From: Peter Sherwood (petersherwood@microway.com)
Date: Thu Aug 29 2002 - 12:56:06 EDT
Greetings,
I have the (*)pleasure of supporting Alpha PC164LX (21164 CPU)
computers. They come in various hardware configurations and primarily
have the following OS installed:
Microsoft Windows NT 4
Linux versions 6.x and 7.x
Tru64 UNIX version 4.x & 5.x
Customers want to migrate from one OS version to another from
time-to-time. Primarily we see Windows NT to Linux migrations the other
times it is UNIX to Linux (so far). In my effort to support these OS
configurations it has been necessary to switch back and forth between
SRM and AlphaBIOS consoles as well as re-image the hard drives with the
various OS's.
When migrating from NT or UNIX to Linux it is necessary at times to run
the MBR zapping command:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/BOOT-DISK bs=512 count=1
BOOT-DISK is most often "sda" or "hda"
We expect this!
The other day when migrating from Linux (Red Hat 7.2 Alpha) to UNIX
V5.1A I hit the same impasse on the SCSI disk drive as is hit when doing
a Linux install: To wit; you are not allowed to write over the MBR.
I didn't expect this.
To get past this point I was forced to boot the Linux CD to reach the
root Shell prompt to run the "dd ..." command noted above.
It worked!
(NOTE: there is a trick to it if you need to know. Timing is everything.)
I asked Compaq/HP tech support and the canned answer was (as documented):
**********
http://www.tru64unix.compaq.com/docs/base_doc/DOCUMENTATION/V51A_HTML/ARH8WDTE/TITLE.HTM
3.1.3 Install Hangs If Disk Has Disk Label Generated by Linux
Do not attempt to install Tru64 UNIX Version 5.1A onto a disk that has a
disk label written by a Linux system.
**********
I was then directed to this mailing list :)
(so don't throw stones ! - )
Long Story Shortened:
what I am looking for is the equivalent "dd ..." command
(or ability to zap the MBR)
during a Tru64 UNIX installation
(if necessary).
PS: SRM is/was at 5.8-1 and I am well prepared to switch the console to
whatever SRM version is best (sometimes less it more).
Config:
PC164LX, 512 Meg memory on two sticks, Oxygen VX1 video card (or was it
the ELSA... it shouldn't matter), ITI SCSI card, Seagate ST318203LW HD,
Toshiba CD.
TIA,
-- Peter Sherwood <petersherwood@microway.com> Technical Support Direct: 508-732-5542 Main: 508-746-7341 Fax: 508-746-4678 Microway, Inc. - "Technology You Can Count On" http://www.microway.com/
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