We've got an Ultra 10 on which we're trying to do an
initial installation of Solaris 9. We downloaded the
Solaris 9 installation stuff, burned the CDs, and started
the installation process. Things went OK until we inserted
the "Software 1 of 2" CD and the Web Start software
started to run.

At the license agreement screen we inadvertently clicked
the wrong button and aborted the installation process.
We thought, "OK, we'll reboot and start over." But now when
we start up the system, it tries to boot from the hard disk,
fails, resets, tries to boot from the hard disk again, etc., in
an infinite loop. We can't get to the "ok" prompt to boot from
the first installation CD again using the "boot" command.

Is there any way to boot directly from the installation CD,
or at least get an "ok" prompt?

>> On 21 Jul 2004 13:56:21 -0700,
>> jtb5358@yahoo.com (JB) said:

> Is there any way to boot directly from the installation CD,
> or at least get an "ok" prompt?

"boot cdrom"

(how did you get to where you are without typing this in the
first place?)

hth
t

On 21/7/04 9:57 pm, in article 87bri9m620.fsf@limey.hpcc.uh.edu, "Tony
Curtis" <tony_curtis32@yahoo.com> wrote:

>>> On 21 Jul 2004 13:56:21 -0700,
>>> jtb5358@yahoo.com (JB) said:
>
>> Is there any way to boot directly from the installation CD,
>> or at least get an "ok" prompt?
>
> "boot cdrom"
>
> (how did you get to where you are without typing this in the
> first place?)
>
> hth
> t

I agree but you could also type 'STOP and 'A'' to get to the OK> prompt.

[I'm the original poster... I had to use Google to post my original
message because my normal news server was temporarily unavailable.]

In article <87bri9m620.fsf@limey.hpcc.uh.edu>,
Tony Curtis <tony_curtis32@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>> On 21 Jul 2004 13:56:21 -0700,
>>> jtb5358@yahoo.com (JB) said:
>
>> Is there any way to boot directly from the installation CD,
>> or at least get an "ok" prompt?
>
>"boot cdrom"

The problem is getting to a point where we can enter that command. Or can
we actually do it while those boot-time messages are scrolling by as the
system tries unsuccessfully to boot from the hard disk?

Hmm, I don't remember whether either of us thought to try something
obvious like hitting control-C. Surely it can't be that simple? (I'm at
home now, else I'd try it right now, to make sure.)

>(how did you get to where you are without typing this in the
>first place?)

We shut down the system from the old Solaris 8 installation, and began
installing 9 exactly that way, from the "ok" prompt. But now we can't get
*back* to that prompt.

--
Jon Bell <jtbellm4h@presby.edu> Presbyterian College
Dept. of Physics and Computer Science Clinton, South Carolina USA

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 23:14:04 +0000, Jon Bell wrote:

> Hmm, I don't remember whether either of us thought to try something
> obvious like hitting control-C. Surely it can't be that simple? (I'm at
> home now, else I'd try it right now, to make sure.)

It's not control-C, use "Stop" +"A"

> We shut down the system from the old Solaris 8 installation, and began
> installing 9 exactly that way, from the "ok" prompt. But now we can't get
> *back* to that prompt.

Once you get the ok prompt then input

ok setenv auto-boot? false

In article <pan.2004.07.21.23.30.41.644742@yahoo.com>,
Dave Uhring <daveuhring@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>It's not control-C, use "Stop" +"A"

That did it, thanks! We never had to do anything like that before. Now
that I've downloaded the system administrator's manual, I see it in one of
the chapters on the boot process.

We re-started the Solaris 9 installation process from the beginning, and
all went well except that it asked for the Solaris Documentation CDs which
we don't have. At least I don't see anywhere to download it as with the
software CDs. So we skipped it, and everything else seems OK.

Now all we have to do is re-create the user accounts, restore their files,
etc. And spend some time reading the PDF manuals. ;-)

--
Jon Bell <jtbellm4h@presby.edu> Presbyterian College
Dept. of Physics and Computer Science Clinton, South Carolina USA

JB wrote:

> We've got an Ultra 10 on which we're trying to do an
> initial installation of Solaris 9. We downloaded the
> Solaris 9 installation stuff, burned the CDs, and started
> the installation process. Things went OK until we inserted
> the "Software 1 of 2" CD and the Web Start software
> started to run.
>
> At the license agreement screen we inadvertently clicked
> the wrong button and aborted the installation process.
> We thought, "OK, we'll reboot and start over." But now when
> we start up the system, it tries to boot from the hard disk,
> fails, resets, tries to boot from the hard disk again, etc., in
> an infinite loop. We can't get to the "ok" prompt to boot from
> the first installation CD again using the "boot" command.
>
> Is there any way to boot directly from the installation CD,
> or at least get an "ok" prompt?

Hello,

When the sysem has started (before it goes to boot) hit <stop><a> at the
same time, this will place you at the "ok" prompt.

Then type "boot cdrom <enter>" and the system will reset and boot from the
cd.

I hope this helps.