1 |
Hello everyone, |
2 |
|
3 |
I have a hardware-related question for you guys and gals today. I want |
4 |
to install a new HDD in my Alpha XL-366 (XLT system type, |
5 |
AlphaBIOS-only, so I'm stuck with MILO...). Now, the first problem is |
6 |
that I can't run it off the onboard sym53c810 SCSI controller, because |
7 |
(as I understand it) it is a Wide SCSI-2 device, and the sym53c810 only |
8 |
supports Fast SCSI-2, and the problem is that the kernel driver tries to |
9 |
set the controller to Wide which causes errors to be continuously |
10 |
printed to the console. |
11 |
|
12 |
(See |
13 |
http://www.mail-archive.com/debian-alpha@××××××××××××.org/msg22571.html |
14 |
for a description of the exact same problem. That person solved it by |
15 |
patching the kernel driver to turn off Wide mode, which is a bit drastic |
16 |
and I don't want to do it each time I build my kernel...) |
17 |
|
18 |
So what I'm trying now is to run the drive off an Adaptec AHA2940AU |
19 |
controller I had in another unused machine. The controller and drive are |
20 |
detected on bootup, I see them in the BIOS, so all seems peachy. But |
21 |
when MILO starts up and tries to detect the machine's devices (after |
22 |
typing in a "boot" command, or when doing an "ls" for example), it hangs |
23 |
right after detecting the Adaptec controller. |
24 |
|
25 |
See https://www.redhat.com/archives/axp-list/2002-August/msg00185.html |
26 |
(first 1/3 of the message), where the same problem is described. |
27 |
|
28 |
First question is why does MILO 2.2-18 hang when loading the Adaptec |
29 |
driver? Is it a known bug with this hardware/software combination? |
30 |
|
31 |
That person says that downgrading to MILO 2.2-17 allowed him to boot. |
32 |
When I try that version, it hangs at "Swapping to PALcode at |
33 |
0x80080000". I even tried linload.exe version 1.3a and 1.5, both give |
34 |
the same problem. How do I get MILO 2.2-17 to boot? |
35 |
|
36 |
Of course, if someone could tell me how to disable Wide mode in my |
37 |
2.6.11.8 kernel's sym53c8xx driver without having to hack the code at |
38 |
each kernel upgrade, that would (probably) solve the root problem and |
39 |
eliminate the need for the Adaptec controller. I saw that passing |
40 |
'sym53c8xx="wide:0"' to the kernel in the boot command would do the |
41 |
trick, if the sym53c8xx driver were built as a module. But the |
42 |
controller is needed to boot at all, so I have to compile it into the |
43 |
kernel or else the kernel starts but doesn't see the root device, and |
44 |
with the driver compiled into the kernel it doesn't check those |
45 |
arguments (argh). One solution could be to install an IDE controller |
46 |
with a small IDE drive to boot from, and then compile the sym53c8xx |
47 |
driver as a module, but I'd like to keep that as a last resort and try |
48 |
to make it work with what I have first. |
49 |
|
50 |
I anxiously await any suggestions. Thanks in advance, |
51 |
|
52 |
J-S |
53 |
<http://www.mail-archive.com/debian-alpha@××××××××××××.org/msg22571.html> |
54 |
|
55 |
-- |
56 |
___________________________________________ |
57 |
Jean-Sébastien Guay jean_seb@×××××××××.ca |
58 |
http://whitestar02.webhop.org/ |
59 |
|
60 |
|
61 |
|
62 |
-- |
63 |
gentoo-alpha@g.o mailing list |