My e-mail last night was long. Here is a succinct description of my problem
and a very specific question, with all details at the end for easy skipping.
I want to install Redhad 5.2 onto a Dell Inpiron 3200 w/ a TI 1131 PCMCIA
controller and Linksys PCMCIA 10BaseT/2 combo using the ftp install option.
There is a common problem with getting PCMCIA services to work with this
machine and a number of people have documented how they managed to get it to
work after linux was installed by some other installation method. See, eg:
http://members.tripod.com/jeffchiu/linux-i3200.html#modem
http://www.ps.uci.edu/~tomba/inspiron/#pcmcia
My problem appears to be the same problem, but occurring during the
installation process since I need to get PCMCIA services working to
do the ftp install. The problem appears to be the "interrupt scan failure"
problem described in section 3.3 of the PCMCIA HOWTO at:
http://hyper.stanford.edu/~dhinds/pcmcia/ftp/doc/PCMCIA-HOWTO-3.html
The solution is to modify the PCMCIA config file /etc/sysconfig/pcmcia to
restirct the irq scanning list from its default to just the irq that will
work. Some people also noted making changes to /etc/pcmcia/config.opts to add
exclude irq lines. My very specific question: How do I make these changes for
the boot + supplemental disk boot process?
The install hangs before the shell prompt is active on virtual console F2, so
I have to modify the disks before starting. I can't find the first file
anywhere. I found /etc/pcmcia/config.opts as part of the pcmcia.cgz archive
on the supplemental disk. I successfully modified it based on the
instructions at http://www.ps.uci.edu/~tomba/inspiron/pcmcia.txt to add
"exclude irq 3" and "exclude irq 10". This led to different problems.
Any help greatly appreciated. If I suceesfully manage to do this, I'll
publish the updated disks as well as the instructions for making the changes.
----- Symptom details -----
During the boot process it asks whether PCMCIA is needed. After saying yes it
asks for the supplemental disk and after that is loaded the main screen (F1)
hangs at the "Starting PCMCIA services..." message. This is a severe hang.
Can't switch to other virtual consoles or ctrl-alt-del.
Retrying, switching to the install log (F3) before the hang, last 2 lines:
* running: /bin/insmod /bin/insmod /modules/pcmcia_core.o
* running: /bin/insmod /bin/insmod /modules/i82365.o
Retrying, switching to the system log (F4) before the hang, last 4 lines:
<7>VFS: Disk change detected on device 02:00
<6>Linux PCMCIA Card Services 3.0.5
<6> kernel build: 2.0.36 unknown
<6> options: [pci] [cardbus]
It won't let me switch to console F2 or F5.
After patching the supplemental disk as described above, the main screen
gets to the choose installation media question. After selecting ftp I get
an empty blue screen and nothing else happens, but I can switch consoles.
F3 makes me think my patched pcmcia.cgz file failed some kind of checksum,
and the thing that was causing the hanging:
* cpio expansion failed on file lib, error -2147483643
* running: /bin/insmod /bin/insmod /modules/pcmcia_core.o
* insmod failed!
* running: /bin/insmod /bin/insmod /modules/i82365.o
* insmod failed!
* running: /bin/insmod /bin/insmod /modules/ds.o
* insmod failed!
* method selection completed
* state saved to /tmp
* error in exec of second stage loader :-(
* error:No such file or directory
F4 is the same as above minus the last 3 lines.
F5 says:
Cannot find archive member pcmcia_core.o.
Cannot find archive member i82365.o.
Cannot find archive member ds.o.
Can't switch to F2 (still no shell prompt).
The patched pcmcia.cgz file I made that is causing problems can be found at:
ftp://ftp-ksl.stanford.edu/pub/kpfleger/pcmcia.cgz
----- Bios settings -----
Plug and Play OS: no
Serial port: disabled (also tried enabled and auto
Parallel port: disabled for all 4 devices)
IR port: disabled
Sound: disabled
For other things I've tried, see my last, rather long, e-mail to the Linux on
Inspirons mailing list (my message will probably appear shortly at the html
archive for the list at http://nts.ml.org/inspiron/maillist.html).
I'll think about a hard-disk install next, but someone has to know how to
make these changes to the boot and supplemental disks, right?
-Karl
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Karl Pfleger [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.stanford.edu/~kpfleger/
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