a new user of a c8000
Andreas (Onkel-Speiche) Schilling
following.
Preluding information:
I have never dealt before with workstations but now I'd like to learn
about the administration of the device.
Starting off the system via the terminal there appears the following
message:
IPL error: bad LIF magic
....FAILED.
Furthermore, I'm unable to boot it, as there is no Bootdevice being
found.
Now the question:
Is it now unable to find the master board or is the operation system
missing?
If the operation system is missing, which one can I use? Does it have
to be a HP-UX?
Thank you very much for dealing with the matter.
--
{Onkel-Speiche} /"\ Postings spiegeln meine Meinung,
\ / sie muss nicht zwangsl�ufig im
x Gesetzbuch wiederzufinden sein.
www.onkel-speiche.de / \ AGAINST HTML IN MAIL AND NEWS
Goetz Hoffart
wrote:
> If the operation system is missing, which one can I use? Does it have
> to be a HP-UX?
As I wrote before:
<http://www.openpa.net/systems/hp_c8000.html>
<http://www.parisc-linux.org/>
I would strongly recommend HP-UX. Linux is a bit shaky on PA-RISC
nowadays.
Regards,
G�tz
--
http://www.knubbelmac.de/
Eric Stahl
Schilling" <onkelchens...@arcor.de> wrote:
>As a new user of a c8000 I came across a problem spelled out in the
>following.
>
>Preluding information:
>I have never dealt before with workstations but now I'd like to learn
>about the administration of the device.
>
>Starting off the system via the terminal there appears the following
>message:
>
>IPL error: bad LIF magic
>....FAILED.
>
>Furthermore, I'm unable to boot it, as there is no Bootdevice being
>found.
>
>Now the question:
>
>Is it now unable to find the master board or is the operation system
>missing?
>
>If the operation system is missing, which one can I use? Does it have
>to be a HP-UX?
>
>Thank you very much for dealing with the matter.
You wrote: 'bad LIF magic', and that you're a new user,
so here are some details of what's happening around the
point in time of the error...
The LIF (Logical Interchange Format) is a special file
system at the "front" of the disk containing in part
(minimally):
ISL Simple shell interpreter for
the intermediary boot stage
HPUX The kernel loader
AUTO File containing the boot
string that is handed to the
autoboot process
PA-Risc boot disk layout:
+----------------------------------------------------+
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| LIF | ISL/ | |
| | IPL | HP-UX Partition |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
+----------------------------------------------------+
'bad LIF magic' means that it choked on something
to do with the LIF area i.e. not loading the LIF
via ISL - missing, corrupt, incorrect AUTO string,
bad disk etc
PA-RISC boot sequence following power up:
Processor Dependent Code (PDC) runs from firmware,
performing hardware checks and initialization.
There is a ten second interval with a console message
displaying the option to interrupt the boot process,
and return control to the PDC from where you may
perform such actions as changing the boot path.
To search for bootable devices like hard disk or
install CD/DVD from PDC:
> sea
To boot to a specified device from search output:
> boot <#>
To display the primary boot path:
> primpath
To boot to the primary boot path:
> boot pri
To boot to the primary boot path and stop at ISL:
> boot pri isl
During auto power-up with no interruption to drop to
PDC, next the Initial System Loader (ISL) would be
loaded by PDC from the first few blocks of the disk
specified in the auto boot path - and your system
would then be running from disk resident software
instead of firmware.
ISL accesses the AUTO file located in the LIF area
of the boot disk. The AUTO file run string is parsed
- with the first field being the hpux utility that
is loaded into memory.
The hpux utility then loads the kernel e.g.
/stand/vmunix, into memory. The operating system
would take control at this point.
If you get to the ISL prompt then verify what boot
string is being used. Maybe it's not set or looking
in the wrong place...
ISL> hpux show autofile
...
If you reinstall, I'd go with HP-UX on PA-RISC. With
a new system where you don't really know what was
previously installed or how it was used, it's not a
bad idea to reinstall.
-Eric
Benjamin Gawert
> As a new user of a c8000 I came across a problem spelled out in the
> following.
>
> Preluding information:
> I have never dealt before with workstations but now I'd like to learn
> about the administration of the device.
I thought you wanted to get rid of the system?
> Starting off the system via the terminal there appears the following
> message:
>
> IPL error: bad LIF magic
> .....FAILED.
That means a certain data area of the hard drive is damaged or missing.
> Furthermore, I'm unable to boot it, as there is no Bootdevice being
> found.
>
> Now the question:
>
> Is it now unable to find the master board or is the operation system
> missing?
What "master board"? This means that either the disk content has been
damaged which can have multiple reasons (i.e. by a bad disk or by wiping
it).
Is there a disk in the machine at all? And if there is it may have been
wiped so you need to reinstall HP-UX.
As in the German newsgroup you said you know nothing about the system, I
recommend you first have a look at the manuals:
<http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DocumentIndex.jsp?contentType=SupportManual&lang=en&cc=us&docIndexId=64180&taskId=135&prodTypeId=12454&prodSeriesId=408101>
Then open the system and check if there actually is a hard drive (the
previous owner might have it removed) and that it is connected correctly.
As you said you got the system in its current state the next step would
be to reinstall HP-UX.
> If the operation system is missing, which one can I use? Does it have
> to be a HP-UX?
As it has been explained to you already: yes, it should be HP-UX as
Linux is somewhat useless on the c8000 and because no other OS supports
your hardware. Get your hands on HP-UX 11i v1 (but be careful, if the
media is too old it might not work on the c8000!).
Benjamin
Benjamin Gawert
> As a new user of a c8000 I came across a problem spelled out in the
> following.
>
> Preluding information:
> I have never dealt before with workstations but now I'd like to learn
> about the administration of the device.
So you decided to keep it instead of selling it? Just be aware that for
learning some kind of UNIX a PC running Linux or Solaris is probably the
cheaper and less complicated alternative.
> Starting off the system via the terminal there appears the following
> message:
>
> IPL error: bad LIF magic
> .....FAILED.
That means the boot area of the hard drive is damaged or missing.
> Furthermore, I'm unable to boot it, as there is no Bootdevice being
> found.
Well, if the boot area is damaged then of course it can't boot.
Is there a disk in the machine at all? In the firmware interface enter
"SEA" (for SEArch). It will sit there for several seconds and then show
you all SCSI and ATAPI devices that are recognized.
And if there is it may have been wiped so you need to reinstall HP-UX.
> Now the question:
>
> Is it now unable to find the master board or is the operation system
> missing?
What "master board"?
This error just means that either the disk content has been damaged
which can have multiple reasons (i.e. by a bad disk or by wiping it).
As in the German newsgroup you said you know nothing about the system, I
recommend you first have a look at the manuals:
<http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DocumentIndex.jsp?contentType=SupportManual&lang=en&cc=us&docIndexId=64180&taskId=135&prodTypeId=12454&prodSeriesId=408101>
Do a SEA in the firmware. Does it even list a hard drive? If not then
open the system and check if there actually is a hard drive (the
previous owner might have it removed) and that it is connected correctly.
If it shows a hard drive it might either be damaged or has been erased.
> If the operation system is missing, which one can I use? Does it have
> to be a HP-UX?
As it has been explained to you already: yes, it should be HP-UX as
Michael Kraemer
> As a new user of a c8000 I came across a problem spelled out in the
> following.
Don't listen to the naysayers, it's a nice, quiet machine
(I have one too).
With its 1Ghz PA-RISC CPU and the usual gfx cards you won't
notice a difference to a PC for most hobbyist uses.
Likewise, HP-UX is a much Unix as is Solaris or Linux.
I'd stay away from Linux, HP-UX 11i is pretty much the
only reasonable choice for this box.
Your error messages indicate that the box probably
has an empty or dead hard disk.
You can access the disk(s) relatively easy by removing
the big cover plate at the left hand side.