• Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • Users
  • Search
  • Register
  • Login
Netgate Discussion Forum
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • Users
  • Search
  • Register
  • Login

PCEngines alix2c3 (Substitute for WRAP) boot failes

Hardware
44
158
121.3k
Loading More Posts
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • C
    Clown
    last edited by Nov 7, 2007, 10:53 PM

    @luma:

    PS : did you receive chocolate from Switzerland too? :)

    I'm swiss, so I can buy chocolate by miself ;D

    cmb: So I need also to downgrade the bios to version 0.92?

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • C
      Clown
      last edited by Nov 7, 2007, 11:00 PM

      With pfsense1.2RC3 it's working. But what bios version do I have, I thought it's 0.98b???

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • C
        Clown
        last edited by Nov 8, 2007, 7:49 AM

        It's not realy working, pfsense come's up at console then I have to set the new names for the network interfaces (vr0..2). After setting this I get the following errors on console:

        –--
        Configuring WAN interface...done.
        Configuring OPT interfaces...done.
        Configuring CARP interfaces...done.
        route: writing to routing socket: No such process
        route: writing to routing socket: No such process
        route: writing to routing socket: No such process
        route: writing to routing socket: No such process
        route: writing to routing socket: No such process
        route: writing to routing socket: No such process
        route: writing to routing socket: No such process
        route: writing to routing socket: No such process
        route: writing to routing socket: No such process
        route: writing to routing socket: No such process
        Syncing system time before startup...done.
        Configuring firewall......done.
        Starting webConfigurator...done.
        Starting DHCP service...done.
        Starting DNS forwarder...done.
        Setting up microcode and tx/rx offloading...done.
        Starting FTP helpers...done.
        Generating RRD graphs...route: writing to routing socket: No such process
        done.
        Starting DHCP service...done.

        After that nothing workes, the network interfaces don't work, neither I don't get a console menu.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • L
          luma
          last edited by Nov 8, 2007, 8:28 AM Nov 8, 2007, 7:54 AM

          Clown : we have the same error…

          cmb : I'm now trying to downgrade Bios version. I have now problem with creating a bootable Freedos image on 1GB CF...

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • L
            luma
            last edited by Nov 8, 2007, 11:05 AM

            • Downgraded to bios 0.92
            • pfSense 1.2RC3 (11/07/2007)

            Works great!!! :D

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • E
              EarlBacid
              last edited by Nov 8, 2007, 1:26 PM

              Where can I get the 0.92 BIOS?

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • L
                luma
                last edited by Nov 8, 2007, 1:31 PM

                http://www.pcengines.ch/alix2.htm

                I managed to get the 128MB FreeDos image running on my 1GB CF using WinImage. I don't really know how, because I tried too much things too much time… ??? Sorry

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • C
                  Clown
                  last edited by Nov 8, 2007, 4:02 PM

                  With 0.92 pfsense comes up, but still is very slow on booting because of error messages…

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • L
                    luma
                    last edited by Nov 8, 2007, 4:35 PM

                    Which errors messages?

                    If they are :

                    route: writing to routing socket: No such process
                    

                    plug your WAN port! Example : with no battery on Alix, pfSense tries to sync date/time on Internet.

                    Regards

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • C
                      Clown
                      last edited by Nov 8, 2007, 6:25 PM

                      Yes, that was it  :-\ - stupid me…

                      Anyone knows whats wrong with the 0.98b bios together with pfsense? m0n0wall and AskoziaPBX are working fine together with the 0.98b firmware.

                      Changelog of the alix bios:

                      ALIX tinyBIOS revision history
                      ------------------------------
                      
                      v0.98b	11/1/07
                      
                      	- fix UART initialization
                      
                      v0.98	10/31/07
                      
                      	- skip DLL status check
                      
                      v0.97	10/26/07
                      
                      	- back to 400 MHz DRAM clock for ALIX.3*2
                      
                      v0.96	10/25/07
                      
                      	- always do HDD wait if enabled
                      
                      v0.95	10/24/07
                      
                      	- use 333 MHz DRAM clock for ALIX.3*2
                      
                      v0.94	10/23/07
                      
                      	- force MFGPT timer reset (undocumented MSR 5140002B per
                      	  workaround in AMD Linux driver)
                      
                      	- fixed a bug in PCI BIOS find device function
                      
                      	- auto detect DRAM clock to set correct refresh interval
                      
                      v0.93	10/21/07
                      
                      	- added port 92 reset support
                      
                      	- added 19200 baud option
                      
                      v0.92	10/3/07
                      
                      	- added HDD wait option, adds some delay to allow detection of
                      	  conventional HDDs.
                      
                      	- disable CS5536 diverse device power management to avoid MFGPT /
                      	  interrupt issues.
                      
                      	- MFGPT issues: please observe AMD CS5536 data book section 5.16.3,
                      	  incorrect initialization sequence can HANG the system.
                      
                      v0.90	9/25/07
                      
                      	- Remapped audio and USB interrupts to offload regular PCI interrupts.
                      
                      	- IRQ7 is no longer directed to the LPC bus, used as a default
                      	  interrupt for MFGPT high resolution timer.
                      
                      	- Implemented BIOS setup. Press S during memory test to enter.
                      
                      	- Added UMB (upper memory block) support.
                      
                      ALIX / tinyBIOS quirks
                      ----------------------
                      
                      A20 gate
                      
                      	A20 gate is always "open", prefer performance over support for
                      	broken legacy code.
                      
                      HDD master / slave
                      
                      	To reduce boot time, slave drives are not detected by default.
                      	Change the option in setup if required.
                      
                      HDD wait
                      
                      	Hard disk drives need more time to wake up, enable HDD wait in
                      	setup if necessary.
                      
                      LPT IRQ
                      
                      	IRQ7 is intentionally unmapped to allow use for MFGPT high speed
                      	timer.
                      
                      RTC wake-up
                      
                      	One customer reported strange behavior on ALIX.1C, set wake-up
                      	time to 999999 if problems occur.
                      
                      UMB
                      
                      	To support UMB (upper memory block), unused shadow RAM between
                      	C000 and E000 is left read/writeable.
                      
                      Open issues
                      -----------
                      
                      Boot device selection
                      
                      	nice to have...
                      
                      HDD support
                      
                      	tinyBIOS does not include large HDD support (> about 40 GB) yet.
                      
                      PCI boot ROMs
                      
                      	Not handled correctly by tinyBIOS.
                      
                      PCI bridges
                      
                      	tinyBIOS bridge support is questionable, if in doubt send PCI dump +
                      	maybe sample hardware to PC Engines.
                      
                      Port 92 restart
                      
                      	Needs SMI emulation.
                      
                      PXE boot
                      
                      	Module added, but interferes with "S" setup key. Be persistent
                      	to enter setup. Shift-Tab cannot be entered through serial console,
                      	need to change to different PXE module without menu.
                      
                      VGA
                      
                      	ALIX.1C tinyBIOS does not support video.
                      
                      Flash layout for ALIX						pd 070921
                      ---------------------
                      
                      The layout is controlled by the batch files used to build the BIOS,
                      for example lx3.bat.
                      
                      00000 - 0FFFF	Config block (only first few bytes used, but the flash device
                      		has 64KB erase blocks)
                      
                      10000 - 3FFFF	unused
                      
                      40000 - 47FFF	unused / video BIOS (future use)
                      
                      48000 - 5FFFF	unused
                      
                      60000 - 6FFFF	PXE BIOS
                      
                      70000 - 77FFF	SMI module
                      
                      78000 - 78FFF	unused, space for runtime copy of config block
                      
                      79000 - 7FFFF	tinyBIOS core
                      
                      Memory layout for ALIX
                      ----------------------
                      
                      00000 - 9FFFF	RW	base 640K RAM
                      
                      A0000 - BFFFF	-	unused / VGA memory
                      
                      C0000 - C7FFF	RO	unused / video BIOS
                      
                      C8000 - DFFFF	-	unused
                      
                      E0000 - EFFFF	RW	PXE BIOS
                      
                      F0000 - F7FFF	RW	SMI module
                      
                      F8000 - F8FFF	RO	runtime copy of config block
                      
                      F9000 - FFFFF	RO	tinyBIOS core
                      
                      PCI Interrupt map
                      -----------------
                      
                      Please note that ALIX.2A / ALIX.3A boards have a different mapping, please
                      use the correct files for these boards.
                      
                      PCI dev	AD line	Int map		Description
                      
                      00	..	-		unused
                      
                      08	AD11	INTA		Geode LX host bridge (crypto)
                      
                      10..40	12..18 	-		unused
                      
                      48	AD19	INTB		LAN1 (right)
                      
                      50	AD20	INTC		LAN2 (middle)
                      
                      58	AD21	INTD		LAN3 (left)
                      
                      60	AD22	INTA, INTB	miniPCI 1
                      
                      68	AD23	-		unused
                      
                      70	AD24	INTC, INTD	miniPCI2
                      
                      78	AD25	INTA .. INTD	Geode CS5536
                      
                      80..F8	..	-		unused
                      
                      Interrupt map
                      -------------
                      
                      IRQ0	timer
                      IRQ1	KBD (LPC)
                      IRQ2	cascade
                      IRQ3	COM1 serial (internal / LPC)
                      IRQ4	COM2 serial (LPC)
                      IRQ5	audio (CS5536)
                      IRQ6	FDC (LPC)
                      IRQ7	spare, used for MFGPT high resolution timer
                      
                      IRQ8	RTC
                      IRQ9	PCI INTA
                      IRQ10	PCI INTB
                      IRQ11	PCI INTC
                      IRQ12	PCI INTD
                      IRQ13	floating point
                      IRQ14	IDE HDD
                      IRQ15	USB (CS5536)
                      
                      
                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • D
                        dirom
                        last edited by Nov 9, 2007, 8:08 AM

                        Hello,

                        Can anyone explain me how to downgrade the bios to 0.92 ?
                        Can i use the freedos image from pcengines.ch on any 128mb compact flash or does only the cf128al have a geometry of 1002/8/32?  ???

                        i have many 128mb cf cards here, but will they work with the freedos image without any modifications?

                        Thanks in advance

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • E
                          EarlBacid
                          last edited by Nov 9, 2007, 4:09 PM

                          ok, now I have the problem that I don't have a CF Card with this phys.

                          Does anybody know how I can use this FreeDOS (or another) image with a larger CF Card?

                          Everytime I tried to boot from my 512 MB CF Card I got the error "Invalid or damaged Bootable partition".
                          Th CF card itsels seems to work with the image, it readable with windows so I can put the BIOS file on it.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • L
                            luma
                            last edited by Nov 9, 2007, 4:14 PM

                            Please try with WinImage. I add success with it. But I don't have any howto ready. And I don't really remember :) Sorry

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • C
                              cmb
                              last edited by Nov 15, 2007, 3:37 AM

                              I believe the boot should be working with the newest BIOS now, can someone please verify with RC3?

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • V
                                vangual
                                last edited by Nov 15, 2007, 8:01 AM

                                @cmb:

                                I believe the boot should be working with the newest BIOS now, can someone please verify with RC3?

                                embedded snapshot dated "2007-Nov-14 11:11:50"  still does not get past "Starting DHCP service…done." with ALIX bios 0.98b

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • C
                                  Clown
                                  last edited by Nov 15, 2007, 2:53 PM

                                  @cmb:

                                  I believe the boot should be working with the newest BIOS now, can someone please verify with RC3?

                                  Same here with 0.98b Bios, Boot until DHCP (even with connected network cables).

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • F
                                    fab
                                    last edited by Nov 16, 2007, 11:57 AM

                                    @Clown:

                                    @cmb:

                                    I believe the boot should be working with the newest BIOS now, can someone please verify with RC3?

                                    Same here with 0.98b Bios, Boot until DHCP

                                    exactly the same with my installation.

                                    Fabian

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • C
                                      covex
                                      last edited by Nov 20, 2007, 7:43 AM

                                      just got mine… i don't know what version of bios it is running on but it booted up right out of the box with 1.2rc3
                                      in putty i can't see the begining of the boot as it is all jebberish and clears out only when kernel starts.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • V
                                        vangual
                                        last edited by Nov 20, 2007, 8:02 AM

                                        @covex:

                                        just got mine… i don't know what version of bios it is running on but it booted up right out of the box with 1.2rc3
                                        in putty i can't see the begining of the boot as it is all jebberish and clears out only when kernel starts.

                                        This is because your terminal settings only match kernel output but the bios is set to something else. (Default would be the 38400)

                                        Set your terminal to 38400 speed, boot it up again. You will see the bios output normally but the kernel gibberish now. At that point you can 1) see what BIOS yours has come with 2) go into bios options and set the bios serial speed to the same that the kernel uses (9600) and then change your terminal speed back to 9600 and you should see both bios and kernel output.

                                        Also I'm curious did you boot a completely fresh embedded snapshot or one that already had a previous configuration?

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • C
                                          covex
                                          last edited by Nov 20, 2007, 5:35 PM

                                          thnx! i'll try it tonight. setup is clean 1024 embedded image on 2gig cf.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          17 out of 158
                                          • First post
                                            17/158
                                            Last post
                                          Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.