Cannot install AIX 1.3 anymore!
Émeric
My previous AIX install went out of space so I've decided to start the
story again with a different minidisk configuration. I'm using the AIX
PTF0024 boot and install disks. Everything is OK up to the moment the
installation program tries to create the minidisks on the HDD. I'm
getting the following error message:
bld_multi_disks failed in creating dump
To determine the actions needed to successfully
install AIX, see the Installing and Customizing
the AIX Operating System manual.
To RETURN to the SYSTEM MANAGEMENT menu, press Enter.
Deleting...
/dev/hd4
/dev/hd3
/dev/hd2
/dev/hd1
I've tried various minidisk configurations, even the default one, but
I'm still getting the above error.
Before each try, I carefully remove any remaining partition on my HDD
using the MS-DOS and OS/2 FDISK utility. I've even tried the removal
with a trial version of an old Partition Magic disk set, no way.
I've also tried to recreate the MBR with FDISK /MBR.
Recreating and then deleting the PS/2 Diagnostics partition didn't
help either.
Was something written on my HDD by a previous install of MS-DOS or OS/
2 that AIX doesn't like? In this case, zeroing the whole HDD should
work (well, I hope that such an approach can access the whole HDD,
including MBR and other special areas). The thing is that I'm usually
zeroing an HDD by booting from a Linux disk set and running the dd
command outputting /dev/zero to the HDD. But Linux on an MCA system is
an other story...
Any idea what's going wrong? My system is a PS/2 Model 76i with an IDE
HDD. And it was previously booting and running fine from this IDE HDD.
Many thanks.
Uli Link
You'll need a bootdisk <= 1 GB.
--
ULi
Émeric
> You'll need a bootdisk <= 1 GB.
>
> --
> ULi
It's a mere 258MB HDD with less than 1024 cylinders (916 for Partition
Magic, 892 for AIX).
It's the same HDD AIX was running fine before I (try to) reinstall
everything.
Emeric
Uli Link
>
> I've tried various minidisk configurations, even the default one, but
> I'm still getting the above error.
> Before each try, I carefully remove any remaining partition on my HDD
> using the MS-DOS and OS/2 FDISK utility. I've even tried the removal
> with a trial version of an old Partition Magic disk set, no way.
>
> I've also tried to recreate the MBR with FDISK /MBR.
> Recreating and then deleting the PS/2 Diagnostics partition didn't
> help either.
AFAIR AIX 1.3 didn't like the convenience partition of the Lacuna.
AIX starts it's partitions at the end of the disk.
OS/2 bootmanager and a DOS or OS/2 partition at the beginning of the
disk is no problem.
You'll need enough free diskspace at the end of the disk and 2 free
primary partition entries.
These two AIX partitions are overlapping. One contains all minidisks,
the other is the active boot partition, residing inside the other.
OS/2 manager can boot AIX.
> Any idea what's going wrong? My system is a PS/2 Model 76i with an IDE
> HDD. And it was previously booting and running fine from this IDE HDD.
It's damn slow compared to a SCSI disk. If you don't use the IDE port at
all you can use SCSI w/cache or Corvette in a Lacuna with AIX. I never
was able to start the X-Server on the onboard S3 graphics.
--
ULi
Émeric
I don't know what didn't work previously, but AIX is back on my
9576i :-)
Basically, here's what I did:
- wipe out every existing partitions from my 9576i's original 270MB
IDE HDD
- installed OS/2 2.1 for Windows on the first primary 100MB FAT
partition, because I wanted to have a dual-boot OS/2-AIX system (more
on this in an upcoming thread)
- recreated the boot and install PTF0024 diskettes
- unplugged the network cable from my WD8013 NIC
- started the AIX installation process with the following minidisk
configuration:
/u 9824 blocks (default)
/<hostname> 7704 blocks (default)
/ 106864 blocks
page 16000 blocks (I have 8MB RAM)
dump 8000 blocks
/<hostname>/tmp 5804 blocks (default).
And this time, minidisks were created successfully.
> AFAIR AIX 1.3 didn't like the convenience partition of the Lacuna.
> AIX starts it's partitions at the end of the disk.
That's also what I've discovered when I initially installed AIX for
the first time on my 9576i (all the story here:
http://groups.google.fr/group/comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware/browse_thread/thread/df6aa33e63e60ec0).
But you can safely recreate it once AIX is installed. This is what I
actually have: 100MB partition for OS/2, 251MB for AIX and 6MB for the
Convenience partition.
> OS/2 bootmanager and a DOS or OS/2 partition at the beginning of the
> disk is no problem.
> You'll need enough free diskspace at the end of the disk and 2 free
> primary partition entries.
> These two AIX partitions are overlapping. One contains all minidisks,
> the other is the active boot partition, residing inside the other.
> OS/2 manager can boot AIX.
Is the AIX boot partition absolutely needed even if you use e.g. the
OS/2 boot manager? I mean, should the OS/2 boot manager points to the
AIX boot partition or to the AIX data one? It's not clear for me
whether the AIX boot partition acts like a boot manager that can be
safely replaced by an other one or not.
This would help have a dual-boot OS/2-AIX system, but using HPFS
rather than FAT for OS/2. Indeed, if you install OS/2 on an HPFS
partition, the Boot DOS option of the AIX boot loader isn't able to
start it. No problem if you have OS/2 on a FAT partition. So, since
the OS/2 boot manager can boot AIX, and if the AIX boot partition
isn't mandatory, I could have a primary partition for the OS/2 boot
manager, OS/2 in an HPFS logical partition, AIX (only the data
partition) and the Convenience partition.
> I never was able to start the X-Server on the onboard S3 graphics.
Did you apply update U436298 from PTF0024? I had no problem running X
on my 9576i.
Uli Link
You need both.
1st. OS/2 bootmanager
2nd. OS/2 HPFS
3rd and 4th AIX
> This would help have a dual-boot OS/2-AIX system, but using HPFS
> rather than FAT for OS/2. Indeed, if you install OS/2 on an HPFS
> partition, the Boot DOS option of the AIX boot loader isn't able to
> start it. No problem if you have OS/2 on a FAT partition. So, since
> the OS/2 boot manager can boot AIX, and if the AIX boot partition
> isn't mandatory, I could have a primary partition for the OS/2 boot
> manager, OS/2 in an HPFS logical partition, AIX (only the data
> partition) and the Convenience partition.
You can't reinstall the Convenience partition, as it MUST reside on the
physical end of disk and this will collide with the AIX partition.
>> I never was able to start the X-Server on the onboard S3 graphics.
>
> Did you apply update U436298 from PTF0024? I had no problem running X
> on my 9576i.
Not all Lacunas are created equal. I had no luck with 2 of my 3 Lacunas.
I usually use XGA-2 cards then.
On the 3rd I have Solaris x86 installed for years. I didn't tried with
this one.
--
ULi
Émeric
> 1st. OS/2 bootmanager
> 2nd. OS/2 HPFS
> 3rd and 4th AIX
In the above schema, must the OS/2 boot manager point to the 3rd or
4th AIX partition?
> You can't reinstall the Convenience partition, as it MUST reside on the
> physical end of disk and this will collide with the AIX partition.
Strange, because this is exactly what I have at the moment: OS/2 FAT
partition, AIX boot and data partitions and Convenience partition. I
don't know how they are physically organized on the HDD though. I know
for sure that the OS/2 FAT partition is the 1st principal partition,
but that's all. Indeed, Partition Magic report a FAT error #108 when
reading the HDD whereas the MS-DOS and OS/2 FDISK utility both happily
report the OS/2 FAT partition as being the 1st, AIX boot and data
partitions the 2nd and 3rd and the Convenience partition the last.
RickE
> Strange, because this is exactly what I have at the moment: OS/2 FAT
> partition, AIX boot and data partitions and Convenience partition.
But that's not the configuration that Uli described. If you add the
OS/2 Boot Manager partition, then you have 4 primary partitions
without the Convenience partition. You can only have 4 primary
partitions, so the Convenience partition must be sacrificed in Uli's
configuration.
Rick Ekblaw
Émeric
> But that's not the configuration that Uli described. If you add the
> OS/2 Boot Manager partition, then you have 4 primary partitions
> without the Convenience partition. You can only have 4 primary
> partitions, so the Convenience partition must be sacrificed in Uli's
> configuration.
Ah, OK. I didn't understand this was targeted to ULi's configuration.
My mistake, sorry.
Uli Link
Needed for OS/2 system partition on HPFS.
I never used OS/2 without HPFS since HPFS was available 20 years ago.
--
ULi