only be installed from DVD
media.  Either use DVVD media or install by chossing he ''Solaris
Express'' option from the Grub menu
>>
>> huh?  it''s a DVD in the drive and a standard GRUB menu never
came up - looks like the drivers think the DVD is a CD (could be a BIOS thing,
but other DVDs boot just find)
>>
>> anybody else come across this?
>>
>> if I choose single user shell, any thoughts on how to proceed to fake
things out and proceed with the installation process
>>  
>>  
>> This message posted from opensolaris.org
>> _______________________________________________
>> xen-discuss mailing list
>> xen-discuss@opensolaris.org
>>   
>>     
> Oh I see the problem Miles. Everyone on #opensolaris keeps telling me to
> wait for binary builds of 75. You can build a BFU now if you have
> patience, although when I was building ON and rebooted, the system
> wouldn''t boot, tons and tons of missing symbols, and I followed
the
> instructions down to a T. Waste of 4 hours of my time. build-workspace
> is missing from ON-src which Xen''s instructions need, and
I''ve heard
> from the xVM (Xen) maintainer for OpenSolaris that he will be releasing
> newer build scripts soon and hopefully binary builds before ON 76 is
> out, although I need ON 76 because of the notorious nge driver link
> state bug which has so far since NV 53 has exluded being fixed due to
> unrelated bugs. The problem isn''t a major issue though, I just
want to
> try Xen right now. The official BFU for ON 75 does not include Xen,
it''s
> a separate archive, and as I said, binary builds are yet to be released.
>
> Sorry about being abrasive in my previous e-mail, I wasn''t in a
good
> mood. The current Xen drop doesn''t work as transparently as it
should.
> Cross-compiling Solaris stuff on Linux is not gonna work except for gcc
> stuff, since Sun Studio compilers are used for OpenSolaris, and gcc
> isn''t fully supported yet for building the kernel. Personally I
prefer
> Sun Studio to gcc, but it isn''t capable of cross compile from a
> completely different os even though it is available on Linux.
>
> James
> _______________________________________________
> xen-discuss mailing list
> xen-discuss@opensolaris.org
>   
Forgot to say just found out, build-workspace isn''t used, you just use
build-all now, the site isn''t updated, but it''s in README. 
John Levon
just replied to my e-mail about this on xen-discuss.

James

James Cornell wrote:
>> Oh I see the problem Miles. Everyone on #opensolaris keeps telling me
to
>> wait for binary builds of 75. You can build a BFU now if you have
>> patience, although when I was building ON and rebooted, the system
>> wouldn''t boot, tons and tons of missing symbols, and I
followed the
>> instructions down to a T. Waste of 4 hours of my time. 
Yeah. That''s the conclusion I''ve been coming t
>> Sorry about being abrasive in my previous e-mail, I wasn''t in
a good
>> mood. The current Xen drop doesn''t work as transparently as it
should.
>>     
It happens.  Been there (like, this morning, trying to get the darn 
thing to boot).

Thanks,

Miles

Miles Fidelman wrote:
> James Cornell wrote:
>   
>>> Oh I see the problem Miles. Everyone on #opensolaris keeps telling
me to
>>> wait for binary builds of 75. You can build a BFU now if you have
>>> patience, although when I was building ON and rebooted, the system
>>> wouldn''t boot, tons and tons of missing symbols, and I
followed the
>>> instructions down to a T. Waste of 4 hours of my time. 
>>>       
> Yeah. That''s the conclusion I''ve been coming t
>
>   
>>> Sorry about being abrasive in my previous e-mail, I wasn''t
in a good
>>> mood. The current Xen drop doesn''t work as transparently
as it should.
>>>     
>>>       
> It happens.  Been there (like, this morning, trying to get the darn 
> thing to boot).
>
> Thanks,
>
> Miles
> _______________________________________________
> xen-discuss mailing list
> xen-discuss@opensolaris.org
>   
Actually that''s ironic, the reason I was mad was because of Xen, I had
taken a break from trying to get ON from source working, and was still
in a bad mood because of two builds that did not work.  I''m just using
a
BFU for ON 75 now, and waiting for Xen.

James

> this gets odder and odder
> 
> took a look at the DVD and discovered that just a few
> of the files had errors (notably menu.lst) was
> unreadable
> 
> reburned the DVD, now it starts to boot, 
Fine.  So I guess the first attempt to download, assemble
the iso9660 filesystem image from the segments, and burn it,
somehow failed and produced a dvd with a bad filesystem
on it.
> comes up with a menu saying chose 1:
> 1. solaris interactive
> 2. apply driver updates
> 3. single user shell
> 
> choosing 1, comes back with:
> Using install cd in /dev/dsk/c1t0d0p0
> ERROR: ''Solaris Express.. can only be installed from
> DVD media.  Either use DVVD media or install by
> chossing he ''Solaris Express'' option from the Grub
> menu
> 
> huh?  it''s a DVD in the drive and a standard GRUB
> menu never came up - looks like the drivers think the
> DVD is a CD (could be a BIOS thing, but other DVDs
> boot just find)
> 
> anybody else come across this?
Sounds a bit like bugs 6600178 / 6600169.
But that was a new bug introduced with opensolaris
build 72, and should now be fixed in build 75.

Which OpenSolaris build are you trying to install?

And what is the host that you''re installing on?

> if I choose single user shell, any thoughts on how to
> proceed to fake things out and proceed with the
> installation process
Well, apparently the installer thinks your optical device
is device /dev/dsk/c1t0d0p0.  From the single user shell,
try to manually mount the CD/DVD, and see if that works
or not.  Command is

    mount -F hsfs /dev/dsk/c1t0d0p0 /mnt

Since the installer seems to have some problems mounting
the installation media, I expect that you might get some error
messages from the above mount command.
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

> 
> Well, apparently the installer thinks your optical
> device is device /dev/dsk/c1t0d0p0.  From the single user
> shell, try to manually mount the CD/DVD, and see if that
> works or not.  Command is
> mount -F hsfs /dev/dsk/c1t0d0p0 /mnt
> nce the installer seems to have some problems
> mounting the installation media, I expect that you might get
> some error messages from the above mount command.
I was trying to install the xen drop based on b66, and gave up.

I then tried to install the latest SXDE, and it read the DVD just fine, the only
problem being that networking won''t come up.

Just for the heck of it, I decided to try mounting the DVD per your suggestion,
and this time it seems to be recognizing the DVD - something about the later
install must have updated a driver somehow - though that seems sort of strange
when booting of a DVD (where would the boot process be picking up an updated
driver?)

Anyway, waiting to see how this install goes.
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

> this gets odder and odder
> 
> took a look at the DVD and discovered that just a few
> of the files had errors (notably menu.lst) was
> unreadable
> 
> reburned the DVD, now it starts to boot, comes up
> with a menu saying chose 1:
> 1. solaris interactive
> 2. apply driver updates
> 3. single user shell
> 
> choosing 1, comes back with:
> Using install cd in /dev/dsk/c1t0d0p0
> ERROR: ''Solaris Express.. can only be installed from
> DVD media.  Either use DVVD media or install by
> chossing he ''Solaris Express'' option from the Grub
> menu
I''ve tried ''Solaris Express'' option  from  Grub menu
and it brought me to usual graphical Solaris installation procedure. It was
interrupted by me because of interest , restricted to only Solaris DomU on top
of Linux Dom0.
However, I would just check would proceeding graphical Solaris installation
(SXCE Grub option selected for start) build Solaris Dom0 or no ?
Sorry, if I missed something from this long thread or suggested something
unacceptable.
> 
> huh?  it''s a DVD in the drive and a standard GRUB
> menu never came up - looks like the drivers think the
> DVD is a CD (could be a BIOS thing, but other DVDs
> boot just find)
> 
> anybody else come across this?
> 
> if I choose single user shell, any thoughts on how to
> proceed to fake things out and proceed with the
> installation process
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org