[Soekris] comBIOS issues with miniPCI card

[Frank Cole]

Thanks Jim,  you always have the coolest answers.....

- Perhaps you can get Soekris to look around the areas where the PCI
- controller is configured by COMbios.

So how about it Soren, can you have a look?


Frank


Jim Thompson wrote:
> At the risk of talking about a competitors boards (which I know Frank 
> can't use, so its not like I'm steering him away from Soekris) on a 
> soekris-only list...
> 
> The PC Engines WRAP boards got an update to their BIOS several months 
> after the single-chip Atheros designs started shipping.
> 
> I'll just quote the changelog.
> 
>  WRAP BIOS revision history:
>                 ; v1.11
> 
>                 ; pd 051108 extend insufficient PCI reset pulse 
> width-caused
>                 ;           problems with Atheros single chip cards.
>                 ;
> 
> the problem would show up as:  cold boot the board and the atheros card 
> isn't detected, with symptoms similar to what you describe. warm-boot 
> the board and the card is found. (repeat for 2 cards).
> 
> The bug fixed here is not Atheros-specific.   Its a PCI config space  
> timing issue. The single-chip Atheros parts do tickle it. Other cards 
> may as well.
> 
> Perhaps you can get Soekris to look around the areas where the PCI 
> controller is configured by COMbios.
> 
> its likely you're not alone:
> http://lists.soekris.com/pipermail/soekris-tech/2005-June/008741.html
> http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/openbsd/2004-08/0079.html
> 
> 
> On Feb 1, 2007, at 8:01 AM, Frank Cole wrote:
> 
>> All,
>>
>> We are having an intermittent but frequent issue with the comBIOS 
>> initialization on several 100 of our net4521 and net4511 boards.
>>
>> We just changed to a different Atheros based card in our units.  The 
>> units are based on the net4511 and net4521.
>>
>> The problem appears to be with the comBIOS 1.26a, 1.27 and 1.28 with 
>> version 1.28 being the most problematic.  As for beyond 1.26, we didnt 
>> regress any farther back in the comBIOS versions.  comBIOS 1.28 is 
>> definitely the displaying this behavior far more than the earlier 
>> comBIOS versions.
>>
>> Ok now for the issue:
>>
>> At POST when comBIOS sometimes recognizes our newer Atheros card as 
>> two devices rather than just one and assigns IRQ 11 to both.  Upon 
>> booting, Linux or *BSD then recognizes the card as an Ethernet 
>> controller and a Serial Controller but doesnt initialize the card nor 
>> properly load drivers for it.
>>
>> The Atheros cards are from a Taiwanese OEM, Askey Computer and are 
>> based on the 5212 chipset.
>>
>> Strangely enough the same problem doesnt happen on the net 4501, 
>> net4526 or either of the net48xx boards with exactly the same Atheros 
>> cards.  We were thinking it maybe some wierdness with the way the TI 
>> CardBus controller is initialized maybe but who knows.
>>
>> And YES we know it is a comBIOS issue specific to the net4521 and 
>> net4511. What we dont know is why and how to fix/work around it other 
>> than to reboot the board when it is seen?
>>
>> As we buy boards in batches of 100 or more at a time, you can see how 
>> this becomes a major issue for us very quickly.
>>
>> Also, I know its a long shot, but any possibility of opening up the 
>> source for comBIOS??
>>
>>
>> Frank
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Soekris-tech mailing list
>> Soekris-tech at lists.soekris.com
>> http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech
> 
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