[rescue] OpenBSD on Intel (actually)

[Curtis H. Wilbar Jr.]

>From: "Sheldon T. Hall" <shel at cmhcsys.com>
>To: "The Rescue List" <rescue at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: RE: [rescue] OpenBSD on Intel (actually)
>Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 12:38:18 -0400
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>
>So ... sometimes it boots, sometimes it doesn't.  It boots if I leave it off
>for a while, like overnight, but not if it's been on already.
>
>When it hangs, it hangs right after "ne3", but when it boots, there _is_no_
>"ne3" if I "find ne" in config.  There is, however, an /etc/hostname.ne3
>file ... and when it boots, it runs fine.
>
>ne0 is reported to be on irq 9 if I "find ne" in config
>ne1 is reported to be on irq 10 if I "find ne" in config
>ne2 is reported to be on irq 9 if I "find ne" in config
>ne3 is reported to be on irq 15 when it hangs during the boot process, and
>doesn't show up in "find ne" if the machine boots.

Isn't IRQ 15 one of the IDE channel IRQs ???  Might explain the hang... ?
If your not useing IDE, disable the onboard IDE controller... (although
that is not the right solution, but maybe it will help)

>
>There's only one actual NIC in the machine, a "LINKSYS EtherPCI LAN card
>II".  When it hangs after the "ne3" line, "ne3" claims to be something like
>"LinkSys Winbond" ... and the LinkSys does have a Winbond chip on it.
>
>The irqs actually in use are the regular PC set, plus 5 for the soundcard,
>11 for the SCSI controller, and whatever the NIC uses.  An old MS-DOS tool
>indicates that something is on irq 9, and I expect that's the NIC.
>
>Question #1:  If I have one NIC, how many "ne" devices should I have in
>"find ne"?  Are the names significant?

you should have one.. I'd imagine ne0

>
>Question #2:  Does OpenBSD put the stuff on the screen _before_ it probes
>for the device, or afterwards?

hmmm.. I'm not sure myself... maybe someone else here knows... I'm not
running an OpenBSD box that I can tinker with right now...

>
>If it puts it on the screen before, then "ne3" would seem to be the problem.
>If, however, it puts it on the screen only after it probes and finds
>something, then whatever-is-after-"ne3" would be it, right?

not necessarily... lets say it thinks it detects an ethernet card on the
same IRQ as your hard disk... it might display the detect, the probe may
leave your hard disk subsystem hosed, and it hangs when it goes to run
the next program that the startup script runs... the system can't run it
because it can't read it from teh disk subsystem...

>
>Question #3:  If OpenBSD probes first, then displays after probing, how do I
>fingure out what it's looking for after "ne3", i.e. the thing it's actually
>hanging on.  Is the order of things at boot time the same as the order of
>things in "UKC" or "config -ef"?
>
>FWIW, I've done the "boot -c" trick and disabled "pcibios" ... still hangs.
>
>Clues solicited.

Wish I had more insight... but the fact that the box sees more than one
ethernet controller is where I'd start looking.  

I'd make sure you have plug and play OS turned off in the BIOS (this will
make the BIOS do any plug and play resource assignment).  If you have an
option in your bios to reset the "remembered" plug and play data (can't
recall what this was called), change that to yes and reboot.. .maybe that
data is hosed).

Find out what IRQ the card is really running at... if it is PCI, try another
PCI slot.  If your BIOS lets you assign interrupts for devices in a particular
PCI slot, set it to a known free IRQ....


>
>Thanks.
>
>-Shel
>_______________________________________________
>rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue

Good luck,

  -- Curt