Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 17:32:21 -0500 (CDT) From: "William D. Ward" <euswdwj@exu.ericsson.se> To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Compaq XL 590-PCNet Problem? (jkh sent me) Message-ID: <199709252232.RAA25926@b04h32.exu.ericsson.se>
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Perhaps it was some sort of devine province that Jordan decided post the
mini-FAQ (ref. Q-2) shortly after I sent this question to comp.unix.-
freebsd.misc. Or not. It would depend on your faith maybe.
--
Hello,
This message was originally posted to the freebsd-questions mailing list
with minimal response.
I have about 40 of these machines and it would be good if I could
do something useful with them for a change.
The FreeBSD installation boot floppy did not work for this system (this
is definitely not the norm) so I roled my own using methods I found in
the /usr/src/release directory.
Please help.
---original message posted to freebsd-questions mailing list follows---
I'm having some difficulties getting the Ethernet interface to work on
a Compaq Deskpro XL 590. Currently ifconfig on this machine results
in a syslog message reporting 'lnc0: Initialisation failed' (which
perhaps means that the initialization failed). The FreeBSD
installation boot floppy did not work for this system so I roled my own
using methods I found in the /usr/src/release directory. I have about
40 of these machines and it would be good if I could do something
useful with them for a change. Please help.
I am using 2.2.2-RELEASE. My procedure is as follows:
1. boot from custom boot floppy that does not go into
/stand/sysinstall but instead starts /etc/rc script containing just
/stand/sh. it also has ifconfig, mount, ping, route, and dmesg
(crunched dmesg isn't working thus no verbose boot info in this note.
i could use some help here too maybe. separate issue).
2. boot -c. set port for lnc0 to 0x7000 and continue boot. the
hardware is probed. i see the following:
a. pci0:0 is probed but no driver is assigned. (bad sign or not?)
b. lnc1 shown to be detected even though there is only one
interface. this is immediately after pci0:0 is probed. (hmmm)
c. lnc0 is shown to be detected later on when the rest of the
Ethernet
interfaces are looked for.
3. /stand/sh is invoked. from command line issue:
# ifconfig lnc0 161.76.4.7
lnc0: Initialisation failed
^ ^ ^
(note case and spelling.)
4. pinging 161.76.4.7 works but pinging another address that should go
out the interface reports that 'network is down'. play with routing
for a little bit to see if everything is ok there. same results.
ifconfig -a reports that the interface is up. the interface is
plugged into a hub.
Other points:
1. another point that might be interesting (or not) is that ifconfig -a
reports that there are two lnc interfaces (lnc0 and lnc1) yet there is
only one adapter. configuring either interface yields the same result.
2. the hardware is as follows:
Compaq XL 590
Pentium 100
32 MB RAM
512 MB SCSI IBM HD
on board PCNet Ethernet/SCSI Host Adapter (see below)
Chip Data:
the chip labeling for the Ethernet adapter is as follows:
PCNet (tm) - SCSI
AM79C974KC
9434CP8 A4
1993 AMD
here is what Compaq has to say about the PCNet-SCSI chip:
Pcnet-scsi Chip
The Compaq Deskpro XL series packs new levels of power through the
PCneto-SCSI chip. Jointly developed by Compaq and Advanced Micro
Devices (AMD), PCnet-SCSI is the first chip to fully integrate
both the 32-bit Fast SCSI-2 controller and 32-bit Ethernet NIC on
the PCI local bus on the system board, saving not only the
expansion slots that would otherwise be needed for SCSI and
Ethernet add-on boards, but also the cost of the
controllers themselves which typically cost several hundred dollars
each. PCnet-SCSI provides customers with a higher-performance
network-ready solution that is compatible with all major operating
systems.
3. in looking through the mailing list archive it appears that this has
been a problem in the past for some Compaq platforms. in some cases
resolution may have been obtained by setting the port for lnc0 to 0x7000.
other cases appear to be unresolved faulting Compaq's PCI bus which may
not conform to accepted standards on some models.
4. floppies/boot.flp does not work on this system. it appears to hang
when sysinstall would normally display its UI. this is not a problem as
it is possible for me to load the machine manually once the network
interface is configured. it is only a problem in getting verbose boot
messages as the fixit floppy which probably has a working dmesg is not
accessible.
---original message ends---
Doug White (thanks, Doug) responded to my original post and pointed out
that I did not mentioned that I tried booting without making changes to
the port address.
Thanks in advance.
best regards,
William
help
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