There are two common Solaris 2.5.1 or 2.6 boot problems that are similar, but have different solutions. There is some confusion as to what solution to use for what problem. Both problems are that systems fail to boot to a Solaris 2.5.1 or 2.6 CD-ROM or jumpstart image. SRDB documents have been written for each problem and this is a description of each of these and how to tell the difference.

PROBLEM #1

(see also SRDB 20576)

Any system that has a 450MHz UltraSPARC II CPU or the 440MHz UltraSPARC IIi CPU will not be able to boot Solaris 2.5.1 HW 11/97, Solaris 2.6 HW 3/98 or Solaris 2.6 HW 5/98 CD-ROM or JumpStart images of these Operating Systems. It will fail with "hme0:link down" or keyboard input multiple repeats.

These systems must be booted with a cdrom called the Operating Environment Installation CD February 2000 (OECD), which is Part No. 704-7076-10. Booting this OECD will then prompt for the the 2.5.1 or 2.6 Solaris CD for the install of the OS. This OECD can also be used to modify a JumpStart image to boot/load 2.5.1 or 2.6 on these systems. See the manual "Installing Solaris Software for Selected Hardware" Part No. 806-4005-10 for procedure for modifying a jumpstart image.

Once a jumpstart image is modified with the OECD, this image can be used to load Solaris 2.5.1/2.6 on these systems. If the method of installation is via a cdrom, then the OECD must always be used. The manual (included with the OECD) also describes how to use the OECD for CD-ROM-based installs. Here is a list of the systems affected:

	Ultra 5		Ultra 10
	Netra T105	Ultra 60
	Netra T1120	Netra T1125
	Ultra 80	Enterprise 420R
	Netra T1400	Netra T1405
	Ultra 450	Enterprise 220R                              

Only the above systems with 450MHz or 440MHz CPUs are effected by this problem. You can check the speed of the cpu(s) by running the command ".speed" from the OK prompt. The problem is permanently fixed by loading the most current kernel patch. Patching the kernel to this level is one of the functions of the OECD. The OECD actually has a Solaris 7 kernel that it boots to, then it kicks off an install that prompts for the 2.5.1 or 2.6 cdrom for the OS install. It will load the kernel patch during this install, so the kernel will be patched upon the first boot to the new OS on the disk.

This CD-ROM is not included with Solaris and is usually included with the system in the "Binary Code License" package. The OECD can be ordered by Sun personnel from this website: http://acac.central/SAG/Templates/CD_Zero.html

NOTE: The OECD can also be used to fix the "NOTICE: Can't find driver for console frame buffer" install/boot problem mentioned in SRDB 19271.

NOTE: The Ultra Enterprise 450 with a 480MHz CPU requires a special procedure. See SRDB 24408.

PROBLEM #2

(see also SRDB 20149)

Enterprise Server systems that use the 400MHz UltraSPARC II with 8mb ecache CPU module(s) will fail to boot to Solaris 2.5.1 or Solaris 2.6 cdrom (or JumpStart image) with "Fast Data Access MMU Miss" and/or "mutex_enter: bad mutex". SRDB 20149 describes this problem and has the exact procedure to boot/load these systems with 2.5.1/2.6.

The problem is that the kernel on the 2.5.1/2.6 CD-ROM cannot load with the 400MHz/8MB ecache CPU until the kernel patch is loaded. The workaround (seen in the SRDB) is to run the command "limit-ecache-size" from the OK prompt before booting to the 2.5.1/2.6 cdrom or JumpStart image. It will be able to boot the cdrom or image immediately after this command is run. After the OS is loaded, you will need to run this command again from the OK prompt to boot the system until you load the latest kernel patch. Here are the systems (that potentially have the 400MHz 8mb cache cpu installed) affected by this problem:

	E3000	E3500	E4000
	E4500	E5000	E5500
	E6000	E6500                              

Only systems that have the 400MHz/8MB cache cpu(s) are affected.

Final Note:

Do not confuse these two different problems. Do not use the OECD on an Enterprise server in the model range E3000 - E6500 (with 400MHz/8MB cache). These servers are fixed with the limit-ecache-size workaround to boot/load 2.5.1/2.6. The Ultra5 - Ultra450 group of systems (with 440/450 MHz CPU) are the ones that need the OE cdrom to boot/load 2.5.1/2.6.