Solaris 9 12/03 Release Notes

Issues You Need to Know About Before Installing Solaris 9 12/03 Software

SPARC: Installation of Solaris 9 12/03 Software on Sun Fire V880 Results in Warnings After Reboot

The Sun FireTM V880 software is included in the Solaris 9 12/03 release. When you install the Solaris 9 12/03 release on a Sun Fire V880 server, the V880 software attempts to load the bbc and gptwo drivers.

The fix for Bug 4717004 removed the bbc and gptwo drivers. Since these drivers have been deleted and are no longer available, the following error messages are displayed when you reboot the system:


WARNING: Failed to install "bbc" driver.
WARNING: Failed to install "gptwo" driver.

Workaround: These messages are benign and can safely be ignored.

x86: Systems With Certain ATA Hard Disk Drives Hang When Rebooted After Solaris 9 Software Installation

Installing the Solaris 9 software on systems with certain types of ATA hard disk drives results in a system hang. The system hangs when you attempt a soft reboot after the installation has completed.

This problem occurs in systems with ATA hard disk drives that implement the revert to default conditions feature of ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 specification, with respect to the Ultra DMA mode.

Such disk drives revert from Ultra DMA mode to Multiword DMA mode after the software reset, unless the behavior is disabled. The behavior is disabled by using the SET FEATURES / Disable reverting to power-on to defaults command.

The way the problem manifests itself depends upon the BIOS and the type of ATA hard drive that is in the system. This problem might manifest itself in one of the following ways:

Workaround: To correct the problem, complete the following steps:

  1. If the system hangs when booted, power cycle the system by turning the power off and then on again. The system should then boot normally.

  2. After the system is booted, log in to the system and become superuser.

  3. Use a text editor to edit the /platform/i86pc/kernel/drv/ata.conf file.

    Add the following line:


    ata-revert-to-defaults=0;

The next system reboot should proceed without a hang.

x86: Solaris 9 12/03 Installation CD Partition Issue

If the Solaris Web Start 3.0 program on the Solaris 9 12/03 Installation CD is unable to locate a Solaris fdisk partition on a system, you must create a Solaris fdisk partition on your root disk.


Caution – Caution –

If you change the size of an existing fdisk partition, all data on that partition is automatically deleted. Back up your data before you create a Solaris fdisk partition.


The Solaris Web Start 3.0 program requires two fdisk partitions to perform an installation.


Note –

The installation program on the Solaris 9 12/03 Installation CD creates the x86 boot partition, removing 10 Mbytes from the Solaris fdisk partition. This removal prevents any existing fdisk partitions from being altered.

This partition should not be created manually.

This requirement also prevents you from using the Solaris 9 12/03 Installation CD to upgrade from the Solaris 2.6 or Solaris 7 releases to the Solaris 9 12/03 software. For more information, refer to Upgrade Issues.


x86: Change in Default Boot-Disk Partition Layout

In the Solaris 9 12/03 release, the Solaris Web Start and suninstall installation programs use, by default, a new boot-disk partition layout to accommodate the Service partition on Sun LX50 systems. This installation program enables you to preserve an existing Service partition.

The new default includes the following partitions:

If you want to use this default layout, select Default when the Solaris Web Start or suninstall program asks you to choose a boot-disk layout.


Note –

If you install the Solaris 9 12/03 (x86 Platform Edition) software on a system that does not currently include a Service partition, the Solaris Web Start and suninstall programs do not create a new Service partition by default. If you want to create a Service partition on your system, see x86: Service Partition Not Created by Default on Systems With No Existing Service Partition.


You can also choose to manually edit the disk partition layout by using the fdisk utility. You might want to manually edit the boot-disk partitions under the following conditions:


Note –

If your system contains an upgradable version of the Solaris software, but does not contain an x86 boot partition, you might not be able to upgrade by using the Solaris Installation CD. To upgrade a system with no x86 boot partition to the Solaris 9 12/03 release, use the suninstall installation program on the Solaris 9 12/03 Software 1 of 2 CD.


SPARC: Default Solaris JumpStart Profile Might Not Install Multiple Locales on Small Disks

If you use the default Solaris JumpStartTM profile on the Solaris 9 12/03 media to install multiple locales on a system with a small disk, the installation might fail. This problem might occur under the following conditions:

x86: Service Partition Not Created by Default on Systems With No Existing Service Partition

If you install the Solaris 9 12/03 software on a system that does not currently include a Service partition, the installation program might not create a Service partition by default. If you are including a Service partition on the same disk as the Solaris partition, you must re-create the Service partition before you install the software.

If you installed the Solaris 8 2/02 software on a Sun LX50 system, the installation program might not have preserved the Service partition. If you did not manually edit the fdisk boot-partition layout to preserve the Service partition, the installation program deleted the Service partition during the installation.


Note –

If you did not specifically preserve the Service partition when you installed the Solaris 8 2/02 software, you cannot re-create the Service partition and upgrade to the Solaris 9 12/03 release. You must perform an initial installation of the software.


Workaround: If you are including a Service partition on the disk that contains the Solaris partition, choose one of the following:

x86: Solaris Device Configuration Assistant Boot Diskette Is Not Available

The Solaris 9 Device Configuration Assistant is not delivered as a boot diskette in the Solaris 9 12/03 release. To boot the Device Configuration Assistant, choose one of the following options:

For more information, see the Solaris 9 12/03 Installation Guide.

x86: Do Not Upgrade Hewlett-Packard (HP) Vectra XU Series Systems With BIOS Version GG.06.13

The Solaris 9 12/03 software includes a feature that enables you to install large partitions. The system BIOS must support logical block addressing (LBA). BIOS Version GG.06.13 does not support LBA access. The Solaris boot programs cannot manage this conflict. This issue can also affect other HP Vectra systems.

If you perform this upgrade, your HP system can no longer boot. Only a blank black screen with a flashing underscore cursor is displayed.

Workaround: Do not upgrade HP Vectra XU Series systems with the latest BIOS Version GG.06.13 to the Solaris 9 12/03 release. This version no longer supports these systems.

You can still boot your system by using the boot diskette or boot CD because the boot paths do not use the hard disk code. Then select the hard disk as your bootable device instead of the network or CD-ROM drive.