Hi Erich,
I've sent this box back to the user. Not having all the hardware available that I did when I first built the boxes was a problem... specifically, no Linux laptop with PCMCIA. Finally pulled a Knoppix ISO and got an XP laptop going off the CD-ROM drive (note to anyone that cares, an Inspiron 1150 doesn't like the default Knoppix boot. Specifying the 2.6 kernel at boot solves that)!
What I did:
copied all the packages off the CF for safe keeping (had a copy from some months ago, but wasn't sure what changes might have been made along the way).
syslinux -s /dev/hde1
Put it back in the box. Booted to syslinux (with the BIOS set manually to what I *thought* was the closest settings) but not beyond... loading linux, loading init, then nothing.
Copied the packages and config file back onto the CF, overwriting what was there.
Back in the router. Boot was fine this time.
During the startup screens I see the CF detected by Linux as CHS 244/4/32 (16MB Lexar). I was set manually to 251/2/32 which works for the 8MB version of this card. The image on the 16 was dd'd from an 8MB image, so this might (?) be why it worked... If I'm honest, I'll 'fess up and admit I forgot to reset the CHS after messing with an 8MB card! ;-)
Manually changed the BIOS to 244/4/32 and rebooted several times. No issues that I can see.
Now, when the BIOS autodetected the card originally, it came up with Pre =-1, LZ=244. These parameters are blank when manually configured. Do they make any difference to the CF?
Oh yeah, I also put the whole mess into a duplicate machine (same model) to test the power supply theory. New CF adapter too.
Thanks to all who made suggestions!
Brock
Erich Titl wrote:
Brock
Brock Nanson wrote:
Hi Erich,
Well, there isn't much I can tell you. The box in question resides 8 hours away. It worked for approximately 6 months, then I got the call from that office to tell me it wouldn't boot. They sent the CF back to me and I poked around it a little. Not much to see, it simply wouldn't boot. So I assumed a bad CF, rebuilt their system on a new card and sent it back to them. They plugged the new card into the box and it has worked properly since mid-May, failing just before Christmas. Same symptoms. This time I had them send the whole box back to me. I don't see anything wrong with the box. However, as this happens so rarely, it could really be anything. Flakey power supply, two bad CF's in a row (possible if not very likely)
I had symptoms like that on BiWin CF's. I have a number of those deployed and I usually check them by writing the entire CF. If they report a problem back they go...
It might be the CF adapter, yu did not change that one did you?
IO at boot is conrtolled by BIOS, not a linux driver, so this may be a difference too.
, maybe even an unwelcome visitor... who knows.
Possible, or else having the CF mounted at a full back up? you could write an md5sum of the contents and check regularly.
When it takes 6 or 7 months to repeat the failure, it's difficult to efficiently trouble shoot this problem. ;-)
Unfortunately, the symptoms aren't much to go on! It worked one day, but not the next! I'm going to use a twin machine to replace this one, with a new (same model PC-Engines adapter board - type 1C) CF adapter and CF card. If this one fails later this year I'll be back where I started... pretty much nowhere.
I just don't understand what could wipe the boot area twice in a row, but leave the rest of the card untouched... power spikes, flakey IDE cable, nothing really adds up to this result. My only idea revolves around the possibility that the BIOS is not auto-detecting the card properly. I've talked to Lexar,
OK so you are using Lexar, better than BiWin IMHO.
Good Luck
Erich
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