My Scripts and Tips

When you try to boot a Sun SPARC based machine from CDROM you get the error “The file just loaded does not appear to be executable”:

ok boot cdrom
Resetting ...

Sun Ultra 5/10 UPA/PCI (UltraSPARC-IIi 333MHz), No Keyboard
OpenBoot 3.19, 384 MB (50 ns) memory installed, Serial #12345678.
Ethernet address 8:0:20:11:22:33, Host ID: 80112233.

Rebooting with command: boot cdrom
Boot device: /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3/cdrom@1,0:f  File and args: -F cprboot
Boot load failed.
The file just loaded does not appear to be executable.
Boot device: disk  File and args: -F cprboot
Boot load failed.
The file just loaded does not appear to be executable.

ok

You may also get this error if you’re attempting to boot from a new disk. You are, however, able to boot from CD in single user mode (boot cdrom -s).

Notice that File and args contains “-F cprboot”. This parameter is inserted in the Boot PROM if the machine was suspended. The parameter is used to restore the running OS from the state file saved to the hard disk at the time the system was suspended. Obviously neither the CD nor a new hard disk will contain the state file.

You can see this parameter in the Boot PROM:

ok printenv boot-file
boot-file =           -F cprboot

To remove this parameter use the following command at the ok prompt:
set-default boot-file

Hopefully the system will now boot successfully:

ok boot cdrom
Boot device: /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3/cdrom@1,0:f  File and args:
SunOS Release 5.6 Version Generic_105181-05 [UNIX(R) System V Release 4.0]
Copyright (c) 1983-1997, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Configuring devices...
fd0: unformatted diskette or no diskette in the drive
fd0: unformatted diskette or no diskette in the drive
fd0: unformatted diskette or no diskette in the drive
The system is coming up.  Please wait.
....