From owner-freebsd-questions Wed Mar 27 22:40:44 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from hotmail.com (f73.pav2.hotmail.com [64.4.37.73]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6C9BC37B416 for ; Wed, 27 Mar 2002 22:40:36 -0800 (PST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Wed, 27 Mar 2002 22:40:36 -0800 Received: from 128.170.136.13 by pv2fd.pav2.hotmail.msn.com with HTTP; Thu, 28 Mar 2002 06:40:35 GMT X-Originating-IP: [128.170.136.13] From: "frank amo" To: questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Mylex dac960pl raid "system hangs during installation" FreeBSD 4.4 Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 22:40:35 -0800 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 28 Mar 2002 06:40:36.0314 (UTC) FILETIME=[77AD73A0:01C1D623] Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG Im currently in the hardest linux/unix crisis in my linux life. I cannot install any linux/or/freebsd distros on my server intended computers. Im going to break down these paragraphs into outlines starting with the hardware description, paragraph, operating systems, paragraph, some questionss, and collective ideas and tips from other linux support people. Server Hardware: CPU = dual intel pII 333mnz BUS = 66mhz RAM = 1gb sdram pc100 IDE = floppy/cdrom/(ofcourse) RAID= MYLEX DAC960pl scsi raid controller bios = 4.xx-x scsiRAM= 16mb (detected) write policy = write-back(write-thru->default) firmware= originally 3.50-xx(problematic) upgraded to 3.52-x-xx(lessProblems) drives initialized target 1 and 2 detected on channel 0 packs created and drives initialized with firmware upgrade 1 system drive installed (both ibm drives) as 700001mb SCSI cable terminated with an lvd terminator. HARDDRIVES= 2 ibm ultrastar scsi harddrives 10000rpm 36.x GB each NETWORK= 3com 3c905 ethernet DEVICES= AMI MegaRAC remote access companion adapter with pcmcia Operating Systems: Linux= RedHat 7.1, SuSE 7.1, SlackWare 7.1 & 8.1 Unix = FreeBSD 4.4, and 4.5 DOS = 6.22 Original Problem: With old firmware +++ +++RedHat 7.1 The installation would not go past the detection of the mylex raid controller. It would fail. "No harddrives installed" "kernel panics" "kernel traps" "unable to handle virtual address ax00000xx ("x" is any number)" "signal 11 (I recall seen every other error) " Ive even seen red screens of death, with the above messages. ++++ ++++SuSE 7.1 The installation would not go past the detection of the mylex raid controller. It would fail. "No harddrives isntalled" System would crash, with similar errors as RedHat but not as dramatic. +++++ +++++SlackWare: 7.1 & 8.1 same problem. I did not get too far because I always thought that the scsi drives were refered to as "/dev/sda" not "/dev/c0d0xxx(whatever)" which I found in RedHat 7.1 described in the "New Problem Section" using "fdisk" and "disk-druid". SlackWare did report the mylex controller in the /proc/pci file. So the kernel does detect that the harddware is there. +++++ +++++FreeBSD 4.4 & 4.5 During bootup I would see a message in regards to the Mylex controller that: mxld0 "mylex" this firmware is not recommended. The system would recognize both of my harddrives, allow me to "create slices" (partitions) which I did auto, allow me to lable my partitions or give them mount points, which I did automatically. The "newfs -f x 1024" begins formating my harddrives as I check in the other tty and the installation begins. Here to after a certain percentage, I encounter almost identical error messages to the redhat 7.1 error, the system set itself to reboot in 15 seconds in order to clear itself from that error. (one wierd thing that happened on the highest percentage of installation without that error the system hung during installation as usual, I rebooted to the SCSI(harddrives) and the system then booted to a weird "ok" prompt. heres what it looks like: ---------------------------------------------------- ok ? (lists about 10 - 13 commands) ok ls (lists the basic directories) ok cd (does not work here) ok load (I tried "load /modules/module.o) (useless) ---------------------------------------------------- Ill go to DOS: DOS installed with no problems. (but its only dos and I dont want to install linux on a fat16 or fat32 partion. New Problem: After Mylex Firmware and Bios upgrade: Now only testing with RedHat 7.1 and FreeBSD 4.4 RedHat 7.1 I have not recieved any of the above errors yet. I used the default graphical installaation, text installation, and even expert installation.(which is where I discovered that the scsi harddrives have a name that I havent memorized /dev/c0f0c1(whatever) not /dev/sda. The problem now is that after defining my partitions with either fdisk or disk druid, I select my mount points set my to 2047 since I have 1 gigabyte of memory. When I begin the installation here is what happens. 1. Partions and filesystems are formated. 2. Install image gets transferred to the harddisk. 3. Very few packages begin to install. 4. System freezes for up to 35 minutes or until I get sick of waiting, and yes I did a mickey mouse test by either checking my numlock or mouse scrolling to check if it froze and after second numlock keystroke I find that the light does not turn off or on depending on where it lef off. FreeBSD 4.4 The error regarding the mylex firmware is gone. Everythings appears without error. The installation went further than ever. The system hung after formatting the /usr/local file systems. I got sick of it and started all over again. Here are my assumptions. 1.) Bad mylex drivers? No. Because the systems recognize them and they do not reject them. By the way Could someone please tell me how could any one load a kernel module for the dac960pl (ifneeded) when I dont even have linux installed on the harddrive yet. 2.) Kernels 2.2.16, 2.2.18, 2.4.x do not really support the mylex dac960raid controller. 3.) Incorrect scsi raid termination? Then how would the mylex configuration utility recognize the harddrives as target 1 and target 2 on channel 0 as one 70001 system driver and individually at 3500x each drive? No to rule out that DOS was able to install successfully. 4.) Bad memory? You can be right. BIOS counts it up, but on other linux systems that I have I corrected similar problems by removing most of my dimms and corrected two different computers by removing the apparent bad memory? What confuses me is that I have not seen any of those errors since I upgraded the firmware/bios on the mylex controller. 5.) CPU handling errors. I selected the "individual packages" on RedHat 7.1 installation and selected the "smp-kernel" option. 6.) I saw something in the RedHat Manual regarding CPU cache. My Processors have 512k cache in each. When I disabled the "internal-cache" in the bios this morning, RedHat got stuck on the /sbin/loader before installing. 7.) ? 8.) ? 9.) oops!!! mybrain=0 10.) frank panic!!! I have two identical computers as described above. The only difference between the two is the color of the cpu heatsinks. I have never encountered an error with any other Linux installations this grave. Its almost impossible that two computers can have the same identical problem for the same identical cause. What do I do? How do I doit? Please help. Thanks Frank _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message