Jim Osborn wrote:
On Sat, Feb 19, 2005 at 1:13:25AM -0500, Carl E. Hartung wrote:
I posted the Linux driver and "Symbios tools utility" links but forgot the BIOS flash utility.
- -->Link to the flash program: http://www.lsilogic.com/downloads/license.do?id=2000&did=2839&pid=2234
- --> Link to the flash program readme doc: http://www.lsilogic.com/files/support/ssp/sdms/Bios/FLASH.TXT
A quick glance at that doc says that it does include the ability to save and restore the existing BIOS; that's the good news. The bad news is the opening line:
"This document provides information for the PCI Flash Utility V1.14.00 for DOS."
and looking through it, they seem to really mean it: DOS, no Linux anywhere in sight. I see only that one flash download on their page, and the zip file contains only the one .exe file, nothing Linuxy.
This machine doesn't do DOS, so it seems that flash program won't help; let's hope I can get SuSE 9.2 to install with the current BIOS.
http://www.bootdisk.com/ if "doesn't do DOS" is simply because DOS is not currently installed anywhere on the system, or you don't already have some DOS boot floppy you can use long enough to run some flash program. If you can't boot a floppy, then you can temporarily move the HBA to some machine that can boot a DOS floppy. The preferred method of LSI flashing is with no cables connected to the HBA. All that said, I seriously doubt there's any liklihood that flashing will solve any of your problems. I may have had similar trouble. I say "may" because I don't remember exactly what my problem was when I couldn't install SuSE 9.1. All my earlier SuSE installs to SCSI were with 2.4 kernels. My only successful 2.6 kernel installs to SCSI have been on one system used for Mandrake Cooker that uses a slow old SYM8751SP non LVD HBA. I have 2 SuSE 9.2 systems now. Both require the sym53c8xx driver for SCSI HD access. This machine is one of them, and uses the LSI21002 dual channel HBA. 9.2 is installed to hda, in addition to OS/2 and PC DOS. 9.2 takes as long as 32 minutes to boot 9.2, and has SCSI bus error delays using various utilities, if I have a certain Quantum Fireball HD on the 8 bit bus. Mandrake 10.2 has similar problems with a newer 2.6.10 kernel, though not as bad. Removing the Quantum removes all the trouble that I am aware of. DOS, Knoppix (2.4 kernel) and OS/2 have no SCSI problems. My other 9.2 system also uses the LSI21002. I originally tried to install 9.1 to a Maxtor Atlas IV on it. Inexplicable SCSI installation snags, the details of which are long forgotten, led me to try scsitool.exe. The scsitool diagnostic told me there were bus problems and pointed me to the Maxtor. I called Maxtor about it. Maxtor replaced it with an Atlas V. The Atlas V improved nothing. So, I gave up and installed to hda instead of the Maxtor on sda. Once installed, the Maxtor seemed to give no problem to booted 9.1 and seems to give no problem to booted 9.2. What I do remember about the failed 9.1 install attempts was substituting other older SCSI HBAs eliminated the bus errors. I don't remember exactly which I substituted, but they could have been any of SYM8951, SYM8952, SYM8953; and also SYM8751. The 8751 was suitable for testing purposes only, as it provides suboptimal performance for the LVD HDs. The SYM895x devices also were suitable only for testing, because they have only the 68 pin bus, and the system uses SCSI for non-HD devices, including CD for installation. Scsitool gave the errors only with the 21002, and only with the Maxtor drives. Substiting an IBM HD eliminated the bus errors during scsitool tests. Oh, and I have all my LSI (SYM) HBAs flashed to the latest LSI BIOS. -- "He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." John 11:25 NIV Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://members.ij.net/mrmazda/