From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jun 14 22:39:55 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AA71716A47F for ; Wed, 14 Jun 2006 22:39:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from derek@computinginnovations.com) Received: from betty.computinginnovations.com (dsl081-142-072.chi1.dsl.speakeasy.net [64.81.142.72]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 252ED43D60 for ; Wed, 14 Jun 2006 22:39:44 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from derek@computinginnovations.com) Received: from p17.computinginnovations.com (dhcp-10-20-30-100.computinginnovations.com [10.20.30.100]) (authenticated bits=0) by betty.computinginnovations.com (8.13.6/8.12.11) with ESMTP id k5EMdG97099465; Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:39:16 -0500 (CDT) Message-Id: <6.0.0.22.2.20060614173657.026abd98@mail.computinginnovations.com> X-Sender: derek@mail.computinginnovations.com X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 6.0.0.22 Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:39:07 -0500 To: Garrett Cooper , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org From: Derek Ragona In-Reply-To: <44908B2F.6070103@u.washington.edu> References: <448F9A87.3070809@u.washington.edu> <6.0.0.22.2.20060614103744.0271cf10@mail.computinginnovations.com> <44907122.8000801@u.washington.edu> <6.0.0.22.2.20060614164104.026ac018@mail.computinginnovations.com> <44908B2F.6070103@u.washington.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-ComputingInnovations-MailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more information X-ComputingInnovations-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-ComputingInnovations-MailScanner-From: derek@computinginnovations.com X-Spam-Status: No Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: Subject: Re: Making a L440GX+ work (was "Trying to revive a server... AIC-7896 freezes pre-POST completion") X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 22:39:55 -0000 Look for just the DOS flash update. It will be smaller and from intel comes with its own boot image. You will have to run that on a windows PC to make the floppy. -Derek At 05:18 PM 6/14/2006, Garrett Cooper wrote: >Derek Ragona wrote: >>The halt could be anything from bad RAM, or other IRQ issues. This begs >>the question as to why this board is not in use? >>You should be able to update the BIOS from a floppy or cd-rom boot >>disk. You can take your pick at bootdisk.org >>The general rule with ram is you can run faster ram than you need, just >>usually wastes money that faster RAM costs. But speed isn't the only >>issue with ram, some are ECC or non-ECC, plus the CAS timing can be >>different. So your RAM while it seems to work,may not be quite right. >> -Derek >> >>At 03:27 PM 6/14/2006, Garrett Cooper wrote: >>>Derek Ragona wrote: >>>>IF you can find the documentation for the motherboard, see if there is >>>>a reset jumper. That jumper should reset the BIOS to factory defaults >>>>to allow it to get through the post and into setup. Some motherboards >>>>actually take you into setup with the jumper moved to reset bad configurations. >>>>Also, unplug any cards and drives, leave the system board with just ram >>>>and cpu and video (unless it is built in) until you get it configured. >>>> -Derek >>>> >>>>At 12:11 AM 6/14/2006, Garrett Cooper wrote: >>>>>Hello again all, >>>>> I know this isn't a FreeBSD question really, but I just >>>>> started up a motherboard with onboard SCSI (Adaptec AIC-7896), and >>>>> for some odd reason it freezes pre-POST before it attempts to boot >>>>> and there isn't any way where I can get into the BIOS to change the >>>>> settings it seems. Does anyone know how I can maybe disable the >>>>> onboard SCSI controller since it appears to hang while detecting disks? >>>>> Thanks a million! >>>>>-Garrett >>> >>> Thanks all for the help. It turns out after a bit of >>> researching and seeing some numbers on boot, I was able to find the >>> documentation for the motherboard. It's an L440GX+ motherboard which >>> does appear to still work properly, but here's the clincher. I read >>> that the processors I have installed are compatible (2xP3 600E CPUs), >>> _but_ only if the BIOS is updated past a particular version and I don't >>> know if that is true or not. Plus I don't know what is causing the >>> thing to halt because it appears to work on occasion--got the system to >>> boot once but halted it since I couldn't get into the BIOS and change >>> the settings. I cleared the CMOS--both by setting the jumper and >>> removing the battery, and all it appears to have done superficially is >>> make the original splash screen come up during boot. >>> So, my question is has anyone experienced anything like this >>> and if so how did you solve this problem, or does anyone know how to >>> fix this situation apart from (maybe) installing Windows and updating >>> the BIOS with a different processor? >>> Also, I have a horde of PC133 SD RAM and only one stick of >>> PC100 RAM, which doesn't appear to work in the motherboard, and the >>> motherboard is rated to _only_ support PC100 SD RAM. Is it all right >>> for me to use RAM which is rated 33MHz faster than recommended? I think >>> it's possible with some motherboards but I'm not sure about this one. >>> Thanks again for all your help guys :). >>>-Garrett > >Thanks for your concerns. Supposedly when I received it last year in a >trade, this motherboard was a spare that was not used by the owner because >I don't think he had a reason to use the antique hardware. The thing is >that I need a replacement motherboard with working IRQ/PCI slots because >my previous motherboard (Tualatin ECS board) may have been partially fried >thanks to a bad PSU and a series of SCSI hard drives drawing too much >current within the case. Needless to say I fixed the PSU issue, but the >issue with the original motherboard still may linger on. > >I'll see about using a BIOS flash boot disk, but there is a list of >procedures that Intel gives on their website, which seems to involve >Windows a bit more extensively than I originally thought. > >Thanks again about the RAM part. I know that mixing and matching is the >only no-no in RAM-land, but other than that the motherboard says it >supports both flavors--either ECC or non-ECC. > >-Garrett >_______________________________________________ >freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list >http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions >To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" > >-- >This message has been scanned for viruses and >dangerous content by MailScanner, and is >believed to be clean. >MailScanner thanks transtec Computers for their support. > -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. MailScanner thanks transtec Computers for their support.