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PCEngines alix2c3 (Substitute for WRAP) boot failes

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  • 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
                                        • C
                                          covex
                                          last edited by Nov 21, 2007, 2:13 AM

                                          ok. mine says 0.98

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