[rescue] Dead Cyclades Alterpath ACS16

[Michael Dombrowski]

 Doing a lot of replying to my own posts... 
I figured this one out. I was able to download a replacement firmware from Vertiv:ACS Classic Advanced Console Server Software Downloads
My CF reader came in and I imaged the file that was on there. I simply tried writing the new firmware, but not dice. 
Some poking around with a hex editor and I realized some byte swapping was needed:

hexdump -v -e '1/2 "%04x"' -e '"\n"' FL0536-017.bin | xxd -r -p > test1.img
I was able to dd the resulting file to the CF card and linux booted right up. I was unable to log in, but realized I may need hardware flow control. A few minutes later, I had a new serial cable and was able to log in! It felt good to bring this system back from the dead. I likely could have used the recovery procedure below had my serial cable been functioning from the get go, but c'est la vie. 


[root at CAS root]# uname -a
Linux CAS 2.6.22 #1 Thu Oct 9 07:42:42 PDT 2014 ppc unknown
[root at CAS root]# 



mike





    On Friday, November 24, 2023 at 08:41:55 AM CST, Michael Dombrowski via rescue <rescue at sunhelp.org> wrote:  
 
 I snagged a Cyclades Alterpath ACS16 for cheap off ebay... On first boot, I got a self-test screen, but since then, I am just locked into a boot loop, and the self-test screen does not reappear. The following message loops endlessly:
loaded at:     00002120 00E8D45C
relocated to:  00400020 0128B35C
board data at: 01289120 0128935C
relocated to:  00405240 0040547C
zimage at:     00406444 00546863
initrd at:     00547000 012883D0
avail ram:     0128C000 08000000

Linux/PPC load: root=/dev/ram rw
Uncompressing Linux...done.

I found what looks to be a flash recovery process, but it requires getting that self-test process to reappear:
https://theregime.wordpress.com/2008/03/24/avocent-acs-repair/
Anyone know how to coax these machines back into functioning? I removed the dead NVRAM battery just to see if that could coax it back into functioning, but no dice. There is onboard flash, as well as a CF card. If I pull the CF card, I get no output at all from the serial console, so I wonder if the onboard flash is just the bootloader to load from the compactflash, which brings me to my second question: anyone have one of these and the ability to image the compactflash card?
thanksmike

My first boot:

Booting from Original Boot 2.0.7 (Apr/21/04)
Cyclades Corporation

Testing RAM .............................. SKIPPED
Memory detected: 131072 Kbytes
Testing FLASH ............................ OK
Flash detected: 256 Kbytes
Testing Flash [Configuration] ............ OK
Storage Device Detected .................. OK
IDE HD SMC128BFD6E
Size: 128 Mbytes
Testing Storage Device [Op Code] ......... SKIPPED
Interface Cards Detected ................. OK
16-UART ports detected
PCMCIA Support Detected .................. OK
Power Supply Capability .................. SINGLE
Testing Ethernet ......................... NOK
Testing Real Time Clock .................. NOK
Testing Serial Number..................... OK
ID is 5159001100004F
Hardware boot.

Entry Point = 0x00002120

loaded at: 00002120 00E8D45C
relocated to: 00400020 0128B35C
board data at: 01289120 0128935C
relocated to: 00405240 0040547C
zimage at: 00406444 00546863
initrd at: 00547000 012883D0
avail ram: 0128C000 08000000

Linux/PPC load: root=/dev/ram rw
Uncompressing Linux...done.


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