[Sunhelp] Solaris 2.7 and patches won't boot (fwd)

[Brian Scanlan]

On Tue, Jan 25, 2000 at 07:19:03PM -0600, Steve Pribyl wrote:
> Hey all,
> 
> I have a sparc 5 with a fresh load of solaris 2.7 and the latest sun
> recommended patches.
> 
> It now won't boot.
> Here is the error I get.
> 
> INIT: Cannot create /var/adm/utmp or /var/adm/utmpx
> INIT: failed write of utmpx entry:"   "
> INIT: failed write of utmpx entry:"   "
> INIT: SINGLE USER MODE
> ENTER RUN LEVEL (0-6, s or S)
> 
> I have load this box twice, with the same result.
> I can boot of the cdrom and mount root and the file is there and dir and
> file perms are correct.

I got this problem on an Intel box - I'm reliably informed that it also
happens on Sparcs too. 

If, after the kernel patch, the post-patch script did not run, you will be
left in a situation where you cannot boot single user mode off the disk in
question. There are two workarounds - Boot off cdrom, and edit the postpatch
script that's with the patch to work in an environment where the root and /var
filesystems are mounted on /a or in /tmp or whatever, OR simply ln /dev/msglog
to /dev/console, but that;s a quick fix, not a qorkaround.

Brian.
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