> I replaced an Intel P4 D845PESV motherboard
> with an Intel P4 D865PERL motherboard -- as a
> result of lightning that ended up going through
> a working APC Smart-UPS 700 and knocking out the
> motherboard/memory.
>
> I had SCO OSR504 installed in that machine on an
> Adaptec 29160 with 2 Seagate LVDs, which were
> NOT affected by the hit.
>
> /dev/boot is on hd0a and
> /dev/root is on /dev/hd24. (Another HD off the 50-pin
> port on the 29160 had been installed BEFORE the 2nd
> LVD drive - so that's why OSR504 root is on /dev/hd24.)
>
> I am using the ad160 driver that is for
> OSR505 since there was none for OSR504 and it worked on OSR504. The system
> was bootable both
> from floppies and the hard disk with the Intel P4
> D845PESV motherboard before the hit.
>
> Solaris 9 is installed on the same hd as OSR504 root
> and boots just fine with the new motherboard.
> Microsoft Small Business Server is also on the 1st hd and
> it also boots just fine.
>
> Now, I cannot boot OSR504 from hd(40)unix nor from
> fd(60)unix. I have tried 2 SCO OSR504 boot/root
> floppies and here are the results:
>
> When booting with fd(60)unix, boot consistently STOPS
> at the 1st dot after the line:
>
> Loading kernel fd(60)unix.Z .text
> . [stops here]
>
> If I boot from the floppy but use the following bootstring
> hd(40)unix swap=hd(161) dump=hd(161) root=hd(162),
> then boot stops with 1 complete line of dots and about
> half-way through the next line of dots after the following
> line:
>
> Loading kernel hd(40)unix.Z .text
>
> If I boot from the hard disk, boot consistently stops after
> 4 complete lines of dots plus half of the 5th line.
>
> If I try to BOOT ONLY from an SCO OSR505 boot
> floppy withOUT the ad160 driver and with an OSR505
> kernel from a Pentium 100 PC, the boot completes to
> the root filesystem diskette request. I do NOT go any
> further since the controller driver is NOT ad160 on the
> OSR505 system and it isn't the same OS version.
>
> If I disable cache in the bootstring, boot still stops
> after the "Loading... .text" msg.
>
> When I remove the Adaptec 29160 and the 2 LVD
> drives and hook to a new Dell P4 Dimension 8250,
> I have no problem booting/rooting from the hard drives.
>
> The D865PERL motherboard is running with:
>
> DDR333 -> single channel dynamic paging mode
>
> Memory is 512 Mb (DDR400) single channel (setup)
>
> Two serial-ATA ports are also available on this
> motherboard, but not being used.
>
> If I try to change the ATA/IDE config to legacy mode --
> up to 2 IDE devices max, booting from the hd stops
> sooner after the "Loading... .text" line.
>
> Under chipset configuration, the following is set on the
> Intel motherboard:
>
> ISA Enable Bit - Enable
> PCI Latency Timer 32
> Extended config:
> SDRAM Frequency Auto
> CPC Override Auto
> SDRAM Timing Control AUTO
> SDRAM RAS Act. to Pre. 7
> SDRAM CAS# LATENCY 2.5
> SDRAM RAS# to CAS# delay 3
> SDRAM RAS# Precharge 3
>
> On the OSR504 system, I have many patches and
> rs504c: oss470a,oss485a,oss471f and
> oss469d,oss496a,oss621b,oss644b,oss642a,
> oss480a,oss601a,oss472a,oss475a,oss459b,oss473a,
> oss481a,oss605a,oss644b
>
> If there is anything I can do to change the kernel (while
> the disks are hooked to the Dell machine) or a bootstring
> option to boot the SCO OSR504 on the new motherboard, please let me know.
>
> I would prefer to work on the P4 rather than the Pentium
> 100.
>
> I understand that I need to upgrade to OSR507 and
> maybe that would solve my problem, but I need an
> interim solution if possible.
The boot stage at which your system is hanging happens long before the
differences between OSR504 and OSR507 (or between straight OSR504 and
OSR504 + 17 patches) would make any difference. It's also before the
use of a BTLD should make any real difference; and and before the
location of the root filesystem would make any difference. The only
thing you're accessing is the /stand (boot) filesystem, or the boot
floppy.
/boot reads a hard disk boot filesystem using BIOS hard disk read
functions; it reads floppy and CD-ROM filesystems using BIOS floppy disk
read functions (i.e. the same function, different "drive number"). The
action is very simple. BIOS is called to read a sector, then a
different BIOS call is done to copy the resulting data up into high
memory; repeat. If it hangs, one of those function calls must be
failing in an odd manner.
From what you've already tried, the next thing I would want to try is do
exactly the same things on a different D865PERL motherboard (with
different CPU & RAM -- all components different) -- to see if it's a
generic problem with OSR5 vs. that motherboard. Of course you probably
only have one unit, so you can't do that. I guess my next attempt would
be: try booting removing all hardware not needed to boot the floppy,
then try booting one of the floppies that hangs. That is, primarly,
remove the ad160 hardware. If the kernel loads then you can tell
there's something going on between /boot and the ad160 BIOS or hardware.
Of course the kernel won't do anything useful if it can't access the
disks; this is just a probe.
Regarding the detailed BIOS settings (SDRAM timing etc.) -- are those
default values assigned by the BIOS? Most BIOSes successfully
initialize themselves to conservative values that work consistently. If
those are tuned values, reset to BIOS defaults and see if things are any
better -- then if you need to tune, change one thing at a time until you
find the culprit, and don't change that!
I haven't seen a D865PERL yet. I'm using an i875P-based motherboard
(not Intel brand) without problems, and the 865 and 875 chipsets are
very closely related. That doesn't prove anything about your situation,
just that OSR5 isn't inherently allergic to that chipset family.
REPLY:
Thank you VERY, VERY, VERY much for your comments
and suggestion to take the ad160 out of the machine. There is
a problem with the D865PERL bios booting off SCO OSR504 and
SCO OSR505 boot diskettes. At boot, a brief access to
SCO's boot diskette is made and THEN control is passed on to
boot the next device in the boot sequence. A DOS 5.0 diskette can be
booted.
I am really embarrassed because I knew the BIOS was not
transferring control to the diskette yesterday and I even mentioned the
fact to the dealer from whom I purchased the motherboard and
told him how I had to get the diskette to boot: press "a" at the
Ranish Boot Manager (
www.ranish.com/part/) screen. So, in my
tests, the BIOS was transferring boot control to the next boot device
in the sequence -- the hard drive.
I know this is a direct contradiction to what I posted. Somehow the
crucial WAY I was booting from floppies totalling escaped my mind when
I was writing the original posting. Unbelievable except that I have been
troubleshooting a lot of electrical failures resulting from that lightning
hit
and so it is difficult to really concentrate on one thing. And I NEED MY
SCO OSR504 so I didn't want to wait to post.
I had also forgotten that from my research to figure out how to use Ranish
Boot manager to boot SCO OSR504, I could NOT use the "a" method
to boot OSR504. period.
But, please note that I WAS ABLE to boot SCO OSR505's boot
floppy to completion via pressing "a" at the Ranish boot manager.
I didn't have the SCO OSR505 machine in February when I did my
Ranish tests.
On a different note....
I wonder if this also means that SCO's OSR505 COULD be
booted from Ranish's Partition Manager!!!!! If it can, I will be
very, very appreciative because a SCO upgrade would save me a lot
of trouble I have been going through until now to boot SCO OSR504.
In Ranish boot manager, I can either choose to boot with the Ranish boot
manager or the "standard IPL". So, if the Ranish boot manager is the
boot manager, I either have to boot with SCO OSR504 boot/root floppies
and type in the bootstring (which is what I have been doing recently), or
I have to boot to the Ranish boot manager, make sure that SCO's boot
partition is active and set the boot manager to boot with the "standard
IPL". Then, I can reboot into SCO, but then the Ranish boot manager is
unavailable until I boot with a DOS diskette and run part243, to boot and
activate the Ranish boot manager again. And, then, I can run Solaris or
SBS until the next time I need to run SCO OSR504 without the boot/root
floppies. Then, the same boot manager change is needed. (It is too
complicated, I guess.)
