Solaris 10 5/09 Release Notes

x86: Failure of BIOS Device Utility Prevents Installation or Upgrade From Being Completed (6362108)

On certain occasions, the utility for BIOS devices (/sbin/biosdev) might fail and prevent a successful installation or upgrade. The failure can occur under either of the following circumstances:

The following error message is displayed:


biosdev: Could not match any!!

Workaround: Make sure that you reboot the system after applying Patch ID 117435-02. Ensure that identical disks to be used in the installation or upgrade are configured with different fdisk-partition layouts.

The following example is based on a system that has two disks with identical fdisk-partition layouts. To change the layouts, perform the following steps.

  1. Become superuser.

  2. Start the disk maintenance utility.


    # format
    

    A list of available disks in the system is displayed.

  3. To select the disk whose fdisk partition you want to change, type the disk's number.

  4. From the list of Format options, select fdisk.

    The disk's partition information and a list of fdisk options are displayed.

  5. To change the disk's layout, choose one of the following:

    • To specify a different active partition, press 2.

    • To add another disk partition, press 1.

    • To delete an unused partition, press 3.

  6. To save your changes and exit the fdisk menu, press 5.

  7. To exit the disk maintenance utility, select Quit from the Format options.

  8. Reboot the system.

  9. After the system reboots, verify that the error message no longer appears. As superuser, type the following command:


    # /sbin/biosdev
    

    If the error message is still generated, repeat the procedure but select a different option in Step 5.

  10. If the system contains other identical disks with identical fdisk-partition layouts, repeat Steps 1-9 on these disks. Otherwise, you can proceed with your Solaris installation or upgrade.