On Fri, 2009-05-01 at 03:28 -0800, TechKid PC wrote: > From: "Bill Maas" <b...@stsx.org> > Sent: Friday, May 01, 2009 1:22 AM > > > On Thu, 2009-04-30 at 21:58 -0800, TechKid PC wrote: > >> I finally have the necessary cables and am able to access the comBIOS via > >> a > >> USB->Serial->Null-Mode->Female-Gender-Changer adapter chain. > > > > With that you should have dealt with about 80% of standard possible > > trouble. > > I know its a pretty convoluted setup. :-P > But it is the *only* thing that worked as my laptop does not include a > serial port. > I am able to use the comBIOS without any problems, so it seems to be working > fine. > > > If the Soekris site doesn't state that MicroSD cards are supported, the > > odds are against you.. (this is a case of "non-standard possible > > trouble") > > That could very well be the case. The comBIOS however does see the card and > list it when I first turn it on with the proper size. > > Out of curiosity, do you know why some CF brands work better then others > when it comes to compabilitiy? > I could see if a manufacturer did not include support for a certain call or > function, but if the card is booting just fine off of a desktop via a > CF->IDE adapter how could it not work with a soekris box? (Asuming the disk > geometry is not the issue, which mention at the bottom of this message)
Initialization and timing issues which are well beyond my knowledge, but I've been following this list for a while;). Search for "soekris boot problem" and you'll find plenty of background info. In general, the assumption that if "stuff" works fine in one context it should also work in another (apparently) similar context doesn't seem to hold well if computer hardware (or software, for that matter) is involved. To answer your question properly: no, there doesn't seem to be a way to reset the comBIOS to factory defaults on a Soekris box. It wouldn't help much in the case of a "wrong" baud rate setting either, because the baud rate would still be a valid one (or else it would be rejected in the first place, I assume) and the problem could therefore be delegated to the terminal configuration. I don't see how one could mess up the comBIOS settings in such a way that it would no longer be accessible. Unless that ConLock option does something funny with the UART. Bill > >> On a second note, I dont see any way to "hard reset" the bios settings > >> that > >> are changed via the set command. What recovery options are available if > >> one > >> sets an incorrect option in the combios and disables serial output (or > >> something similar) making it impossible to manage the device? There is no > >> removable battery and no reset jumper I can find. > > > > Section 2.5 of the Soekris net4801 manual, preliminary version 0.01;). > > I read that section in the manual, as well as the in the wiki under: > http://wiki.soekris.info/What_do_all_those_BIOS_settings_do > > They just list what the options are for, not how to reset any of them if you > are unable to see any output. > > > From: "686f6c6d" <686f6...@googlemail.com> > Sent: Friday, May 01, 2009 12:56 AM > > > I am no expert, but other than setting a unusual baudrate (which you > > would have to guess then to make it work again) I see no way to > > achieve such a mess-up. at least, I have not yet managed to do that. > > Ah ok that makes sense and could be an "answer" to my question about not > seeing a reset option for the bios. > If there are no settings that could be changed which could "lock" out the > user then a reset feature is not needed. > Ive seen many people overclock a cpu/ram, set a password and forget it, etc. > in their destktop PC's bios and the only way to fix it is the reset jumper. > I was worried something similar could happen with the Soekris box. > > I assume that the conMute setting simply prevents output from being sent to > the serial port, but still accepts commands? > (Such as set ConMute=Disabled) > > > Im' not sure from your explanation if you did this installation on a > > PC or your Soekris. If it was on a PC, did you give fdisk (maybe > > before, maybe during install) the correct disk geometry values as > > described in http://wiki.soekris.info/What_is_this_disk_geometry_thing > > That could very well be the case. I didnt even think of checking the > geometry values. > Ill give it a try and if it does not work I will pickup a sandisk CF card. > > Thanks for the replies, > Tom > > _______________________________________________ > Soekris-tech mailing list > Soekris-tech@lists.soekris.com > http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech > _______________________________________________ Soekris-tech mailing list Soekris-tech@lists.soekris.com http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech
