I am having difficulty booting 2.4-based Linux kernels on my Netpliance I-Opener. The Linux 2.4 TODO list has the following entry: IDE fails on some VIA boards (eg the i-opener) (reported fixed by Konrad Stepien) This issue is not really "fixed" as reported in the TODO. Mr. Stepien has indicated to me in e-mail that his problem went away on a non-i-opener motherboard with a VIA chipset when he upgraded to 2.4.0. There is a long history of this issue. There was a patch posted to the linux-kernel mailing list that allegedly solved the problem: http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0009.3/1218.html This patch was reposted here: http://boudicca.tux.org/hypermail/linux-kernel/2000week51/0317.html The patch fixes a bug in the way the IDE probing code handles flash disks. The bug occurs when there is one (and only one) hard disk attached to the IDE connector on the I-Opener motherboard. Here is what happens when I boot 2.4.2 without the patch: ... VP_IDE: ide controller on pci bus 00 dev 39 VP_IDE: chipset revsion 6 VP_IDE: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later hda: ibm-dyka-22160, ata disk drive hdb: sundisk sdtb-128, ata disk drive hdb: set_drive_speed_status: status 0x51 { driveready seekcomplete error } hdb: set_drive_speed_status: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError} ide0: Drive 1 didn't accept speed setting. Oh, well. ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14 hdb: 31360 sectors (16 MB) w/1KiB Cache, CHS=490/2/32 Partition check: hdb: hdb1 hdb2 hdb3 hdb4 floppy0: no floppy controllers found ... VFS: Cannot open root device "301" or 03:01 Please append a correct "root=" boot option Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:01 ... and here is what happens when I boot it *with* the patch: ... VP_IDE: ide controller on pci bus 00 dev 39 VP_IDE: chipset revsion 6 VP_IDE: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later hda: ibm-dyka-22160, ata disk drive hdb: sundisk sdtb-128, ata disk drive hdb: set_drive_speed_status: status 0x51 { driveready seekcomplete error } hdb: set_drive_speed_status: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError} ide0: Drive 1 didn't accept speed setting. Oh, well. ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14 hda: 4233600 sectors (2168 MB) w/90KiB Cache, CHS=525/128/63, UDMA(33) hdb: 31360 sectors (16 MB) w/1KiB Cache, CHS=490/2/32 Partition check: hda: hda1 hda2 hdb: hdb1 hdb2 hdb3 hdb4 floppy0: no floppy controllers found ... VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly. Freeing unused kernel memory: 176k freed <slient hang> You'll notice that the kernel sees hda's geometry and partitions after the patch is applied, but I am still unable to get my i-opener to boot. I have tried the following kernels to no avail: 2.2.16, 2.4.0, 2.4.1, 2.4.2, 2.4.3pre3. My installation method was to install Redhat 7.0 and upgrade my kernel to 2.4.x. Yes, I got the latest modutils. I have tried the following LILO parameters without success: hdb=noprobe hdb=flash hdb=none hdb=noprobe After doing a little debugging with the patch enabled, it appears as if the execve("/sbin/init") in main.c's init() is never succeeding. I tried passing "init=/bin/sh" to LILO and I still get the "silent hang". Note: all of the above kernels *will* boot when I plug the harddisk into my ATX clone machine, but they won't boot on my i-opener. I *have* been successful in getting the i-opener to boot when I use an old 2.0.35 kernel. But I need USB mass storage to turn my box into an MP3 player, so I need a 2.4 kernel. So the problem is not the harddisk because it boots in other computers, and it's not the BIOS because I can boot older 2.0 kernels. I am hypothesizing the problem is at the driver/filesystem layer. There are many people in the same predicament as I am. The i-opener newsgroups are littered with people who are unable to get 2.4-based kernels to boot on their machines. Any help would be appreciated. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
