Hi,

I'm trying again to install Solaris on a dedicated box. I would like to really learn Solaris but I don't seem to have any luck with this OS!

The install ran for a very long time (text mode install, mirrored ZFS root) and gave error messages that Grub stage2 couldn't be installed. Read 512 bytes read -1. I can't give you the exact message because more text came out after that as the install finished and the message went off the screen.

The box just comes up and grub crashes and the box reboots in a big loop. I booted the installer again and chose single user shell. It found the install and asked me if I wanted to mount root on /a. I said yes and it came up with dozens of errors and was not usable.

I have a feeling the install should be ok but I can't boot it. Anybody have some idea? In the meantime I will try answering r/o for root mounting and install grub if possible but I think it won't install on r/o filesystem?

I booted into the system in r/o mode and tried to installgrub as shown here: http://www.solarisinternals.com/wiki...l_Installation

The instructions don't work, I still get an error msg from grub.

Starting the text installer again I get errors on both drives for read sector and write sector but it says they are informational only.

I burned the installation check tool and it found native drivers for everything except my ethernet card (which I think is anyway supported, not sure why it didn't work) and co processor. It says "will likely install".

I guess it's nothing to do but wait few more hours and watch the installer try again ???

I installed again and it fails installing grub stage2. I booted into single user mode without errors and ran

installgrub /boot/grub/stage1 /boot/grub/stage2 /dev/rdsk/c0d0s0

and I get the same messages including stage2 read/write error, read 512 wrote -1

same thing happens when I try to installgrub on the 2nd drive /dev/rdsk/c1d0s0.

I also tried an idea I found on Sun's forums of going to the grub command line and finding stage 1, setting the root, and doing setup. The stage1 is found ok and the root (hd0,0,a) is setup, but setup fails with stage2 invalid. Same thing for root (hd1,0,a)

I also checked /boot/grub/menu.lst and it has no entries. I don't know why an entry didn't get created during the installation but this may be part of the problem.

The system seems to go all the way through the install without errors until it tries to install grub.

Does anyone have any ideas how I can set up the bootloader?

Can you post the precise error message you got ?

How did you boot in single user mode if there is no grub ? did you boot the installation media and launch a shell from there ?

What say "zpool status" and "zpool import" from the single user mode ?

Are the mirrored disks identical ?

Did you try installing without mirroring the root fs ?

Bonjour Jlliagre,

I'm sorry I couldn't post it before. During the install the message gets cleared when more text is written.

Now I tried it from the shell:

installgrub /boot/grub/stage1 /boot/grub/stage2 /dev/rdsk/c0d0s0

and same thing with /dev/rdsk/c1d0s0

Here is the output (I have to type manually so any mistake is mine. I couldn't capture the output on Solaris so I am looking at one machine and typing here.)

Yes, exactly. Now I can enter my system with r/w without problems using this method. No errors.

zpool import returns no data.

Yes, same brand and size and model number.

No, I didn't. From the information I read you can do that and add a drive anytime of course, but they mentioned some benefits to doing it from the beginning. Easier booting from both drives

I notice that the /boot/grub/menu.lst has no entries in it. I don't understand how this can be, but the system didn't create a menu. It has a skeleton with commented entries but there is no entry for Solaris. This is a separate problem I think but is probably related.

Thank you,

Randall

I installed again for the 5th time (don't ask why, it's too complicated to explain) and the installgrub failed again on both drives as always.

I ran installgrub on the first drive from the command line and it failed again the same way. I ran it on the 2nd drive and it worked. I have no idea why. I ran it a few more times on the 1st drive and it failed a few times and finally worked. I guess you have to pursuade grub that you really mean it.

I don't like not knowing why something fails a thousand times and then finally works when nothing was changed, but at least I can boot my system from either drive. Now it's on to my unsupported NIC and unsupported video card (GeForce 7100) etc.