Re: SUN Oracle Sparc T4-1 installation problems

Hi Andrew,

Thank you for your email.  For me the problem is always there, no matter 
how many times I soft or hard reset.

The installation notes recommend to upgrade OpenBoot to at least 4.28.0, 
but mine is already 4.38.13.  On the Oracle website, I can see there is 
a firmware update available (8.9.11, mine is 8.9.10), but I do not have 
their supported purchased, nor will I have.

I tried installing Debian a few times, and the installer boots, but then 
fails at installing some package.  The installer crashed once at 
booting, which is unusual.

Maybe my hardware is faulty.  I thought the buy was great, but I think 
I'll just return it.  The hardware is awesome, so now my x86 server just 
looks cheap.

I'm disappointed by the idle power consumption: 250 W (as in the docs). 
I guess all T-series Sparc systems are that power consuming.


Regards,
Irek

On 6/29/24 14:17, Andrew Grillet wrote:

> Hi Irek
> 
> I remember having this on pre-T-series Sparc 64 machines.
> 
> The underlying cause was incorrect alignment of data - eg 64 bit word is 
> stored as two 32 bit words, but misaligned on 32-bit boundary.
>  From my very hazy recollection of 15 years ago, the problem was in the 
> OpenBoot(?) or Forth code, and was data dependent. Possibly
> data in the SC.
> 
> Typically, recovery required a power cycle, or possibly, rebooting 
> without a power cycle.  Possibly several times.
> 
> I fix would be great as it would appear this problem can affect all 
> Sparc64 systems if the wind blows the wrong way. .
> 
> I am sure that there are people that understand this better than me, but 
> unfortunately, not very many.
> 
> 
> regards
> 
> Andrew
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, 29 Jun 2024 at 11:17, Irek Szcześniak <[email protected] 
> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> 
>     Hi,
> 
>     I'm trying to install OpenBSD 7.5 on SUN Oracle Sparc T4-1 that is
>     known
>     or expected to work.
> 
>     I ask OpenBoot to boot from a CD:
> 
>     ok boot cdrom
> 
>     OpenBoot tells me:
> 
>     The file just loaded does not appear to be executable.
> 
>     Then asked to net boot with DHCP:
> 
>     ok boot net:dhcp bsd.rd
> 
>     My tftpd serves bsd.rd, and then OpenBoot tells me:
> 
>     ERROR: Last Trap: Fast Data Access MMU Miss
> 
>     I would appreciate it if someone could help me out.
> 
> 
>     Thanks & best,
>     Irek
>