netboot image won't start on Sparc T1000

[katre]

I am attempting to install Ubuntu 9.04 from the following netboot image: http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/jaunty/main/installer-sparc/current/images/netboot/boot.img

The server loads the image and then fails back to the OpenBoot prompt with the following error:
{0} ok boot net:dhcp,192.168.0.12,ubuntu-jaunty-sparc-boot.img
Boot device: /virtual-devices@100/channel-devices@200/network@0:dhcp,192.168.0.12,ubuntu-jaunty-sparc-boot.img
ERROR: /packages/obp-tftp: Last Trap: Fast Data Access MMU Miss

The older intrepid and hardy netboot images will load, but then fail later while detecting disks.
The gutsy netboot image loads, detects disks, and fully installs. I can then upgrade the install all the way up to jaunty, but this is very inefficient.

I am not sure if base-installer is the proper package to report this against. I also cannot determine how the netboot images are being built. If someone can provide instructions I will be happy to work at building new netboot images and test them.

[Mike Wolff (miguel-lobos)]

I'm also experiencing a similar phenomena when attempting a net boot install of Jaunty (same image) on an old Blade 150 workstation - have tried the OBP boot command two ways:

boot net debconf/priority=low DEBIAN_FRONTEND=text -o prompt

AND

boot net mem=512M ide=nodma debconf/priority=low DEBIAN_FRONTEND=text -o prompt

OBP has been flashed to the latest (4.17.1)

I'll be falling back to Solaris 10 shortly on this machine to get it up and running, but if there are additional details from this instance that may help, please feel free to ask, and I'll make an honest effort to provide what I am able.

[Lou Ruppert (louferd)]

I also have this problem. Are there any plans to continue the port through to Lucid? I can't boot the netboot, and doing a release upgrade results in a system that kernel-panics so badly that it won't respond to a terminal break or an LOM break. Between that and the inability to install IDE-based systems, I think Ubuntu may be better off just removing this from their ports list if nobody wants to support it. Both of these show-stopper bugs have persisted through a few releases now.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

We really need developers who know SPARC to assist with the port; we don't have as many of those as we used to, to put it mildly. If you know any, send them along ...