I have plan9 running on a qemu installation, and I had a similiar problem installing it.

The --no-kvm-irqchip option on the command line may have solved the problem.

I also may have walked away from the machine for 6 hours only to return and find that it had installed,    .... only to tear down the ubuntu distro based VM and replace the thing with a gentoo kernel specifically for hosting kvm.

The gentoo qemu + --no-kvm-irqchip  thing has definately kept the plan9.iso installation online. Here is my command-line, its miniscule compared to yours.

qemu-system-x86_64 --enable-kvm -net nic,macaddr=45:45:45:45:45:45 -net tap,ifname=9tap,script=no,downscript=no -vga std --no-kvm-irqchip -vnc:1 -hda /home/kvm9/plan9.img -m 256 -daemonize

If you havent tried this already:
Or perhaps this, --no-kqemu since this is BSD complaining about an invalid nvram checksum, other threads seem to indicate the CMOS layout error google search pops on BSD across softwares.

http://qemu-forum.ipi.fi/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1921
 

On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 10:12 AM, Stanley Lieber <stanley.lieber@gmail.com> wrote:
To recap:

I'm attempting to install Plan 9 from a recent .iso on a hosted KVM/qemu
account. Both the Bell Labs and 9atom installers die here:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5098/5468343552_28695be1dd_o.png

I've managed to obtain the host's KVM config file, in libvirtd XML format:

<domain type='kvm' id='100'>
 <name>user-2</name>
 <uuid>REDACTED</uuid>
 <memory>786432</memory>
 <currentMemory>786432</currentMemory>
 <vcpu>1</vcpu>
 <os>
   <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc'>hvm</type>
   <boot dev='hd'/>
 </os>
 <features>
   <acpi/>
 </features>
 <clock offset='utc'/>
 <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
 <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
 <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
 <devices>
   <emulator>/usr/bin/kvm</emulator>
   <disk type='block' device='disk'>
     <source dev='/dev/vol1/user-2'/>
     <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
   </disk>
   <disk type='file' device='cdrom'>
     <source file='/home/user/ISO/plan9.iso'/>
     <target dev='hdc' bus='ide'/>
     <readonly/>
   </disk>
   <interface type='ethernet'>
     <mac address='52:54:00:27:34:07'/>
     <script path='/home/kvm-admin/scripts/attach-tap-to-vlan.sh'/>
     <target dev='tap0-407'/>
     <model type='e1000'/>
   </interface>
   <serial type='tcp'>
     <source mode='bind' host='127.0.0.1' service='8081'/>
     <protocol type='telnet'/>
     <target port='0'/>
   </serial>
   <console type='tcp'>
     <source mode='bind' host='127.0.0.1' service='8081'/>
     <protocol type='telnet'/>
     <target port='0'/>
   </console>
   <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>
   <graphics type='vnc' port='5981' autoport='no' listen=''/>
 </devices>
</domain>

The actual KVM command is:

/usr/bin/kvm -S -M pc -m 768 -smp 1 -name user-2 -uuid 101ff6a0-206b-012e-09d2-525400972102 -monitor pty -boot c -drive file=/dev/vol1/user-2,if=ide,index=0,boot=on -drive file=/home/user/ISO/plan9.iso,if=ide,media=cdrom,index=2 -net nic,macaddr=52:54:00:27:34:07,vlan=0,model=e1000 -net tap,ifname=tap0-407,script=/home/kvm-admin/scripts/attach-tap-to-vlan.sh,vlan=0 -serial telnet:127.0.0.1:8081,server,nowait -parallel none -usb -vnc :81,password

Does anything here look obviously incorrect?

The hosting sevice is interested in offering Plan 9 services, so once
we get this working it may well be of use to others.

-sl





--
⎼⎺⎺├@┼␊├├≤-␍⎼␊▒␍:/␤⎺└␊/⎼␤⎺#