Initial Installation of the Solaris OS

Initial installation fails

Solution:

If the Solaris installation fails, you must restart the installation. To restart the installation, boot the system from the Solaris Operating System DVD, the Solaris Software - 1 CD, or from the network.

You cannot uninstall the Solaris software after the software has been partially installed. You must restore your system from a backup or begin the Solaris installation process again.

/media/cdrom/SUNWxxxx/reloc.cpio: Broken pipe

Description:

This error message is informational and does not affect the installation. The condition occurs when a write on a pipe does not have a reading process.

Solution:

Ignore the message and continue with the installation.

WARNING: CHANGE DEFAULT BOOT DEVICE (x86 based systems only)

Cause:

This is an informational message. The default boot device set in the system's BIOS might be set to a device that requires you to use the Solaris Device Configuration Assistant to boot the system.

Solution:

Continue with the installation and, if necessary, change the system's default boot device specified in the BIOS after you install the Solaris software to a device that does not require the Solaris Device Configuration Assistant.

If you are using the locale keyword to test a custom JumpStart profile for an initial installation, the pfinstall -D command fails to test the profile. For a workaround, see the error message “could not select locale,” in the section, Upgrading the Solaris OS.

x86: To Check IDE Disk for Bad Blocks

IDE disk drives do not automatically map out bad blocks like other drives supported by Solaris software. Before installing Solaris on an IDE disk, you might want to perform a surface analysis on the disk. To perform surface analysis on an IDE disk, follow this procedure.

1. Become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

   Roles contain authorizations and privileged commands. For more information about roles, see Configuring RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Security Services.

2. Boot to the installation media.

3. When you are prompted to select an installation type, select option 6, Single user shell.

4. Start the format(1M) program.

   # format

5. Specify the IDE disk drive on which you want to perform a surface analysis.

   # cxdy

   cx

   Is the controller number

   dy

   Is the device number

6. Determine if you have an fdisk partition.

   • If a Solaris fdisk partition already exists, proceed to Step 7.

   • If a Solaris fdisk partition does not exist, use the fdisk command to create a Solaris partition on the disk.

     format> fdisk

7. To begin the surface analysis, type:

   format> analyze

8. Determine the current settings, type:

   analyze> config

9. (Optional) To change settings, type:

   analyze> setup

10. To find bad blocks, type:

    analyze> type_of_surface_analysis

    type_of_surface_analysis

    Is read, write, or compare

    If format finds bad blocks, it remaps them.

11. To exit the analysis, type:

    analyze> quit

12. Determine if you want to specify blocks to remap.

    • If no, go to Step 13.

    • If yes, type:

      format> repair

13. To exit the format program, type:

    quit

14. Restart the media in multiuser mode by typing the following command.

    # exit