Re: Problem installing NetBSD 7.1.1 on my SparcStation 5

[Julien Savard <juliensavard17%gmail.com@localhost>]

Well I tried with :

• NetDBS 7.1.1
  
• NetBSD 7.1
  
• NetBSD 7.0.2
  
• NetBSD 6.1.5
  

I'm starting to strongly suspect my NFS server on Solaris. Maybe there is something more to do on Solaris or something "not standard". I'll try to switch my NFS share from my Soalris server to a NetBSD or Linux server.

I'll keep you posted.

On Mon, Jan 15, 2018 at 4:33 AM, Chase Rayfield <cusbrar2%yahoo.com@localhost> wrote:

There is a firmware limitation on root partitions greater than 1 or 2 Gb depending on firmware version, it won't be bootable... probably not affecting you here but just be aware of it.

I figured it was worth mentioning as it is a difference vs the newer machines you may be used to.

Chase Rayfield / cb88

On Sunday, January 14, 2018, 4:29:54 AM EST, Julien Savard <juliensavard17%gmail.com@localhost> wrote:

Hi,

I'm trying to install NetBSD 7.1.1 on my old SparcStation 5. CD-ROM drive seems to be defective so I have no choice but to netboot it. I am already using a Solaris 10 x86 to netboot my Solaris server so I used it to also netboot NetBSD.

Netbooting seems to be working. I mean, it load everything and I get to the installation menu.The only problem I have at the beginning of the install. The installer try to partition, format and mount the disk. I alway get this error :

mount_ffs: Warnning realpth /dev/sd0a: File too large

mount_ffs:: /dev/sd0a on /targetroot: File too large

So I tried to get to the shell to mannually mount the disk but when I simply run a "ls -lh" in /dev I get the same eroor message for lot of devices :

ls: altmem0a: File too large

ls: altmem0b: File too large

ls: altmem0c: File too large

ls: altmem0d: File too large

ls: altmem0e: File too large

ls: altmem0f: File too large

ls: altmem0g: File too large

ls: altmem0h: File too large

ls: altmem1a: File too large

ls: altmem1b: File too large

And it goes the same for all these devices :

• altmem0a
  
• altmem1a
  
• ccd0a
  
• ccd1a
  
• ccd2a
  
• ccd3a
  
• cd0a
  
• fd0a
  
• raid0a
  
• raid1a
  
• raid2a
  
• raid3a
  
• raid4a
  
• raid5a
  
• raid6a
  
• raid7a
  
• sd0a
  
• sd1a
  
• sd2a
  
• sd3a
  
• sd4a
  
• xd0a
  
• xd1a
  
• xd2a
  
• xd3a
  

I first thought it might be because it was mounted via NFSv2 however I verified that point :

soqc1-jumpstart1:/srv/netbsd/ netboot on / type nfs (root file system, fsid: 0xb01/0x70b, reads: sync 0 async 0, writes: sync 0 async 0, [nfs: addr=192.168.1.70, port=2049, addrlen=16, sotype=2, proto=0, fhsize=0, flags=0x8280<noconn,nfsv3, resvport>, wsize=8192, rsize=8192, readdirsize=8192, timeo=300, retrans=10, maxgrouplist=16, readahead=2, leaseterm=0, deadthresh=9])

mfs:7 on /tmp type mfs (synchronous, local, fsid: 0xff01/0x78b, reads: sync 58 async 0, writes: sync 18 async 18, [mfs: base=0xedefc000, size=1048576])

I also created a 2.2 Gb file using "dd if=/dev/zero of=zero.txt" and there is no problem when I run a "ls -lh" in the directory where it is.

Does anybody ever had this weird problem ?