[Wlug] ULTRA1 Gentoo Install presents a problem

[John Stoffel]

Mike> On Tuesday 10 April 2007, ken jones wrote:
>> While doing  "tar xvjf /mnt/gentoo/portage-latest.tar.bz2 -C
>> /mnt/gentoo/usr" the machine stopped dead.  This has happened twice. I
>> fear that I do not have enough hard disk space, but I would hope for a
>> gentler error message.

Mike> i doubt disk space has anything to do with it ... if the machine
Mike> bit it like this, it's because the kernel barfed either due to
Mike> bad driver or bad hardware

It smells like bad hardware to me... what you can do is drop down to
the openprom prompt (ok) and do the following:


ok setenv diag-switch? true
ok setenv diag-level max
ok setenv auto-boot? false
ok reset

And watch what happens on bootup.  This will test the machine a bit
more and let you know what's happening.

Also, the Ultra 1s had a bad problem with the CPU fans, I ended up
replacing dozens of them at a past job.  Open the case and make sure
the CPU fan is running.  While oyu're in there, blow out any dust you
can with some compressed air, just to make sure.

If the CPU fan isn't spinning, then you know where there problem is.  

Also, if I could, I'd just give you some old Sparc 60s we're scapping
here at work... :]

John
john at stoffel.org