From d550de3162b989ed9d202ee28ee09c7fb9de1d62 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Frans Pop Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2006 05:00:36 +0000 Subject: Document common installation issues for Sparc. Thanks to Jurij Smakov for his overview of issues --- en/boot-installer/trouble.xml | 54 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++- en/hardware/network-cards.xml | 47 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ en/using-d-i/modules/partman.xml | 18 +++++++++++++- 3 files changed, 117 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) (limited to 'en') diff --git a/en/boot-installer/trouble.xml b/en/boot-installer/trouble.xml index 9fa9b6e10..6f45f68ca 100644 --- a/en/boot-installer/trouble.xml +++ b/en/boot-installer/trouble.xml @@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ installer. - System Freeze while Loading the USB Modules + System Freeze while Loading USB Modules The kernel normally tries to install USB modules and the USB keyboard driver @@ -378,6 +378,58 @@ may be disabling the USB controller in your mainboard BIOS setup. Another option is passing the debian-installer/probe/usb=false parameter at the boot prompt, which will prevent the modules from being loaded. + + + + + + Common &arch-title; Installation Problems + + +There are some common installation problems that are worth mentioning. + + + + Misdirected video output + + +It is fairly common for &arch-title; to have two video cards in one machine, +for example an ATI card and a Sun Creator 3D. In some cases, this may result +in the video output getting misdirected soon after the system boots. In +typical cases, the display will only show: + + +Remapping the kernel... done +Booting Linux... + + +To work around this, you can either pull out one of the video cards, or +disable the one not used during the OpenProm boot phase using a kernel +parameter. For example, to disable an ATI card, you should boot the +installer with video=atyfb:off. + + + +Note that you may also have to manually add this parameter to the silo +configuration (edit /target/etc/silo.conf before +rebooting) and, if you installed X11, modify the video driver in +/etc/X11/xorg.conf. + + + + + + Failure to Boot or Kernel from CD-ROM + + +Some Sparc systems are notoriously difficult to boot from CD-ROM and +even if they do boot, there may be inexplicable failures during the +installation. Most problems have been reported with SunBlade systems. + + + +We recommend to install such systems by netbooting the installer. + diff --git a/en/hardware/network-cards.xml b/en/hardware/network-cards.xml index abf2dc1b0..99155362d 100644 --- a/en/hardware/network-cards.xml +++ b/en/hardware/network-cards.xml @@ -196,4 +196,51 @@ a Windows driver. + + + Known Issues for &arch-title; + + +There are a couple of issues with specific network cards that are worth +mentioning here. + + + + Conflict between tulip and dfme drivers + + + + +There are various PCI network cards that have the same PCI identification, +but are supported by related, but different drivers. Some cards work with +the tulip driver, others with the dfme +driver. Because they have the same identification, the kernel cannot +distinguish between them and it is not certain which driver will be loaded. +If this happens to be the wrong one, the NIC may not work, or work badly. + + + +This is a common problem on Netra systems with a Davicom (DEC-Tulip +compatible) NIC. In that case the tulip driver is +probably the correct one. + +During the installation the solution is to switch to a shell and unload the +wrong driver module using +modprobe -r module (or +both, if they are both loaded). After that you can load the correct module +using modprobe module. + + + + + Sun B100 blade + + + +The cassini network driver does not work with Sun B100 +blade systems. + + + + diff --git a/en/using-d-i/modules/partman.xml b/en/using-d-i/modules/partman.xml index 24e6906f4..5ff23875b 100644 --- a/en/using-d-i/modules/partman.xml +++ b/en/using-d-i/modules/partman.xml @@ -10,7 +10,23 @@ Now it is time to partition your disks. If you are uncomfortable with partitioning, or just want to know more details, see . - + + + + +If a hard disk has previously used under Solaris, the partitioner may not +detect the size of the drive correctly. Creating a new partition table +does not fix this issue. What does help, is to zero the +first few sectors of the drive: + + +# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdX bs=512 count=2; sync + + +Note that this will make any existing data on that disk inaccessible. + + + First you will be given the opportunity to automatically partition either an entire drive, or available free space on a drive. This is -- cgit v1.2.3