SunFire X2100 fails

[Julian Fagir]

Hello,

I recently got a SunFire X2100 to play with (first version, not M2).
Linux (Debian) and 7.2-RELEASE works without problems, just installs
straight-away and runs fine (currently 31 days uptime).
But 8.0-RELEASE does not work, neither when being upgraded nor when
installing from CD or memstick.

The problem is: The kernel does not recognize the slices and partitions.
When installing it, the installer shows me a single slice on each of the two
hard disks though there are more. It also shows a warning about a GPT-label,
no matter whether there is a GPT or MBR on it.
After reslicing and -partitioning them, the installer fails when creating a
filesystem on them, saying the devices (in this case the partitions) are not
configured.

Looking at the disk with Linux shows me that the partitions and slices were
created properly at this point.

When upgrading from 7.2 to 8.0, I'll be dropped to the "mount-shell" when
restarting after doing the freebsd-update of the kernel.
The possible mount-options the kernel recognizes are two labels
(mbr/hdds, I think), the disks themselves and one slice on each disk, no
partitions nor the other slices. Nothing capable of booting is found on the
disks/slices anyway when I try to boot from them.

As I currently have 7.2 on it, I can only show you the information I'll get
from that one.

# lspci
00:00.0 Memory controller: nVidia Corporation CK804 Memory Controller (rev a3)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 ISA Bridge (rev a3)
00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation CK804 SMBus (rev a2)
00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation CK804 USB Controller (rev a2)
00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation CK804 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:06.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation CK804 IDE (rev f2)
00:07.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller (rev f3)
00:08.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller (rev f3)
00:09.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCI Bridge (rev a2)
00:0b.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
00:0c.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
00:0d.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
00:0e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron]
HyperTransport Technology Configuration 00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro
Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map 00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced
Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller 00:18.3 Host
bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous
Control 01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage XL (rev
27) 04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5721
Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 11) 05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel
Corporation 82571EB Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 06) 05:00.1 Ethernet
controller: Intel Corporation 82571EB Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 06)



Regards, Julian Fagir