Date: Sun, 31 May 1998 14:21:06 -0500 (CDT) From: Dave Bodenstab <imdave@mcs.net> To: dufault@hda.com, freebsd-scsi@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-smp@FreeBSD.ORG, skynyrd@opus.cts.cwu.edu Subject: Re: Micropolis 4345WS (Toshiba "Equium" 6200M) Message-ID: <199805311921.OAA02146@base486.home.org>
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> I received a couple of those Toshiba computers which Insight had the
> special on (intel dual p6 mb, integrated pro100 ethernet, aha-7880, etc.)
> The 12x atapi cd-room boots our freebsd CD's so quickly that you forget
> that you're booting from a CD. Really nice systems, but mine came with
> Micropolis 4345WS drives at firmware revision zC19. The manufacture date
> of my systems was around 4/97.
I took the plunge and got two of these boxes. I am very interested in
sharing experiences amoung other FreeBSD folks using these machines.
I plan to take the CPU, memory, disk and cdrom from the second machine
and install them in the first. I'm hoping to sell the remaining MB and
case to recoup some of the cost.
> Unfortunately I couldn't get any version of FreeBSD to install without the
> aha driver complaining about the drive timing out, and aborting the
> install. No matter what the settings on the 7880 (disable wide
> negotiation, throttle down xfer rate, etc) and after verifying drive
> jumpers, termination. As soon as sysinstall started doing anything disk
> intensive, the drives would lose it. I had both systems side by side with
> a pile of FreeBSD CD's and each behaved the same whether it was 2.2.2,
> 10/6/97 3.0-snap, 2/2/98 3.0-snap, etc.
I booted the 2.2.5 floppy, and it came up fine -- I have not yet blown
away NT and attempted an install.
> I did some searching around the net and learned that Micropolis has been
> history for a while. Fortunately firmware kit X502_4.exe is available
> from an ftp server in germany. I built an ASPI floppy (adaptec now gives
> away their dos/aspi drivers at their www page) and was able to upgrade the
> drive firmware. As soon as the firmware was upgraded all problems ceased.
> I haven't really thrashed the drive yet and cranked back up the xfer rate
> (& wide negotiation) so we'll see how the drive works under real load.
I found the reference:
http://www.addit.de/SUPPORT/micr-eproms.htm
but the site seems to be down (Sun, 5/31) Any chance you could send it
to me?
> Since other people have been buying these systems, I'm a little surprised
> that I'm the only person so far to have reported the problem. Fortunately
> it appears that there is a workaround (forget about any 5-year warranty on
> the tomahawk drives though :(
I called Toshiba before the purchase and they told me that they would be
honoring the warrenty for the drives -- perhaps only for the 3-year Toshiba
warrenty tho.
I also found that Toshiba does not have email access to their technical
support -- only via compuserve. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to give
them a call... but I'll ask here also:
- what are USB ports and what can I use them for?
- any hints/cautions/etc. about removing and reinstalling the CPU?
- what version of FreeBSD current/smp do I need to start downloading?
- the user's guide implies that only 128M memory modules are supported
for DIMM sockets 1-3, but a page on their web site implied that each
socket would accept 16/32/64/128M dimms. I intended to take the 32M
from the second machine and install it in the first.
- I want to enable the 2nd UART port and wire a cable, but the user's
guide doesn't have a description of the pinout. Hopefully Toshiba
will supply this on Mon.
Also, what list would be appropriate for this subject? -questions or -smp.
I suspect that -scsi isn't really applicable anymore.
Dave Bodenstab
imdave@mcs.net
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