Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 00:38:22 +1030 (CST) From: Matthew Sean Thyer <me@camtech.net.au> To: John Daniels <jmd526@hotmail.com> Cc: FreeBSD-current@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Instrallation floppies and USB Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0003030020460.32368-100000@dx4.my-unregistered-domain.com> In-Reply-To: <20000301202824.52769.qmail@hotmail.com>
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You shouldn't mail toso many lists... trimmed. On Wed, 1 Mar 2000, John Daniels wrote: > Hi: > I looked in BIOS setup to see if there were any settings that I could try > changing to make the boot floopies work. The only ones that I found that > seemed to apply were (defaults in brackets): > Configuration Table [Disabled] > PCI IRQ setting [Auto] > PCI IRQ sharing [No] > Plug and Play OS [Yes] > Reset Resource Assignments [No] I dont know what "Configuration Table" is but I guess it might be used when "PCI IRQ setting" is set to Manual. If you have any non PnP ISA devices you will need manual setting for "PCI IRQ setting". If you only have AGP/PCI and Plug and Play ISA you should leave this on "Auto". If you have non PnP ISA devices, set it to manual and then reserve the interrupts that your non-PnP ISA cards use so that PC and AGP will not try to use those IRQs. "PCI IRQ sharing" is required when you have many devices and not enough interrupts. Having this set to yes should work fine with FreeBSD unless your motherboard doesn't implement it properly. However you wont need to use it unless you have many devices requiring interrupts (e.g. USB enabled, a sound card that has an IDE controller thus needing 2 IRQs, SCSI card... other cards... just count up how many you need but dont forget all the standard ones!!). "Plug and Play OS" should almost always be set to "No". When set to "No" the motherboard will assign resources to PnP cards so FreeBSD doesn't need to know about all the wierd PnP vendor and device IDs. Often devices such as motherboard integrated sound hardware will not work unless you allow the BIOS to assign PnP resources (by setting "Plug and Play OS" to "No". I not sure on "Reset Resource Assignments" but I think you have to use it when changing IRQ configuration in the BIOS (You should probably do it when you change any of the above settings). (And yes, it is meant to return to "No" each boot. Its just a flag to reset resource assignments on the next boot. > > I thought that the Configuration Table might provide the ability to change > settings (IRQ, etc.) but it only summarized system specs. (Among these, it > showed USB 'enabled') > > I didn't change PCI IRQ setting. > > I thought that PCI IRQ sharing might allow for dynamic assignment of IRQs, > but changing this to 'Yes' had no effect. > > Disabling Plug and Play had no effect > > I thought that Reset Resource Assignments might enable the OS to set > resouces (IRQ, etc) but everytime I looked at this after I had chosen 'Yes,' > it had been set back to 'No.' Acer support tells me that all this does is > reset the resources back to their original values. > > In sum, I was not able to change anything with the changes that I made. I > also went to the Acer support site to see if there were any BIOS or device > updates for my system. I didn't find any. > > I am registered with Acer support and I would be happy to provide the > information needed (Toll free phone number, system serial number, my > customer id #, etc.) for Nick Hibma or another developer to contact them if > that would be helpful. FYI, I also have a 160Kbps DSL connection so if > anyone wants me to test reconstructed boot disks/kernels, I can do that. (I > believe that John Baldwin has been looking into this.) > > To summarize the problem and the clues that we now have: > > 1. When I try to boot the kern.flp disk, I get the message: > /boot.config: -P > Keyboard: no > Booting continues but the keyboard is unusable unless I immmediately hit the > space bar then type '-Dh' at the 'boot:' prompt as described in the > TROUBLE.TXT document in the -CURRENT snapshot directory. NOTE: That > document says that the '-Dh' workaround is meant for older systems with an > 84-key keyboard, but it is working for my 1999 Acer Asprire with a 102-key > USB keyboard! > > 2. The installation boots the kernel but immediately after the kernel config > screen appears (with 3 options: no config, full screen, CLI), the system > becomes unusable. > > 3. The floppy drive light remains on, as though the floopy is awaiting > instructions or has been interrupted in data transfer. > > 4. I have provided my complete system specs and resource usage in an earlier > post. It appears that there may be some resource conflicts. My system uses > IRQ 11 for the Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller, while > FreeBSD uses IRQ 11 for an adaptec SCSI Controller. My keyboard and > FreeBSD's use of IRQ12 and IOMem 0060h may also be a problem. (This is not > an exhaustive list of possible conflicts) > > 5. I can boot the NetBSD installation disk and use my keyboard to select > options (e.g. configure my NIC) so this may provide some additional info or > a possible roadmap to a solution. For example, does it dynamically find > resources for more devices than FreeBSD (especially the Adaptec SCSI > controller and keyboards/mice)? Does NetBSD provide support for USB > keyboards in their installation kernel? > Etc. > > John > > ______________________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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