boot(1M) boot(1M)
NAME
boot - UnixWare system boot program
DESCRIPTION
The boot program loads and executes stand-alone UnixWare
programs. While boot is used primarily for loading and
executing the UnixWare system kernel, it can load and execute
any other programs that are linked for stand-alone execution.
During installation of the UnixWare system, the boot program
is placed on the hard disk starting at logical block 0 of the
active partition.
The system invokes the boot program each time the computer is
started. It tries to locate the boot program on the floppy
disk drive first; if the floppy disk drive is empty, the
system invokes the hard-disk boot procedure. The boot
procedure depends on whether you are booting from a floppy
disk or hard disk, as described below.
The floppy-disk boot procedure has two stages:
1. The boot block in sector 0 of the file system loads
boot.
2. boot loads and executes the UnixWare kernel.
The hard-disk boot procedure has three stages:
1. The ROMs load in the masterboot block from absolute
sector 0 on the hard disk.
2. The masterboot boot block then loads the partition boot
block from logical sector 0 of the active partition [see
fdisk(1M)].
3. The remainder of boot is loaded from the next 29 sectors
of the hard disk.
When first invoked, boot displays the following status
message:
Booting UnixWare...
and sounds a single beep.
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After this point you can press any key to interrupt boot and
initiate an interactive boot session. The prompt [boot]#
indicates that you are in the interactive mode. In this mode
you can make
KEYWORD=value
entries in the same syntax as that used for the /stand/boot
file. You can change the values of keywords on the existing
keyword/value list, add new ones to the list, or remove system
parameter keywords. (See boot(4) for a complete list of valid
keywords.)
Note that the keywords you add, change, or remove during an
interactive boot session apply only to the kernel that you are
in the process of booting. To permanently add or change
keywords, you must edit the /stand/boot file and add, change,
or remove them there.
While in an interactive session, the following commands are
available:
? prints this list of commands
list lists the current keywords and their values
KEYWORD=value
changes the value of an existing keyword, or adds a new
one
remove
removes the last system keyword in the list displayed by
the command list.
Non-system keywords (that is, boot keywords are not
removeable. However, they can be redefined as specified
on the boot(4) manual page.
go terminates the interactive session and directs the boot
program to restart using the modified keywords
If you have not typed something after 30 seconds, boot times
out and resumes loading the default program.
For example, you can use the KERNEL keyword to change the name
of the kernel file to boot. As delivered, the default is
unix. If you change the value of KERNEL to unix.old or
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unix.good, the boot code will load that kernel from the boot
filesystem. If you give an absolute pathname (e.g.
/etc/conf/cf.d/unix) and your root file system type is s5, the
boot code will load that kernel.
If you specify an absolute pathname and you do not have an s5
root file system, or you specify a file that does not exist or
cannot be loaded for some reason, you will warned and prompted
again.
Note: if you specify /stand/unix, the boot code will try to
load unix from the directory /stand in the root file system,
not from the boot file system that is normally mounted on
/stand.
FILES
/stand/boot
/stand/sip
/stand/mip
REFERENCES
boot(4), disksetup(1M), fd(7), fdisk(1M), sd01(7)
DIAGNOSTICS
The masterboot and boot programs have different error
messages.
masterboot Diagnostics
The masterboot program displays an error message and locks the
system. The following is a list of the most common masterboot
messages and their meanings:
IO ERR An error occurred when trying to read in the
partition boot of the active operating system.
BAD TBL The bootable partition indicator of at least one
of the operating systems in the fdisk table
contains an unrecognizable code.
NO OS There was an unrecoverable error after trying to
execute the active operating system's partition
boot.
boot Diagnostics
The boot program displays an error message, then returns to
its prompt. When one of these messages occurs, you will need
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to correct the problem described in the message and reboot the
system:
Error reading bootstrap
The boot program could not locate the bootstrap, or the
bootstrap is not readable. Make sure that the bootstrap
is properly located on the specified boot device and is
compatible with the kernel you are booting. Then reboot
the system.
No active partition on hard disk
There is currently no active partition from which to run
the boot program. Activate an appropriate partition and
reboot the system.
No file system to boot
The boot program could not locate a /stand or an s5 root
file system on the specified boot device. Make sure the
boot device has a /stand or an s5 root file system and
reboot the system.
command argument missing or incorrect
The boot program received a command with no argument or
with an invalid argument. Make sure that command in
/stand/boot has the correct number of arguments and that
all the arguments are valid, then restart boot.
Cannot load file; file not opened
The boot program cannot locate file on the specified
device, or file is not set up properly for execution.
Check that file exists on the specified device and
restart boot.
Cannot load file; cannot read COFF header
The specified Common Object File Format (COFF) file
contains no file header, or the file header is not
readable. Make sure that file contains a readable file
header, then restart boot.
Cannot load file; not an 80386 ELF or COFF binary
The specified file is not an 80386 ELF or COFF binary.
Check that the file you want to load is a valid COFF
binary that is compatible with 80386 systems and restart
boot.
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Cannot load file; cannot read segment/sections
The specified file does not contain a section header, or
the section header is not readable. Check that file
contains a readable section header and restart boot.
Cannot load file; cannot read BKI section
The specified file does not include the bootstrap-kernel
interface (BKI) section, or the BKI section is not
readable. Make sure the BKI section of file is accurate
for your version of the kernel and bootstrap, then
restart boot.
Cannot load file; BKI too old
The BKI of the current bootstrap is not compatible with
the BKI of the program (file) you are loading. Make
sure that the BKI of the bootstrap and file are
compatible and restart boot.
Cannot load file; BKI too new
The BKI of the current bootstrap is not compatible with
the BKI of the program (file) you are loading. Make
sure that the BKI of the bootstrap and file are
compatible and restart boot.
Cannot load file; missing text or data segment
The specified file does not contain a necessary text or
data segment. Check that file contains the proper text
and data segments, then restart boot.
Cannot load file; missing BKI segment
The specified file does not contain the BKI segment.
Make sure that the BKI segment in file exists and is
compatible with the BKI of the bootstrap.
Cannot load file"; required memory for kernel is not present
The amount of memory available for the kernel is not
present or is inadequate. Make sure you have allocated
enough memory for the kernel you want to load, then
restart boot.
Too many lines in defaults file; extra lines ignored
The file /stand/boot contains too many lines. All extra
lines will be ignored.
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NOTICES
The computer always tries to boot from any diskette in the
floppy diskette drive first. If the diskette does not contain
a valid bootstrap program, errors occur.
The boot program cannot be used to load programs that have not
been linked for standalone execution. To create stand-alone
programs, use the option of the UnixWare system linker [ld
(1)] and special stand-alone libraries.
Although stand-alone programs can operate in real or protected
mode, they must not be large or huge model programs. Programs
in real mode can use the input/output routines of the
computer's startup ROM.
Although keywords added or changed during an interactive boot
session are intended to take effect immediately, whether or
not they actually do take effect depends on how soon after the
beep the boot program was interrupted. For example, if it
were interrupted after it had already loaded sip, changing the
SIP keyword would not have an immediate effect.
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