HARDWARE: Tadpole Ultrabook IIi laptop w/Plextor UltraPlex 40max SCSI bootable cd-rom. SOFTWARE: Solaris 8. How do I boot from the CD-ROM in case I need to build/rebuild the laptop from scratch?? I'm unfamiliar with Solaris so I could use all the help I can get. Currently I can access the CD-ROM through the gui and terminal window to view contents of the CD. However, after hitting STOP A during the startup, then typing BOOT CDROM, I receive an error indicating "Boot device: /pci@1f,0/pci@1/scsi@3/disk@6,0:f File and args: Drive not ready" Yes, the installation disk 1 is in the drive and everything is running but it doesn't boot. Tadpole Tech Support indicated there's a method to pull the mini root software off the Sun Web Start CD, create a new Installation disk, and be able to boot from disk. Unfortunately, they didn't know the details to get this working. In addition, Tech Support said it's been a long time since he could remember Solaris was able to boot from disk. Does anyone have any recommendations? Thankyou!

Try putting the "Software One of One" CD in instead of the installation disk. When the GUI loads, go to command promt. Also, the shortcut to avoid the GUI altogether, is put in the Software One of One CD and boot with: ok boot cdrom -s That will take you into miniroot

I have just replaced the hard drive in my Sparc20. I am using the same hard drive as before, loaded with Sun Solaris OS 5.7, but there were problems, so I was planning to wipe out the disk and load Solaris 8. When I boot up, I see: Boot device: /iommu/sbus/espdma@f, 400000/esp@f, 800000/sd@6, 0:d File and args: To get to the ok prompt, I have to use Stop A on the keyboard. When I try "boot cdrom" with the Solaris 8 installation disk, or boot -r, I get the same thing. I waited to see if the Sparc would respond, no cigar. Referred to another forum reply and tried installboot, got a question mark. Referred to this reply and tried boot cdrom -s with Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 instead of the Installation disk (there is no 1 of 1 software CD in the box we have). Same result, this time with -s appended to the output. Typing help, or printenv shows more info but I'm not sure what to do. Help!

You are correct, it is software 1 of 2. Sorry. As far as the boot problem, at the ok prompt on your Sparc20, type probe-scsi-all and make sure the hardware correctly identifies everything. If that looks ok, do a reset. Ok, you made it here. now do a show-disks at the ok prompt and choose the new disk you installed. [CNTRL-Y] auto grabs your selection so you don't have to type the long string. Still with me? Now type boot cdrom at the ok prompt.

Thanks very much! Found out from the probe-scsi-all command that the system did not recognize the hard drive. I pulled it out and put it back in, then everything worked. Thanks again, Christine