HELP PLEASE re: Irix install... what does 'swap partition (1) is not a valid swap area' mean?

Scott · *nix forums beginner Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 1

Well, as mentioned, I'm sure that 6.2 CAN be made to work on a 2 gig
drive... nonetheless, after running fx and loading the installation
tools (steps 1-6) I still get this error message in step 7 when making
miniroot:

Filesystem too large for device

Toni Grass · *nix forums addict Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 82

Scott wrote:

Scott · *nix forums beginner Joined: 22 Jun 2005 Posts: 1

Well, my buddy couldn't wait any longer and came by yesterday to pick
up the Indigo2... I could tell that he was a bit disappointed that I
wasn't able to get a working system drive set up by his deadline... now
I expect he'll have to hire a freelance sysadmin guy to do it for him.

This morning, while this stuff was all still fresh in my head, I went
back downstairs to try yet again on the two remaining disk-less
Indigo2s (one R44K/XZ, the other R10K HI on which I used the other boot
command as specified). Following the exact same blinkenlights
instructions another half-dozen times (in addition to all my many
previous attempts) three out of the four drives I tried in both
machines returned the same "File system too large" error messages
during installation step#7.

The final attempt (on the R44K/XZ) DID ACTUALLY WORK... it got past
step #7 and I was able to proceed with the Irix install to conclusion,
despite the fact that I did nothing different THIS time compared to my
dozens of previous attempts. As mentioned, I am not (and have no desire
to be) a Unix sysadmin, though I've been using SGIs to make a living
for more than a decade now. My experience with them thus far
(culminating in the past few days) reinforces for me the understanding
that IMO, SGI has no one and/or no thing (including market forces, Bill
Gates, etc...) to blame for their fall from grace... people buy
computers (whether they cost $1K or $50K) to GET WORK DONE. Having to
exert such considerable time and effort just to set up a fresh system
disk/OS simply illustrates that the writing was on the wall (for SGI)
years ago. The case design of the Indigo2 also illustrates their wilful
myopia, but that's another topic altogether. ;-)

Yes, if I knew more about Unix filesystems, or the arcane details of
fx, etc... I'm sure that things would have been easier. But really,
SHOULD a user HAVE to learn about and deal with such things just to set
up a fresh system disk? I think not, but I know many SGI-enthusiasts
(of which I still consider myself one) may disagree with me.

In any case, I'll send off an email to the blinkenlights guy (Ian?)
just to let him know that following his otherwise excellent
instructions (to the letter) left me with 3 out of 4 drives I tried
still stuck on step #7. Whatever the problem is with them (previous
partitioning?) his instructions don't allow for it/provide a
workaround... maybe he'll update them accordingly, maybe not. Given
that the instructions would be of the most use to users with the least
Irix sysadmin experience, any allowances that can be made for such
things would be a positive change (again, IMO).

So, I've still got the R10K Indigo2 system-diskless, and a half dozen
loose drives. Since I've got actual work to get done, I'll have to
delay further tinkering til later... maybe I'll try cloning a working
system disk (from a known-good R10K system) to see if that does the
trick.

I'd like to thank everyone here who offered advice and assistance... it
was (and is) muchly appreciated.

Scott

Thomas Jahns · *nix forums beginner Joined: 20 Apr 2005 Posts: 44

Scott <blue909e@lycos.com> writes:

Scott · *nix forums beginner Joined: 23 Jun 2005 Posts: 1

Well, my buddy had to pick up the Indigo2 the other day, even though at
that point I hadn't been able to get Irix installed. Even though I was
doing him a favor, I could tell he was a bit disappointed... I assume
he'll have to find a freelance sysadmin guy to do it for him now.

Anyway, the following morning I made a few more attempts to run
fx/install Irix according to the verbatim blinkenlights instructions.
After 7 or 8 more failed attmepts to get past step #7, it finally took
on one disk. As I had been trying to do this during the past week using
3 different Indigo2s, with 3 different CD drives and 2 different sets
of install media on ANY one of 7 or 8 different hard drives without
success, you can imagine my surprise. Of course, I did nothing
different THIS time... I really have no idea why it was able to
complete the install.

In any case, I'd like to say thanks to everyone who offered advice and
assistance. All of this makes me glad that I don't own stock in SGI
anymore! Wink

Google