Re: [gentoo-amd64] initio seen, mt -f doesn't work

[Brett Johnson]

On Sun, Dec 11, 2005 at 10:32:20AM +0000, Gavin Seddon wrote:
> Hi,
> When I modprobe initio I get the single word 'killed' at which the whole
> system freezes and I have to switch off at the box.  Do I need to modify
> the kernel?
> Thanks.
>
What model initio board do you have? There are two
different initio drivers, and the one called "initio" is for the 9100
series chipset. It's possible loading the wrong chipset could lock up
the pc, or at least the console. When the console locks up, I like to go
to a different terminal (pc) and see if I can ping the frozen pc. If so,
then try to ssh in (assuming ssh is running) and see if I can shut it
down remotely.

All you should need configure in the kernel is:
 CONFIG_SCSI: SCSI device support
 CONFIG_CHR_DEV_ST: SCSI tape support

And depending of the controller chipset, either:
 CONFIG_SCSI_INITIO: Initio 9100U(W) support
 CONFIG_SCSI_INIA100: Initio INI-A100U2W support

This assumes you don't have an Onstream tape drive of a multi slot tape
drive. If so, there are a few extra drivers needed, but that's not the
issue you are having at this time.

If the tape drive is external, you can try and shut off the drive before 
you boot the PC and then see if you can get the module to load. It's 
possible that there is something wrong with the SCSI bus (bad tape drive,
improper termination) that is causing the driver to hang the system. You 
should also confirm you have proper termination on the SCSI bus.

Also, you can refer to: http://www.initio.com/support/download.htm#pc.
It appears the inito driver in the kernel supports most of their boards,
but if you have a really old board (INI-9100/9100W), you may need to
download a seperate driver. There is also a link to flash the bios, but I
would only try that as a last resort.

Brett
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