Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:35:22 -0700 (PDT) From: Richard Mahlerwein <mahlerrd@yahoo.com> To: freebsd-proliant@freebsd.org Subject: Re: ML370 (G1), boot options Message-ID: <282583.95073.qm@web51011.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
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Please ignore cruft at the end - I apparently forgot to finish deleting my = first draft of this message.=A0 Boy, do I hope it doesn't outright contradi= ct anything in my "real" message. :) Rich Mahlerwein mahlerrd@yahoo.com Mobile: 715-891-7420 --- On Mon, 7/28/08, Richard Mahlerwein <mahlerrd@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Richard Mahlerwein <mahlerrd@yahoo.com> Subject: ML370 (G1), boot options To: freebsd-proliant@freebsd.org Date: Monday, July 28, 2008, 3:21 PM Hi, all.=A0 I've searched the archives as best I can, and also consulted th= e Great Oracle of Google, but seem to be getting nowhere in a little projec= t I'm doing. I know it's not always good form to include more than one problem in a post= , so I apologize in advance, but since answering one of the three questions= may mean the other two no longer need an answer, I feel it's appropriate i= n this case. I recently retrieved a ML370 G1 off the to-be-recycled heap here at work.= =A0 It'll replace my aging 550 MHz PIII single-processor PC I've had presse= d into "server" duty for ages.=A0 The ML370 is in fine physical order and i= s a Dual PIII 866 with a Smart Array 3200 in it, 2x 36 GB drives and 4x 18 = GB.=A0 I have downloaded and used a SmartStart 5.5 CD to verify all seems w= ell and to reconfigure the RAID to my needs. Issue 1: During my first attempt at installing FreeBSD 7.0, I found I couldn't boot from the = CD.=A0 No problem, I thought, I'll just create the floppies and do a net in= stall from there - I was sure it was just a Old CD Drive + Burnt CD =3D no = booting. I created boot.flp and kern.flp figuring if I needed more floppies= out of the set I'll keep overwriting those two.=A0 (I'm slowly running out= of good floppies!) =A0 I wasn't paying that close of attention, but I real= ized about mid-way through the install the system never asked me for the ke= rnel floppy.=A0 I was a bit puzzled, but figured maybe the boot floppy saw = the CD and passed control to it... Q1: Does anyone know what likely happened there?=A0 I *DID* at least start = the boot from the floppy, I remember seeing that little piece, but afterwar= ds, it was magic...=A0 Will the boot floppy hand off to the CD if/when it s= ees it? Issue 2: The install went fine, the only real issue is in the obnoxiously loud and bothersome fan noise.=A0 Options don't seem to be in = the BIOS (?!?) but I found the FreeBSD Tools for ProLiant page (http://peop= le.freebsd.org/~jcagle/) and thought "Perfect!"=A0 I noticed it had images = for 4.x, 5.x and 6.2.=A0 No 7.0...=A0 Since I had 7.0 already installed, I = tried winging it and and installing the various pieces for 6.2 and doing ld= config and installing compat layers and whatnot, but I couldn't quite get i= t working.=A0=20 Q2: Does anyone have some reasonably easy to follow docs on making at least= hpasm work on 7.0?=A0 I've seen a few vague references to it working after= an upgrade from 6.x to 7, but docs are surprisingly sparse AFAICT. Issue 3: So I thought to install 6.3, which I guess will very likely work u= sing the 6.2 build of hpasm.=A0 I changed my boot disk to a 6.3 one, stuck = it in the floppy drive and booted, but the system happily and without quest= ion booted from the hard drives.=A0 Tonight I hope to find time to do a 6.3 CD + a 6.3 boot floppy = and see if I can get it up that way, but I'd love to find out what may be g= oing on with this.=A0 I don't think that will work, because I think it was = only booting from CD/Floppy *after* the hard drive boot failed.=A0 I don't = really want to delete the arrays so it will fail back over to floppy bootin= g, but at this point I'd try it if there's no easy way.=A0 But, I'm *positi= ve* there's an easier way...=20 Q3: How do you change the boot order to include the floppy disk?=A0=20 I would appreciate any help someone can give or pointers to other informati= on for me to try proceeding on my own. Many thanks, Rich I tried winging it and doing the 7.0 and addressing issues as they came up = (which involved a few hoops with compat_6x, _5x and ldconfig, I think), but= I never quite got it going.=A0 I'm thinking about starting over with 6.3, = which I believe I will have a much, much greater chance to get working. 7.0 was a bear to get on it, but only because it wouldn't recognize my burn= t CD as bootable.=A0 I realize now that I never got to kern.flp, though - b= oot.flp was all it took.=A0 I don't know if that's because magically my unb= ootable CD became bootable, or if the bootable floppy figured out there was= a CD there and used it. So I decided reinstalling from 6.3 wouldn't be an issue, except I=20 =A0=20 =A0 Rich Mahlerwein mahlerrd@yahoo.com Mobile: 715-891-7420
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