[Soekris] Re: [Soekris NET4501] Boot problem

[Tom Cosgrove]

>>> R van der Kroft 18-Nov-04 13:32 >>>
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to install OpenBSD 3.6 on my SanDisk 128MB Flashcard for use in
> the Soekris 4501. But for some strange reason the booting doesn't
> work. This is what I have done:
>
> OpenBSD machine:
>
> - dd if=/dev/zero of=system128.img bs=1024k count=128
> - vnconfig svnd0 system128.img
> - fdisk -c 980 -h 8 -s 32 -i svnd0

Please give the output of fdisk.

> - disklabel -E svnd0
>   a a = 250847
>   a b = 1

And the output of disklabel

> - newfs /dev/rsvnd0a
> - mount /dev/svnd0a /mnt
> - Copy files and NET4501 bsd kernel

Which files?  Where?  How?

> - cd /mnt/usr/mdec; cp boot /mnt
> - cd /mnt/usr/mdec; ./installboot -v boot /usr/mdec/biosboot svnd0

Since you copied boot to /mnt, why did you not run

    /usr/mdec/installboot -v /mnt/boot /usr/mdec/biosboot svnd0

Also, -v gives lots of info: please give it.

The other thing that might be of interest is the output of
ls -l /mnt/usr/mdec /usr/mdec.

> - umount /mnt/
> - vnconfig -u svnd0
>
> Windows:
> - dd if=s:\system128.img of=\\.\g: bs=1M
>
> When I boot the Soekris with the CompactFlash card it only gives the
> follwing messages and doesn't boot!:
>
> Using drive 0, partition 3
> Using drive 0, partition 3
> Using drive 0, partition 3
> Using drive 0, partition 3
> Using drive 0, partition 3
> Using drive 0, partition 3
> Using drive 0, partition 3

What geometry does the Soekris report?

> Hopefully somebody can help me.
> Already tried flashdist and OpenSoekris, cleaning the MBR doesn't help.
>
> Thanks for your time!

While it's great to say what commands you typed, if you don't give the
output, your help is going to be limited to people who have typed exactly
those commands on that hardware...

Finally, a hexdump -C of the first 512 bytes of the image file, and the
512 bytes corresponding to the OpenBSD partition of it would be helpful.

At a guess, fdisk says that your OpenBSD partition starts at the first
sector, so the mbr continually reloads itself.  Without any of the outputs
above, its hard to say.

Tom