68kMLA Classic Interface

This is a version of the 68kMLA forums for viewing on your favorite old mac. Visitors on modern platforms may prefer the main site.

Click here to select a new forum.
A/UX Install Issues
Posted by: tlc630 on 2012-11-27 17:28:20
-v = verbose

Posted by: JoeCanada on 2012-11-28 12:07:50
Well, no joy with that solution...seems like it's having trouble booting the Kernel. Trying the 'verbose' option yields nothing. Freezes in the same spot.

I'll keep playing...but any other suggestions are welcome. :beige:

Posted by: beachycove on 2012-11-28 15:55:39
Where are you? I have some A/UX compatible CD-ROM drives, cabling etc. if you are anywhere near London.

Posted by: Blinkenlightz on 2012-11-30 10:42:58
What kind of media did you burn the images onto? CD-R media has been sold in 700 MB capacity for years, but when A/UX was written the capacity of a CD was 650 MB. I burned my copies onto 650 MB CD-R media, never tried 700 MB because I assumed A/UX would throw fits. Might be worth a try...

Also, many old CD-ROM drives had issues reading CD-Rs at all - some of which could be alleviated by burning at the slowest possible speed (1X is an hour to burn a full 650 MB disc if memory serves...).

Posted by: JoeCanada on 2012-11-30 12:50:26
beachycove: Alberta, so...that probably won't work...thanks though...

Blinkenlightz: I had a spindle full of I don't know what kind of CD-Rs, which I tried at the lowest speed my computer can do (4x). Then I picked up some Sony CD-Rs, not sure on the size, I think 700 MB. I'll have to see if I can get 650MB to try, if those can even be found anymore.

On another note, anyone have a known-good A/UX backup image they can point me in the direction of? If I know the image is good, I can rule that out.

Posted by: tlc630 on 2012-11-30 15:19:34
I think the CD capacity is a red herring. All my installation disks are 700MB Sony CD-R created with ImageBurner at 1X speed on a G4 Powerbook. They all work without issue.

Posted by: JoeCanada on 2012-12-12 00:35:05
I think the CD capacity is a red herring. All my installation disks are 700MB Sony CD-R created with ImageBurner at 1X speed on a G4 Powerbook. They all work without issue.
Agreed. With the number of different discs and images and media I've used, I think I can rule that out.

My list of things to rule out is:

1) Hardware (ie. IIsi)

2) Drive (CD 300)

3) SCSI Voodoo

4) Disk images (CD and floppy)

I think I've eliminated 2 and 3, since the discs are readable in System 7. 1 is difficult to rule out, since only my IIsi is A/UX capable, so I can't test the install on another machine. I've tried taking it down the the minimum, which isn't much (ie. remove network card). No matter what I try, I always get stuck on the 'This is the point of no return for launching an A/UX kernel.' message. CD or boot floppy image, maybe? Setting the verbose flag gives no further information on why it stops at this point. Obviously, it IS having trouble loading the kernel, but I have no idea why.

Incidently, anyone try the images available at http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/aux-apple-unix-68k-version-301-31-update? Are they good? (CD and floppy?)

Posted by: netfreak on 2012-12-15 15:13:21
It may be CD image related. When I did my A/UX install probably around a decade ago I used the windows version of cdrtools which essentially was using a DOS prompt. Might find more info on this page which I made around the time of the installation: http://aux.preterhuman.net/

Posted by: JoeCanada on 2013-01-09 22:16:11
Solved!!!

Sort of...

I finally managed to acquire a (much coveted) SE/30, and I tried to get an A/UX install going on that, and it got me right through to the partition screen no problem. So it would seem that something about my IIsi is causing the problem...but what, I wonder...?

Posted by: rabindranath72 on 2013-05-15 09:01:13
Do you have any way of changing the RAM SIMMs? I had a similar problem with my SE/30; the kernel would freeze more or less at the same point. I had to replace the ram SIMMs and everything worked fine. All versions of UNIX I have ever worked with somewhat "stress-test" the memory.

< 2