I have an HP9000/755 system that is having trouble booting. It is
running HPUX 9.05 but gets a "cannot read or not executable" error when
attempting to invoke the OS. We managed to boot from a 10.x recovery
CD, and found that the filesystem appears to be okay; it looks like just
the kernel itself.

Any suggestions on repairing this? We have not been able to find a 9.x
recovery CD in-house.

-Ed

Have you tried to boot an alternate kernel? (ISL> hpux /stand/KERNEL_NAME
Find one by doing an "hpux -ll" (no quotes) at ISL> that will show if there
is a kernel-sized file in /stand.

HTH

<bishop@speakeasy.net> wrote in message
news:fs6dnby6HYmmN3jcRVn-jg@speakeasy.net...
>I have an HP9000/755 system that is having trouble booting. It is
> running HPUX 9.05 but gets a "cannot read or not executable" error when
> attempting to invoke the OS. We managed to boot from a 10.x recovery
> CD, and found that the filesystem appears to be okay; it looks like just
> the kernel itself.
>
> Any suggestions on repairing this? We have not been able to find a 9.x
> recovery CD in-house.
>
> -Ed

bishop@speakeasy.net wrote:
> I have an HP9000/755 system that is having trouble booting. It is
> running HPUX 9.05 but gets a "cannot read or not executable" error when
> attempting to invoke the OS.

See also my other response.

If you need further help, then please post *exactly* what happens,
i.e. the good message(s), if any, before the failure, and the exact full
failure message.

> We managed to boot from a 10.x recovery
> CD, and found that the filesystem appears to be okay; it looks like just
> the kernel itself.
>
> Any suggestions on repairing this? We have not been able to find a 9.x
> recovery CD in-house.

That's because there is no such thing as a (9.X) recovery CD. The only
recovery tool available was a recovery *tape*, but that had to be
*made*, before a crash, by the user (with the mkrs(1M command), because
the tape was system-specific.

M <rnee@comcast.net> wrote:
> Have you tried to boot an alternate kernel? (ISL> hpux /stand/KERNEL_NAME
> Find one by doing an "hpux -ll" (no quotes) at ISL> that will show if there
> is a kernel-sized file in /stand.

9.X does not have /stand. IIRC the alternate kernel was named
"SYSBCKUP", i.e. try:

ISL> hpux /SYSBCKUP

If that fails, play around (i.e. '?', 'help', etc.) with the boot
commands, especially those which (effectively) do a lifls(1) which will
show the name(s) of the alternate kernel(s), if any.

Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:
> See also my other response.

Thanks for that. Unfortunately, no backup kernel appears to be present.

> If you need further help, then please post *exactly* what happens,
> i.e. the good message(s), if any, before the failure, and the exact full
> failure message.

===> Start transcript
Secondary Loader 9000/700
Revision 2.7
Booting disc(;0)/hp-ux
disc(;0)/hp-ux: cannot open, or not executable
Exec failed
Application returns 255
<pause for screen to go blue and reset>
ISL> hpux
Secondary Loader 9000/700
Revision 2.7
Booting disc(;0)/hpux
disc(;0)/hpux: cannot open, or not executable
Exec failed
Application returns 255
<pause for screen to go blue and reset>
ISL> hpux /SYSBCKUP
Secondary Loader 9000/700
Revision 2.7
Booting disc(;0)/SYSBCKUP
disc(;0)/SYSBCKUP: cannot open, or not executable
Exec failed
Application returns 255
<pause for screen to go blue and reset>
ISL>
==> End of transcript

I did another boot with the 10.x install CD and mounted the root disk,
and there is nothing in the root directory I can see that looks the
right size to be a kernel...

Any other ideas would be great...

-Ed

bishop@speakeasy.net wrote:
[much deleted]
> I did another boot with the 10.x install CD and mounted the root disk,
> and there is nothing in the root directory I can see that looks the
> right size to be a kernel...
>
> Any other ideas would be great...

It looks like there is no kernel in /, hence the boot failure. Just to
be sure, check *all* the files in /, not only on size, but also in
content. The easiest first step is with the file(1) command. That should
say whether a file is executable or not. If it is executable, then it
might be a kernel. IIRC, a kernel was reported by file(1) as a
non-shared exectable, so that may be used to further pin it down.

If there is indeed no kernel in /: Do you have (file) *backup* of the
failing system? If so, then you might use another system (Since you have
a "10.x recovery CD", I assume you have at least one other functioning
HP-UX system.) to mount the failing disk and (selectively) restore the
kernel from the backup media to the mounted disk. (This assumes that the
LIF area of the failing disk is still intact.)