NetBSD4 INSTALL kernel fails to boot on A7000

[Peter Howkins-2]

Hello,

 I'm attempting to boot the INSTALL kernel from

ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-4.0/acorn32/installation/kernel/

and get the following

NetBSD/acorn32 booting ...
Kernel loaded from file /INSTALL
Kernel arg string(@0xf03e00a4) root=/dev/wd0a

Boot configuration structure reports the following memory
 DRAM block 0a at 10000000 size 04000000 DRAM block 0b at 18000000 size 0028a000
 DRAM block 1a at 18300000 size 00100000 DRAM block 1b at 00000000 size 00000000
 VRAM block 0   at 00000000 size 00000000
panic: kernel diagnostic assertion "symstart != NULL && strstart !=
NULL" failed: file "/home/builds
/ab/netbsd-4-0-RELEASE/src/sys/kern/kern_ksyms.c", line 450
Undefined instruction in kernel
Stopped; curlwp = 0xf03dcc70, curproc is NULL at      0xf0134e50:
   ldrb      r
15, [r15, r15, ror r15]!

A photo of the above output is available here.

http://www.marutan.net/pics/netbsd4crash.jpg

On a side note, I have managed to successfully install NetBSD 3.1 on
the A7000 instead. Though I'm wondering are NetBSD 4 binary packages
compatible with 3.1? Or is there an archive of 3.1 compiled packages?

I have managed to setup and run the pkgsrc system, it's rather clever.
But given it took 2 days to compile net-snmp (1 day for the dependency
perl), I figure the best for a 32MHz system would be binary :-)

Peter

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marutan@...
http://www.marutan.net

[Chris Gilbert-2]

Peter Howkins wrote:

> Hello,
>
>  I'm attempting to boot the INSTALL kernel from
>
> ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-4.0/acorn32/installation/kernel/
>
> and get the following
>
> NetBSD/acorn32 booting ...
> Kernel loaded from file /INSTALL
> Kernel arg string(@0xf03e00a4) root=/dev/wd0a
>
> Boot configuration structure reports the following memory
>  DRAM block 0a at 10000000 size 04000000 DRAM block 0b at 18000000 size 0028a000
>  DRAM block 1a at 18300000 size 00100000 DRAM block 1b at 00000000 size 00000000
>  VRAM block 0   at 00000000 size 00000000
> panic: kernel diagnostic assertion "symstart != NULL && strstart !=
> NULL" failed: file "/home/builds
> /ab/netbsd-4-0-RELEASE/src/sys/kern/kern_ksyms.c", line 450
> Undefined instruction in kernel
> Stopped; curlwp = 0xf03dcc70, curproc is NULL at      0xf0134e50:
>    ldrb      r
> 15, [r15, r15, ror r15]!

I wonder (as the kernel is 3.8MB) if when booted it passes a 4MB limit.

Could you try the latest bootloader?  I did some work on it recently,
and it might have fixed this issue.  Note that a 4.x kernel should work
with it.

ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-daily/HEAD/200810060002Z/acorn32/installation/misc/

> A photo of the above output is available here.
>
> http://www.marutan.net/pics/netbsd4crash.jpg
>
> On a side note, I have managed to successfully install NetBSD 3.1 on
> the A7000 instead. Though I'm wondering are NetBSD 4 binary packages
> compatible with 3.1? Or is there an archive of 3.1 compiled packages?

Nope 4 binaries won't run on 3.1 (as they expect netbsd 4 libraries)

> I have managed to setup and run the pkgsrc system, it's rather clever.
> But given it took 2 days to compile net-snmp (1 day for the dependency
> perl), I figure the best for a 32MHz system would be binary :-)

Binaries would be the best option, even on a cats (with 233Mhz SA) I
don't build too much stuff.

Cheers,
Chris

[Peter Howkins-2]

On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 10:19 AM, Chris Gilbert <chris@...> wrote:
> Peter Howkins wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>>  I'm attempting to boot the INSTALL kernel from
>>
>> ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-4.0/acorn32/installation/kernel/
>>
>> and get the following
>>

<snip kernel error>

>
> I wonder (as the kernel is 3.8MB) if when booted it passes a 4MB limit.
>
> Could you try the latest bootloader?  I did some work on it recently,
> and it might have fixed this issue.  Note that a 4.x kernel should work
> with it.
>
> ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-daily/HEAD/200810060002Z/acorn32/installation/misc/
>

I tried this btNetBSD with the above install kernel, and it failed in
the same way.

However I tried the InstKern inside the !btNetBSD archive and it worked [1]
My previous attempts with the InstKern from the 3.1 and 4.0 !btNetBSD
both failed.
They'd load, then instead of dropping to a NetBSD screen, would reboot the box.

[1] Well booted, I started stepping through the install steps and got a error
on the disc formatting stage (newfs), but I might be able to work past that,
but regardless I'll get another photo of it for you.

Peter

ps. I like that the new install kernel in the daily dir runs at
640x480 @ 60 Hz. the previous
install and running kernels ran at 85Hz making finding a suitable
monitor much more difficult, and ruled out most LCD panels.

--
marutan@...
http://www.marutan.net

[Chris Gilbert-2]

Peter Howkins wrote:

> On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 10:19 AM, Chris Gilbert <chris@...> wrote:
>> Peter Howkins wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>>  I'm attempting to boot the INSTALL kernel from
>>>
>>> ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-4.0/acorn32/installation/kernel/
>>>
>>> and get the following
>>>
>
> <snip kernel error>
>
>> I wonder (as the kernel is 3.8MB) if when booted it passes a 4MB limit.
>>
>> Could you try the latest bootloader?  I did some work on it recently,
>> and it might have fixed this issue.  Note that a 4.x kernel should work
>> with it.
>>
>> ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-daily/HEAD/200810060002Z/acorn32/installation/misc/
>>
>
> I tried this btNetBSD with the above install kernel, and it failed in
> the same way.
>
> However I tried the InstKern inside the !btNetBSD archive and it worked [1]
> My previous attempts with the InstKern from the 3.1 and 4.0 !btNetBSD
> both failed.
> They'd load, then instead of dropping to a NetBSD screen, would reboot the box.

That's what I expected (I probably wasn't clear enough that you only
needed to grab the bootloader, not the kernel.)

> [1] Well booted, I started stepping through the install steps and got a error
> on the disc formatting stage (newfs), but I might be able to work past that,
> but regardless I'll get another photo of it for you.

Yeah more details would be useful.

> Peter
>
> ps. I like that the new install kernel in the daily dir runs at
> 640x480 @ 60 Hz. the previous
> install and running kernels ran at 85Hz making finding a suitable
> monitor much more difficult, and ruled out most LCD panels.

I think we actually keep the display as it was in RISC-OS, IE we don't
change what was working prior to RISC-OS.  At some point we might be
more intelligent, eg try and read DDC info and make a mode from that but
for now we rely on what was set in RISC-OS

Thanks,
Chris

[Peter Howkins-2]

On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 10:52 PM, Chris Gilbert <chris@...> wrote:
>
> That's what I expected (I probably wasn't clear enough that you only needed
> to grab the bootloader, not the kernel.)

Ah, I've not been very clear. The 4.0 install kernel didn't work with the 4.99
loader you provided. Here's a list of all the combinations I've tried.

-------------------------

1) 4.0 btNetBSD with 4.0 Install kernel from inside btNetBSD archive

ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-4.0/acorn32/installation/misc/BtNetBSD.spk

Failed. Loaded kernel, printed the random colours to the screen.
Rebooted to RISC OS
and not NetBSD,

2) 4.0 btNetBSD with 4.0 Install kernel from ftp site

ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-4.0/acorn32/installation/misc/BtNetBSD.spk
ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-4.0/acorn32/installation/kernel/netbsd-INSTALL.gz

Failed. Loaded kernel, printed the random colours to the screen.
Rebooted to NetBSD,
crashed with undefined instruction in kernel error, described
previously. and photoed here.

http://www.marutan.net/pics/netbsd4crash.jpg

3) 3.1 btNetBSD with 3.1 Install kernel from inside btNetBSD archive

ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-3.1/acorn32/installation/misc/BtNetBSD.spk

Failed. Loaded kernel, printed the random colours to the screen.
Rebooted to RISC OS
and not NetBSD,

4) 3.1 btNetBSD with 3.1 Install kernel from ftp site

ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-3.1/acorn32/installation/misc/BtNetBSD.spk
ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-3.1/acorn32/installation/kernel/netbsd-INSTALL.gz

Worked. Was able to install and later ran with a GENERIC kernel from
the ftp site.

5) 4.99 btNetBSD with 4.0 Install kernel from ftp site (Your previous
suggestion)

ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-daily/HEAD/200810060002Z/acorn32/installation/misc/BtNetBSD.spk
ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-4.0/acorn32/installation/kernel/netbsd-INSTALL.gz

Failed. Loaded kernel, printed the random colours to the screen.
Rebooted to NetBSD,
crashed with undefined instruction in kernel error, the same as the
4.0 btNetBSD.

http://www.marutan.net/pics/netbsd4crash.jpg

6) 4.99 btNetBSD with 4.99 Install kernel from inside btNetBSD archive
(My idea after finding the kernel in the archive

ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-daily/HEAD/200810060002Z/acorn32/installation/misc/BtNetBSD.spk

Worked, partially. Booted. Was able to step through some of the
install steps until disc formatting stage. Crashed, more details below

-------------------------

I've realised that there's a combination I haven't tried yet.
The 4.99 btNetBSD loaded with the kernel from the 4.0 btNetBSD archive.
I shall try that later.

And I've just had a horrible thought, due to so many copies of
!btNetBSD now claiming
the kernel filetype did I really run the 4.0 kernel on the 4.99 loader ...

I'll do some more testing tonight and get back to you.

> Yeah more details would be useful.

Here is what is printed during. the newfs stage.

Status: Running
Command: /sbin/newfs -V2 -O 1 -b 8192 -f 1024 /dev/rwd0a

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/dev/rwd0a: 804.7MB (1648080 sectors) block size 8192, fragment size 1024
using 18 cylinder groups of 44.71MB, 5723 blks, 11136 inodes.
Stopped in pid 10.1 (newfs) at   0x1000: address 0x1000 is invalid
andeq   r0, r0, r0
db>

http://www.marutan.net/pics/netbsd499crash.jpg

> I think we actually keep the display as it was in RISC-OS, IE we don't
> change what was working prior to RISC-OS.  At some point we might be more
> intelligent, eg try and read DDC info and make a mode from that but for now
> we rely on what was set in RISC-OS

Unfortunately not, having just remembered, INSTALL kernels run
at 640x480@60Hz. But running (3.1 GENERIC) kernels take *some* of
the details from the current mode or MDF, they seem to take resolution
but not refresh rate. Proved by creating a MDF with only 60Hz modes in
and it still upped the refresh rate to 85Hz in NetBSD.

Peter

--
marutan@...
http://www.marutan.net

[Mike Pumford]

Peter Howkins wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 10:52 PM, Chris Gilbert <chris@...> wrote:

> Status: Running
> Command: /sbin/newfs -V2 -O 1 -b 8192 -f 1024 /dev/rwd0a
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> /dev/rwd0a: 804.7MB (1648080 sectors) block size 8192, fragment size 1024
> using 18 cylinder groups of 44.71MB, 5723 blks, 11136 inodes.
> Stopped in pid 10.1 (newfs) at   0x1000: address 0x1000 is invalid
> andeq   r0, r0, r0
> db>
>

Hmm. There was a window where current kernels have a serious interrupt
handling bug (now fixed) that usually manifested just after boot as soon
as you start to do a reasonable amount of disk activity. Wonder if the
kernel you are using suffers from that?

Any 4.99.x kernel built after 21/8 should have the fix. Current kernels
built between 28/4 and 21/8 will be broken.

Even with that fix I'm still seeing crashes that look a lot like this on
my fully installed system when running the overnight scripts. Thats
probably a similar load to that done by newfs. I've got some filesystem
creation/updating to do on my acorn32 system so I'll see if I can
reproduce your newfs on my current build.

If there isn't a recent current install kernel on ftp.netbsd.org let me
know I can soon get one built and uploaded where you can download it.

Mike

[Mike Pumford]

Mike Pumford wrote:
> Even with that fix I'm still seeing crashes that look a lot like this on
> my fully installed system when running the overnight scripts. Thats
> probably a similar load to that done by newfs. I've got some filesystem
> creation/updating to do on my acorn32 system so I'll see if I can
> reproduce your newfs on my current build.
>
newfs is working for me here with a kernel built about a week ago but
this is an StrongARM RiscPC.

Mike

[Peter Howkins-2]

On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 8:27 PM, Mike Pumford
<mpumford@...> wrote:

> Mike Pumford wrote:
>>
>> Even with that fix I'm still seeing crashes that look a lot like this on
>> my fully installed system when running the overnight scripts. Thats probably
>> a similar load to that done by newfs. I've got some filesystem
>> creation/updating to do on my acorn32 system so I'll see if I can reproduce
>> your newfs on my current build.
>
> newfs is working for me here with a kernel built about a week ago but this
> is an StrongARM RiscPC.
>

 I've tried the install kernel from here

 ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-daily/HEAD/200810060002Z/acorn32/installation/kernel/

Which looks like it should be new enough. 6/10/2008. However it also
fails at the newfs stage in the same manner as the kernel included in
the !btNetBSD archive from.

ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-daily/HEAD/200810060002Z/acorn32/installation/misc/

Which also looks it should be new enough to have your fixes in.

Any more suggestions gratefully received :)

Peter

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marutan@...
http://www.marutan.net