ITEM: E7680L

Cannot boot off mksysb tape

Question:

I recently lost a disk on my system and am trying to reinstall using
a mksysb tape of the system.  I am having trouble booting off mksysb 
tape.  Key is in Service Mode, but the machine is booting to Diagnostics.

My system is at AIX 3.2.3E.  The tape is 8mm, but I'm not sure what
the block size is.

Response:

You should try booting off of Boot diskettes and then try to install 
from your mksysb tape.  Here are the steps:

1) Boot from Boot Diskettes.
2) Enter Maintenance Mode (be sure not to hit Ctrl-C at anytime when in 
   Maintenance Mode and DO NOT run getrootfs).
3) Run the following commands:

   tctl -f/dev/rmt\# rewind
   tctl -f/dev/rmt\#.1 fsf 3
   exit

4) Choose to install from a mksysb image.

You may have a bad mksysb tape.  If possible, verify on another
system with the tcopy command:

  tcopy /dev/rmt\#

 or with the following commands:
  
  tctl -f/dev/rmt\# rewind
  tctl -f/dev/rmt\#.1 fsf 3
  tar -tvf/dev/rmt\#

A mksysb tape (at AIX 3.2.x) should have 4 images on it.

Additionally, you may wish to run Diagnostics in order to check the 
hardware, including cabling and terminators to make sure that the 
tape drive is being recognized by the system.          




Support Line: Cannot boot off mksysb tape ITEM: E7680L

Dated: November 1993 Category: N/A

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