Help, please. Installing Irix on Octane2: Relocation Error

[Ceseuron]

I have an Octane2 with the MIPS R12000 CPU and FRU, with 4GB RAM installed and I am hitting an error when attempting to install Irix 6.5.30. Every attempt to run the install fails. I can't even get sash64 to load:

>> boot -f dksc(1,2,8)sash64
896+111764+16853+3848
Cannot load dksc(1,2,8)sash64.
Relocation failed.
Unable to execute dksc(1,2,8)sash64: execute format error
Unable to load dksc(1,2,8)sash64: execute format error

I have burned and reburned (and reburned again) the same CD using appropriate DAO settings to no avail. The Octane2 can read the CD just fine, but it stubbornly refuses to boot. I am using an external SCSI CDROM (HP).

My "hinv" output:

System: IP30
Processor: 360 Mhz R12000 CPU, with FPU
Primary I-Cache Size: 32 Kbytes
Primary D-Cache Size: 32 Kbytes
Secondary Cache Size: 2 Mbytes
Memory Size: 4096 Mbytes
Network: ef0 ethernet (100/10 base-T)
SCSI Disk: scsi(0)disk(1)
SCSI CDROM: scsi(1)cdrom(2)
Audio: RAD Audio Processor
Graphics: ODYSSEY

Couple of additional things to note:
1. I am using a new 146GB Seagate Cheetah 10K.7 U320 disc with nothing on it.
2. The same, or similar problems happen when attempting to do an OpenBSD 6.5 install (just to try)
3. CD-ROM is an HP CD4315A SCSI unit connected via SCSI cable to the Octane2's expansion port.

 

[foetz]

"execute format error" is what you usually get when you try to boot the wrong sash. for example sash64 on an indy.

The Octane2 can read the CD just fine

how did you do that exactly? and did you check partition 8?
just to be sure, sash64 should be 267264 bytes in size.

 

[Ceseuron]

Well I can read the contents of the disc using:

ls dksc(1,2,8)

I'm curious what "relocation error" means as well.

 

[callahan]

Folks here will suggest booterizer, for good reason. If you have a modern *nix machine, it is more reliable and straightforward (IMO) than CD installs.

Looks like it found a sash version, otherwise it wouldn't start spewing numbers (and those match those from Irinkus' tezro install, fwiw) Possibly try explicitly locating the sash on efs partition 7, should be dksc(1,2,7)stand/sash64. Just a shot in the dark.

 

[foetz]

Well I can read the contents of the disc using:

ls dksc(1,2,8)

okay, just wanted to be sure.

Folks here will suggest booterizer, for good reason. If you have a modern *nix machine, it is more reliable and straightforward (IMO) than CD installs.

i never had a problem with cd installs and that goes back as far as irix 4.
as far as straight forward goes, running "boot -f dksc(X,Y,8)sash64" and "boot -f dksc(X,Y,7)stand/fx.64 --x" doesn't seem particularly difficult to me.

Possibly try explicitly locating the sash on efs partition 7, should be dksc(1,2,7)stand/sash64. Just a shot in the dark.

that's a good idea otherwise i'd say the cd is borked.

oh and one more thing just in case: make sure to use the install cd from the overlay and not from 6.5 base.

 

[foetz]

in addition, how did you burn the cd and is that a direct copy or some iso you found somewhere?
also, did you try another install cd from another irix version?

 

[Ceseuron]

The CDs were burnt using DAO mode using the images pulled from archive.org. The CDs are probably borked because of that whole 512-byte block thing that most drives don't support.

So I tried doing network installs via TFTP and I'm not having much more success there. I initially just set up a TFTP/BootP server on CentOS 8 and unpacked the data. Figuring the data from the images I unpacked wasn't good, I tried the Booterizer route, but the TFTP server doesn't appear to be working in the latest clone. I managed to get the Irix installation repos out of the VirtualBox VM that booterizer creates and onto my own TFTP server running in VMware ESXi.

Here's where I'm making some initial progress. I'm able to get the Irix "fx" program to boot from the TFTP server and set up the hard disk and I'm able to get the installer going. But now I'm fighting the Inst program and rsh on my CentOS 8 host, where I keep getting "Connection lost to host" when attempting to get the Inst program to retrieve the installer files from the rsh target.

Really wishing I could use something other than rsh to get the installation files over to the Octane.

 

[foetz]

hehe okay so much for reliable and straightforward

regarding the iso, could you give me the link to the one you used? i could just try it myself. then we know whether it's the iso's fault or some other issue.

 

[Ceseuron]

They're all on archive.org under Software. https://archive.org/search.php?query=Irix

 

[foetz]

hehe yes but which one did you use exactly? the point is to find out whether the iso you used is borked or not.

 

[Ceseuron]

Foetz: It appears as though 6.5 Foundations 1 and 2 don't work or are unreadable. However, I was able to mostly successfully get the remaining discs for 6.5.30 Overlays 1, 2, and 3 as well as Applications and Complementary Applications to work by dramatically lowering the burn speed to 4x. Not sure if this is related or not. Foundations 1 and 2 are still mostly useless, however.

The issue of rsh disconnecting when trying to do a network install is just as confusing as well, and I'm trying to track that problem down as well. Oh what fun!

 

[foetz]

However, I was able to mostly successfully get the remaining discs for 6.5.30 Overlays 1, 2, and 3 as well as Applications and Complementary Applications to work

okay so the error from your first post doesn't happen anymore?

by dramatically lowering the burn speed to 4x.

of course, the old rule of thumb: the slower the better.

 

[Ceseuron]

Rather than attempting to troubleshoot the CDROM problems and trying to isolate why the network problems were preventing me from performing the Irix installation over the network, I discovered a way around the problem. Since I was able to boot the fx partitioner and boot the Irix "inst" program via my TFTP server on the CentOS 8 instance running on ESXi without a problem, I discovered a workaround. The Inst program has an option to drop to a shell under Admin. So, while this all may seem rather hamfisted, this is what I did:

1. Pack up the entirety of Booterizer's Irix repos for 6.5.30 into a single tar from the Vagrant VM. Result is a 9.6GB TAR file.
2. Ensure CentOS 8 had rsh client tools installed and, despite not working for the Inst program, still ensuring rshd was running under xinetd on the CentOS 8 VM.
3. Boot the Irix installer using Option 2 of the maintenance interface and selecting installation from the CentOS 8 VM.
4. Once Inst came up, drop to a shell and using IRIX rcp to move the tarball onto the hard disk (Seagate Cheetah 10K.7 146GB SCSI).
5. Unpack tarball into /root/tmp/irix since I was already able to partition the disk with fx.
6. Get back into Inst and continue installation normally, providing source paths that pointed to the location where I unpacked Irix onto the /root volume.
7. Let installation complete and marvel at the awesomeness of Irix 6.5.30 running on my Octane2 as I go through first time "EZSetup".

All that's left to do now is figure out exactly what I'm going to do with this machine...