[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> Tim Parker wrote:
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > >
> > > Simen Thoresen wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Hi!
> > > >
> > [snip background]
> > > >
> > > > The symptom. When no devices are attached to either 7890, the box boots
> > > > nicely from a Slackware 4.0.0 install floppy. No disks are available tho.
> > > >
> > > > When /any/ disk is attached to either aic7890, the box crashes totally
> > > > while initializing the kernel (right after the PIIX4 not supported
> > > > message). The boot disk uses kernel v 2.2.5, compiled with aic78xx support
> > > > (non smp).
> > > >
> > > > The crash is total - no aiee. no panic. Just a black screen. I need to do a
> > > > hard poweroff on the powersupply to turn the power off.
> > > >
> > > > When no devices are attached, both 7890 are detected and initialized
> > > > without comments.
> > [snippity snip]
> > > > Any comments?
> > >
> > > This is an FAQ by now. Use the option aic7xxx=no_probe when booting the
> > > machine if the aic7xxx driver is compiled directly into the kernel or if
> > > trying to do an install then make sure the aic7xxx driver is loaded with the
> > > option aic7xxx=no_probe specified on the module insertion command line, aka
> > > "insmod aic7xxx aic7xxx=no_probe".
> > >
> >
> > ..I wish it was. By happy accident I was searching for (and not finding
> > yet..)
> > reasons why the install I was trying on a Tyan 1696DLUA kept screwing up
> > when
> > the boot check got the drive(s) on the aic7895 [status read errors
> > mainly, and
> > then hanging completely], when this mail came through. Thanks for the
> > reply
> > Doug - i'll try it this evening.
>
> The option above shouldn't affect your motherboard. It is specific to the
> Dell PowerEdge 6300 motherboards (and other machines that use the SC450NX
> chipset, which is the Quad Xeon chipset). All it does is disable the probes
> for the EISA/VLB aic7xxx controllers since the process of writing to/reading
> from the card signature I/O locations causes the SC450NX chipset some
> problems.
oh OK... jumped in a bit quick there
> You system is more likely to need a BIOS update from Tyan. Check
> their web site. I think your motherboard needs *at least* version 1.17 of the
> motherboard BIOS in order to work properly.
>
Yep, needed one anyway to get it to recognise the Celeron 366 correctly
-
flashed it last night, all seemed to go OK h/w wise - but now the SuSE
6.0 install barfs after scanning the IDE channels. Putting in a CD-ROM
and booting from that gets you to scanning and printing the CD model
and then it too, goes belly up. This is a spontaneous reboot - nothing
visible on the screen - warnings or errors. Looking at this later.
> > Everything else looks OK from a h/w
> > side,
> > 2 x Celeron 366/128 on PC100 slockets (boots up fine) - although one
> > thing
> > spooked : when the kernel reports the bogomips, I get around 2.75. This
> > was at
> > the end of the (long) evening so I put it down as something to do
> > tonight.
> > I'm presuming this is just a spurious cache enable problem and will
> > troll
> > through the BIOS and docs again later - unless i'm going into complete
> > no-brain mode and anyone has any comments.
>
> Hmmm...did you modify the Celeron processors? I assume you did becuase they
> don't tend to do SMP at all without modifications on the chip. In any case,
> the MTRR code in the kernel should solve your bogomips discrepancy. That's
> another BIOS bug (the BIOS isn't initializing the second processor
> completely).
>
No modification on the Celerons. The PC100 slockets are dual speed/dual
boot like the MicroStar 6905 v1.1's. Got them as I saw several NT
servers
up and running with them on and watched one boot up to check it was all
OK
- and they were half the price of one MSI board for a pair, so thought
i'd
see how they went and could report on them either way back to relevent
groups. Had a quick look at the MTRR related docs and i'll build a boot
kernel tonight, however the bogomips is down even when I put in a single
300A Celeron which I thought was bizarre... more fun and games later
If anyone on the list has put a distribution on this m/b i'd love to
hear
any reports, problems or distribution type specifics.
thanks
Tim
--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Tim Parker Zuken-Redac,
Leading Software Engineer 1500 Aztec West,
Tel.no : (44) 1454 207800 ext 8710 Almondsbury,
Fax.no : (44) 1454 207803 Bristol,
E-Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] BS32 4RF. U.K.
"Any opinions are mine, and mine alone. They do not reflect
reality let alone this company"
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