[j-nsp] re333 not booting install media

[Richard A Steenbergen]

On Thu, Aug 09, 2007 at 02:40:49PM -0700, Chris Cappuccio wrote:
> Hyunseog Ryu [HRyu at norlight.com] wrote:
> > Possibly flash disk file system may not recognized by JUNOS either because 
> > it is not formatted/installed correctly or is not compatable.
> > You may check with 128MB or 256MB Flash Disk option. 
> 
> Nope, the RE333 just never boots the pcmcia disk.  It boots fine in other
> RE333s.

There are two settings you care about, the boot list and the next boot 
device. The settings you access under sysctl are the same as what you see 
in bios.

machdep.bootdevs: pcmcia-flash,compact-flash,disk,lan
machdep.nextbootdev: pcmcia-flash

The bootdevs list is the list of devices that will be considered for 
booting. If you have a problem with one (say for example you develop bad 
sectors on your compact-flash) JUNOS will automatically remove it from the 
device list. This way the next time the box reboots the kernel will be 
forced to ignore the device, and the box will be able to go on about its 
business on the backup drive. If you've since replaced the failed media 
which was previously removed, you'll need to add it back either in bios or 
sysctl.

The nextbootdev entry is just the device that it will try to boot next. 
Usually this is pcmcia-flash, so that if you insert a PCMCIA card it will 
boot that, otherwise it will fail and go to the compact-flash.

If you don't see PCMCIA in the dmesg you either don't have it in the 
bootdevs list, or your PCMCIA card or reader is toast. Check those things, 
re-image the card, maybe try replacing it, and when you get the new 
install-media up you should be good. I'm told that new code does a better 
job doing the partition/slice/format on new drives, haven't tested it 
myself.

-- 
Richard A Steenbergen <ras at e-gerbil.net>       http://www.e-gerbil.net/ras
GPG Key ID: 0xF8B12CBC (7535 7F59 8204 ED1F CC1C 53AF 4C41 5ECA F8B1 2CBC)