AlphaStation 500 MILO problems + Voodoo questions
Hi, I successfully installed debian woody on my AlphaStation AS500/500 in the past using the SRM console and using the ATI MACH64 clone which was installed when I bought it. It was running fine, until the harddisk was facing it's end ... Well, the ATI graphics card was running under linux/xfree before, but since I had to open the AlphaStation anyway to replace the harddisk, I replaced the graphics card with a better one (Voodoo 3 3000). I managed to install linux (again, again SRM console), but it's not being initialized by Xfree (nor SRM), although XFree86 is set up correctly and seems to run fine (except I don't see anything). Also, the tdfxfb Framebuffer load fine, but isn't able to produce any display. However when I switch to ARC, the Voodoo gets initialized and I can use it without problems! Since I just did a minimum Linux installation, I thought I might aswell reinstall Linux again, this time using ARC MILO (instead of SRM and aboot), since this approach seems more promising to me to get a working grahpics card under Linux. Well, AFAIK there is no easy way to switch from a SRM installed Linux to one using ARC (FAT partition vs. BSD disklabel on SRM) The AS500 (Codename Bret) is IIRC pretty close to a 'Alcor' (AS600), so I chose this MILO image. Unfortunately it stops when trying to run MILO (at 'Swapping to PALcode at 0x0'), so I tried other images, with the same result. Well, at least the MILO for pc164 showed some more success (MILO stops, at the prompt I try to boot Linux from the CDROM, but stops with SCSI timeouts), and the xlt is also promising (similar to the pc164 expericence, but stops when trying to spinning up the SCSI harddisk, although the HD automatically spins up when getting power). Any clues how to install Debian using ARC on a AS500 or (even better) any clue how to get the Voodoo running when using SRM? And a second thing: does anybody know where to get the EISA Configuration Disk (since you can't get them on the internet anymore due to legal reasons)? My sound doesn't work and I tried some settings people here said that might work, but unfortunately they didn't. Greetings, max
Re: AlphaStation 500 MILO problems + Voodoo questions
On Mon, Apr 28, 2003 at 03:12:49PM +0100, M. Grabert wrote: I successfully installed debian woody on my AlphaStation AS500/500 in the past using the SRM console and using the ATI MACH64 clone which was installed when I bought it. It was running fine, until the harddisk was facing it's end ... Well, the ATI graphics card was running under linux/xfree before, but since I had to open the AlphaStation anyway to replace the harddisk, I replaced the graphics card with a better one (Voodoo 3 3000). I managed to install linux (again, again SRM console), but it's not being initialized by Xfree (nor SRM), although XFree86 is set up correctly and seems to run fine (except I don't see anything). Also, the tdfxfb Framebuffer load fine, but isn't able to produce any display. Did you update the SRM console to the latest available at: http://ftp.digital.com/pub/digital/Alpha/firmware If not, it's possible that the latest SRM contains a BIOS emulator that will work with the Voodoo3 3000. The AS500 (Codename Bret) is IIRC pretty close to a 'Alcor' (AS600), so I chose this MILO image. Unfortunately it stops when trying to run MILO (at 'Swapping to PALcode at 0x0'), so I tried other images, with the same result. Well, at least the MILO for pc164 showed some more success (MILO stops, at the prompt I try to boot Linux from the CDROM, but stops with SCSI timeouts), and the xlt is also promising (similar to the pc164 expericence, but stops when trying to spinning up the SCSI harddisk, although the HD automatically spins up when getting power). Any clues how to install Debian using ARC on a AS500 or (even better) any clue how to get the Voodoo running when using SRM? You should have the best luck with an XLT MILO, as the BRET and XLT are extremely close, architecture-wise. If there is a CDROM attached to the SCSI bus as well as the HD, try disconnecting the CDROM before powering up and booting MILO. I know that's not the best long term solution, but if you get it to see the HD, you have made some progress... And a second thing: does anybody know where to get the EISA Configuration Disk (since you can't get them on the internet anymore due to legal reasons)? My sound doesn't work and I tried some settings people here said that might work, but unfortunately they didn't. The sound should work, it does on mine. It's a Windows Sound System clone, so working values are: IO=0x530, IRQ=9, DMA=1, DMA2=0. Good luck. --Jay++ - Jay A EstabrookHPTC - LINUX support Hewlett-Packard Company - MRO1-2/K15 (508) 467-2080 200 Forest Street, Marlboro MA 01752 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -
Re: AlphaStation 500 MILO problems + Voodoo questions
On Mon, 28 Apr 2003, Jay Estabrook wrote: I managed to install linux (again, again SRM console), but it's not being initialized by Xfree (nor SRM), although XFree86 is set up correctly and seems to run fine (except I don't see anything). Also, the tdfxfb Framebuffer load fine, but isn't able to produce any display. BTW, I tried serial console and 'set console graphics' - in the latter configuration I can't see anything, so I login remotely. The result is the same - black screen on CRT or LCD - no 'out of sync' message nor 'no signal' or 'not connected', just a black screen/no change. Did you update the SRM console to the latest available at: http://ftp.digital.com/pub/digital/Alpha/firmware Yes, I did upgrade before I installed Linux. Later I realized that the firmware was actually uptodate already. If not, it's possible that the latest SRM contains a BIOS emulator that will work with the Voodoo3 3000. Unfortunately not :-( The AS500 (Codename Bret) is IIRC pretty close to a 'Alcor' (AS600), so I chose this MILO image. Unfortunately it stops when trying to run MILO (at 'Swapping to PALcode at 0x0'), so I tried other images, with the same result. Well, at least the MILO for pc164 showed some more success (MILO stops, at the prompt I try to boot Linux from the CDROM, but stops with SCSI timeouts), and the xlt is also promising (similar to the pc164 expericence, but stops when trying to spinning up the SCSI harddisk, although the HD automatically spins up when getting power). Again, using 'set console serial' and 'set console grahpics' just to get sure. So MILO is only booted correctly - and displayed on the monitor - when using pc164 or xlt, but it can't boot Linux from there ... Any clues how to install Debian using ARC on a AS500 or (even better) any clue how to get the Voodoo running when using SRM? I tried 'set PCI_PARITY on' and 'off', tried changing the card to 64bit or changing it any other 32bit slot, tried Int10 and NoInt10, tried with DRI (using tdfx kernel module) and without, tried the tdfxfb framebuffer kernel module just a black screen, and never an error message! You should have the best luck with an XLT MILO, as the BRET and XLT are extremely close, architecture-wise. If there is a CDROM attached to the SCSI bus as well as the HD, try disconnecting the CDROM before powering up and booting MILO. I know that's not the best long term solution, but if you get it to see the HD, you have made some progress... The SCSI hd and cdrom are detected, but it tries to spin it up immeadately afterwards ... andseems to stop then. And a second thing: does anybody know where to get the EISA Configuration Disk (since you can't get them on the internet anymore due to legal reasons)? My sound doesn't work and I tried some settings people here said that might work, but unfortunately they didn't. The sound should work, it does on mine. It's a Windows Sound System clone, so working values are: IO=0x530, IRQ=9, DMA=1, DMA2=0. Thanks! BTW, I tried a vanilla linux-2.4.20 with pre5-patch applied (both from kernel org), but it seems that netfilter/iptables doesn't work (iptables claims that either the netfilter support is not compiled in (but it is!), or that iptables is too old (well, it's shipped with woody, and on other architectures it works - at least I think it's the same version on all architectures on woody). Any clues? greetings from Ireland, Max
Re: AlphaStation 500 MILO problems + Voodoo questions
On Mon, Apr 28, 2003 at 12:47:51PM -0400, Jay Estabrook wrote: Did you update the SRM console to the latest available at: http://ftp.digital.com/pub/digital/Alpha/firmware If not, it's possible that the latest SRM contains a BIOS emulator that will work with the Voodoo3 3000. I've had the chance to try a couple of things with my AS500/500, which IIRC is running the latest SRM (7.2?). Neither an ATI Rage 128 nor a 3DFx Voodoo Banshee (precursor to Voodoo3 cards) would successfully complete BIOS emulation, resulting in black screen. So, I'm not real surprised that the latest SRM will not run a Voodoo3 3000... :-\ Best card I have that DOES run in there is a 3DLabs PCI VX1 with 32MB of memory. Good luck. --Jay++ - Jay A EstabrookHPTC - LINUX support Hewlett-Packard Company - MRO1-2/K15 (508) 467-2080 200 Forest Street, Marlboro MA 01752 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -
Re: AlphaStation 500 MILO problems + Voodoo questions
On Mon, Apr 28, 2003 at 06:39:26PM +0100, M. Grabert wrote: BTW, I tried serial console and 'set console graphics' - in the latter configuration I can't see anything, so I login remotely. The result is the same - black screen on CRT or LCD - no 'out of sync' message nor 'no signal' or 'not connected', just a black screen/no change. That's what one gets when the BIOS emulator in the console fails. The SCSI hd and cdrom are detected, but it tries to spin it up immediately afterwards ... and seems to stop then. My symptoms were a stream of SCSI error messages related to the CDROM (unit 6), but not the HD. When I disconnected the CDROM, the HD was recognized and MILO was usable to boot from, which I proceeded to do. I believe that the problem is in the QLogic driver used in the MILO; if possible, work around it by isolating the CDROM on it's own SCSI bus, using another SCSI controller, say QLogic or NCR. Finally, I had the following success running X from the XLT MILO: 1. Voodoo Banshee 2. ATI Rage 128 3. ATI Radeon 7500 All the above not only ran X, but ran 3D apps as well!!! :-) :-) I assume that the Voodoo3 3000 should also work in this environment. NOTE: this testing was done under our RH 7.2 for Alpha plus a number of updates, including kernel (to 2.4.18+), but the XFree86 was pretty much the original RH 7.2 version (4.1.0+). Good luck. --Jay++ - Jay A EstabrookHPTC - LINUX support Hewlett-Packard Company - MRO1-2/K15 (508) 467-2080 200 Forest Street, Marlboro MA 01752 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -
Re: AlphaStation 500 MILO problems + Voodoo questions
Jay Estabrook [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Finally, I had the following success running X from the XLT MILO: 3. ATI Radeon 7500 Did you try that one with the digital output? I briefly tried the digital output on an AGP Radeon 7500 in an UP1500, but X 4.2.1 said: (II) RADEON(0): No legacy BIOS found -- trying PCI (EE) RADEON(0): Cannot read V_BIOS (5) (WW) RADEON(0): Restoring MEM_CNTL (), setting to 2e002e01 (WW) RADEON(0): Restoring CONFIG_MEMSIZE (0800), setting to 0800 (--) RADEON(0): Chipset: ATI Radeon 7500 QW (AGP) (ChipID = 0x5157) (--) RADEON(0): Linear framebuffer at 0xe000 (--) RADEON(0): MMIO registers at 0xd800 (--) RADEON(0): BIOS at 0xf000 (--) RADEON(0): VideoRAM: 131072 kByte (64-bit DDR SDRAM) (WW) RADEON(0): Video BIOS not detected in PCI space! (WW) RADEON(0): Attempting to read Video BIOS from legacy ISA space! (WW) RADEON(0): Video BIOS not found! (II) RADEON(0): initializing int10 (II) RADEON(0): No legacy BIOS found -- trying PCI (EE) RADEON(0): Cannot read V_BIOS (5) (WW) RADEON(0): Video BIOS not detected, using default PLL parameters! (II) RADEON(0): PLL parameters: rf=2700 rd=67 min=12500 max=35000; xclk=16615 (==) RADEON(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0) (WW) RADEON(0): Mode 1280x1024 is out of range. Valid mode should be between 640x480-0x0 (WW) RADEON(0): Mode 640x480 is out of range. Valid mode should be between 640x480-0x0 (EE) RADEON(0): No valid mode found for this DFP/LCD Analog works fine if I add Option CrtScreen... -- Falk
