Hello! I am playing with a new net5501-70 until the hard disk drive mounting kit arrives (currently backordered from kd85, but not available yet).
This machine has the latest comBIOS release on it: comBIOS ver. 1.32i 20071005 Copyright (C) 2000-2007 Soekris Engineering. net5501 0512 Mbyte Memory CPU Geode LX 500 MHz Pri Mas SanDisk SDCFB-4096 LBA Xlt 995-128-63 4013 Mbyte Slot Vend Dev ClassRev Cmd Stat CL LT HT Base1 Base2 Int ------------------------------------------------------------------- 0:01:2 1022 2082 10100000 0006 0220 08 00 00 A0000000 00000000 10 0:06:0 1106 3053 02000096 0117 0210 08 40 00 0000E101 A0004000 11 0:07:0 1106 3053 02000096 0117 0210 08 40 00 0000E201 A0004100 05 0:08:0 1106 3053 02000096 0117 0210 08 40 00 0000E301 A0004200 09 0:09:0 1106 3053 02000096 0117 0210 08 40 00 0000E401 A0004300 12 0:14:0 104C AC23 06040002 0107 0210 08 40 01 00000000 00000000 0:20:0 1022 2090 06010003 0009 02A0 08 40 80 00006001 00006101 0:20:2 1022 209A 01018001 0005 02A0 08 00 00 00000000 00000000 0:21:0 1022 2094 0C031002 0006 0230 08 00 80 A0005000 00000000 15 0:21:1 1022 2095 0C032002 0006 0230 08 00 00 A0006000 00000000 15 1:00:0 100B 0020 02000000 0107 0290 00 40 00 0000D001 A4000000 10 1:01:0 100B 0020 02000000 0107 0290 00 40 00 0000D101 A4001000 07 1:02:0 100B 0020 02000000 0107 0290 00 40 00 0000D201 A4002000 10 1:03:0 100B 0020 02000000 0107 0290 00 40 00 0000D301 A4003000 07 and mostly default comBIOS settings: > show ConSpeed = 9600 ConLock = Enabled ConMute = Disabled BIOSentry = Enabled PCIROMS = Enabled PXEBoot = Enabled FLASH = Primary BootDelay = 5 FastBoot = Disabled BootPartition = Disabled BootDrive = 80 81 F0 FF ShowPCI = Enabled Reset = Hard (well, the serial console baud rate has been changed to 9600, I think it is the only difference to the default settings.) As noted above, I am currently playing with this nice computer until the disk drive mounting kit arrives (PXE booting it, installing the OS on the CF card, looking at the comBIOS and PCI devices settings, and so on). On my tests, I found myself removing the operating system from the CF card sometimes and booting the computer without an operating system available. The problem comes here: if Ctrl-P is not pressed in five seconds the net5501-70 hangs; so, we must be fast pressing these keys to enter monitor! Of course, failing to press Ctrl-P in five seconds can be serious if the computer is far away and we have access to it through a serial port console server. Would it be possible entering monitor instead of hanging the computer if there is no operating system available? This way, we can try to PXE boot it or swapping the HDD and CF between master and slave before rebooting the computer. >From the BootDrive BIOS system parameter setting (i.e., "80 81 F0 FF") I understand that it will try to boot from the master drive, slave drive, network (PXE), in that order, and entering monitor if all it fails. However, it does not try PXE, i.e. we would expect: Intel UNDI, PXE-2.0 (build 082) Copyright (C) 1997,1998,1999 Intel Corporation VIA Rhine III Management Adapter v2.43 (2005/12/15) PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel PXE ROM. No Boot device available, enter monitor. comBIOS Monitor. Press ? for help. > (I have stopped the tftp server on my network to show what we would expect in case there is no way to find a way to boot this computer either from an internal drive or the network itself.) In fact, I think that it does not try even PXE booting if there is not an operating system installed on the CF. We must press Ctrl-P in less than five seconds and type "boot f0" for a PXE boot. I had the computer waiting for a long time, just in case the delay is consequence of trying to detect a slave drive. It seems that it will not continue looking for a way to boot it if the primary device (to be more precise, the only internal drive it has right now) is not bootable. Would it be possible fixing the comBIOS to honor the BootDrive settings (at least when there is no a drive in the boot sequence, like it happens with the device 81 right now)? Thanks! Igor. _______________________________________________ Soekris-tech mailing list [email protected] http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech
