[rescue] Sun 3, Sunos 4, 3/60 Boot Block ?

[Chris Quayle]

Hi,

I've been trying to build a new system disk for an old
Sun 3/60 system.

Around 1993, built a disk enclosure with 2 x 766 ESDI fh
drives and 60 meg magtape + interface boards to convert
to scsi. It was my first desktop Sun system, used for
a number of years until upgrading to Sparc. Pulled it
out a couple of years ago, all ok other than a flaky
psu. Tried it again this year, but root sd0a is US.

Have dump files for the root, usr and home partitions,
so formatted another drive in a Sparc LX, also running
SunOs and restored the partitions from backup. Have
searched all the usual places, but can't find any
reference to install the boot block, or whether this
needs to be done before or after restoring the root
partition ?. Have tapes., but no working tape drive and
would be better to have the machine back as it was.
Assume dd may be relevant, or, there is an
installboot command on the LX, but not clear how to
use it it this instance, though it should perhaps
work if given the right Sun3 boot file

Any ideas ?...

Regards,

Chris
_______________________________________________
rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue

[David Brownlee]

Post by Chris Quayle
Hi,
I've been trying to build a new system disk for an old
Sun 3/60 system.
Around 1993, built a disk enclosure with 2 x 766 ESDI fh
drives and 60 meg magtape + interface boards to convert
to scsi. It was my first desktop Sun system, used for
a number of years until upgrading to Sparc. Pulled it
out a couple of years ago, all ok other than a flaky
psu. Tried it again this year, but root sd0a is US.
Have dump files for the root, usr and home partitions,
so formatted another drive in a Sparc LX, also running
SunOs and restored the partitions from backup. Have
searched all the usual places, but can't find any
reference to install the boot block, or whether this
needs to be done before or after restoring the root
partition ?. Have tapes., but no working tape drive and
would be better to have the machine back as it was.
Assume dd may be relevant, or, there is an
installboot command on the LX, but not clear how to
use it it this instance, though it should perhaps
work if given the right Sun3 boot file
Any ideas ?...

Something of a tangent, but would definitely recommend setting up
another box to netboot the sun3. From memory its just rarpd and tftpd
to load boot blocks, then bootparamd to get the kernel across and to
tell the kernel where to NFS mount root.

You can extract the backed up filesystems for the nfs root and then
use the netbooted OS to format and install onto any disks.

A contemporary SunOS sparc box will have all the daemons to hand as
will a BSD and (with a little hunting) Linux.

If you want to netboot a more recent BSD on the sun3 you'll probably
need dhcpd instead of bootparamd, otherwise the same, and I think a
NetBSD netboot will boot a SunOS kernel if you don't have a SunOS
netboot to hand

David
_______________________________________________
rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue

[Chris Quayle]

Hi David,

A name from the past :-). I think the last time we spoke
was in the NetBSD Vax era, around v1.01, on a Microvax II,
iirc. Still hacking here, but semi retired now, 2 lads
left home and making their own way in the world, so more time
to start working through the to do list.

Anyway, Sun 3. This saga started with a Sun 3/150 deskside,
which had been in store for decades. Power supply failed on
initial power up, despite variac and replaced all the o/p caps
as well as other parts. It originally had the cpu board, 4
meg addon memory, scsi board and 7053 smd disk controller.
The 4 meg board fails self test, so 4 megs on cpu it is to
start with.

Had all the 3/60 dump files, so restored the files to the
server and setup tftp and bootparams. There's whole load
of old Sun to test and as you say, a boot server makes it far
easier. Run into issues with that, but in the process, fired up
the 3/60 for clues and the system root partition failed. Had
it running for days in 2016, to play and to back everything
up, which in hindsight, wasn't such a bad idea. So now have 2
things to fix.

So, what about the boot block ?. All the docs say you should
be using munix, miniroot and sun install, where the bootblock
is automagically part of the process, but can't find anything
about standalone boot block install, which is a utility on later
versions of Solaris...

Chris
_______________________________________________
rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue

[r.stricklin]

but can't find anything about standalone boot block install, which is a

utility on later

versions of Solaris...

That utility is a simple shell script to dd the correct boot block from the
filesystem onto the first block of the disk. I don't remember where they're
kept prior to SunOS 5, but try /usr/lib/fs; failing that, `find / -name
ufsboot`.

ok
bear.
--
until further notice
_______________________________________________
rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue

[Plamen Mihaylov]

There is installboot command in mdec folder.
The syntax is: installboot bootsd /dev/rsdXa

Post by Chris Quayle
Hi,
I've been trying to build a new system disk for an old
Sun 3/60 system.
Around 1993, built a disk enclosure with 2 x 766 ESDI fh
drives and 60 meg magtape + interface boards to convert
to scsi. It was my first desktop Sun system, used for
a number of years until upgrading to Sparc. Pulled it
out a couple of years ago, all ok other than a flaky
psu. Tried it again this year, but root sd0a is US.
Have dump files for the root, usr and home partitions,
so formatted another drive in a Sparc LX, also running
SunOs and restored the partitions from backup. Have
searched all the usual places, but can't find any
reference to install the boot block, or whether this
needs to be done before or after restoring the root
partition ?. Have tapes., but no working tape drive and
would be better to have the machine back as it was.
Assume dd may be relevant, or, there is an
installboot command on the LX, but not clear how to
use it it this instance, though it should perhaps
work if given the right Sun3 boot file
Any ideas ?...
Regards,
Chris
_______________________________________________
rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue

_______________________________________________
rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue