From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 14 06:35:28 2003 Return-Path: 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 8C2F037B401 for ; Wed, 14 May 2003 06:35:28 -0700 (PDT) Received: from wachwrk.asic.csuohio.edu (wachwrk.asic.csuohio.edu [137.148.206.23]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9793D43F93 for ; Wed, 14 May 2003 06:35:27 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from d.bynum@csuohio.edu) Received: from csuohio.edu (wachwrk.asic.csuohio.edu [137.148.206.23]) h4EDZEts000392 for ; Wed, 14 May 2003 09:35:19 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 14 May 2003 09:35:14 -0400 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v552) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed From: hostis outis To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.552) Subject: sym driver failure - what to do? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 14 May 2003 13:35:28 -0000 On=A0a DECpc XL590 that has for years happily run NeXTSTEP 3.3pl1, Windoze 95, and Linux kernel 2.0.35 (Slackware 3.6), attempted installation of FreeBSD 4.8 (as replacement for all three of the above OSs) fails. The machine has 48 MB of 70 nanosecond memory, NCR PCI v3.04.02, and all other standard equipment in working order. The attempted installation has been by kern.flp + mfsroot.flp on freshly=A0formatted diskettes dd-written on another FreeBSD 4.8 machine; I've written 4 of each floppy to be sure they are not at fault. One of two things happens. First scenario: the machine locks up after driver configuration (makes no difference how or whether the superfluous ISA device probes are disabled) with the floppy drive light on and the following message on screen from the very beginning of the probes: pcibios: No call entry point ... ... ... sym0: <810> port 0xd100-0xd1ff mem 0x20000000-0x200000ff\ irq 11 at device 1.0 on pci0 [25 instances of ASCII char 177 alternating with ASCII char 255] sym0: PCI BUS clock seems too high: 4444160 KHz LOCK UP Second scenario (randomly alternating with the first on any given further attempt after a cold reboot): after save-and-quit from the kernel configuration screen, probing dumps incoherent gibberish to standard out, then LOCK UP Does anyone have any suggestions? What should I do, go back to Linux (ugh!) ? Will that even do any good? Apparently, the same guy who wrote the sym driver for present-day FreeBSD seems to be the author of the corresponding Linux driver too, and Linux has run happily on this machine for years. So why isn't FBSD 4.8 installing his driver correctly on this NCR PCI bus? Admittedly, FreeBSD installations (of which I've done some dozen) go better on machines I've built myself, even with such problems as misreported disk geometry; but still, I'd hate to think version 4.8 has met its match on nothing more exotic than this elderly DEC. Hosed Installer=