[Soekris] New BIOS

[Igor Sobrado]

In message <1171132679.8805.18.camel at ipaq.davidlove.homelinux.net>, David writes:
> Hi Igor,
> 
> I tried swapping the compact flash from primary to secondary but it
> still refused to boot. I even renewed the image on the compact flash
> card but it booted first time when I downgraded the BIOS firmware back
> to 1.28.

So, it boots again when downgrading to 1.28?  I have read about problems
related with Soekris embedded computers and the operating system you are
running (EMBcop), but these problems cannot be easily repeated:
http://en.embcop.org/?p=23

> The compact flash (2Gb sandisk ultra II) is the only 'drive' in the box.
> The bootloader (GRUB) gets as far as trying to load the 2nd stage but
> returns a prompt instead. I assume it cant find the second stage.

SanDisk CF cards are very good ones for these computers.  Support for
these cards is excellent on Soekris computers.  I have swapped the
HDD/CF devices on my net4801 and all seems working.  When I set the
CF to primary the HDD changes to secondary (the hard disk drive is
set up as cable select).

> setup is:
> >show                                                                                                                                                         
> ConSpeed=9600                                                                 
> ConLock=Enabled                                                               
> ConMute=Disabled
> BIOSentry=Enabled                                                             
> PCIROMS=Disabled                                                              
> PXEBoot=Enabled
> FLASH=Primary                                                                 
> BootDelay=5                                                                   
> FastBoot=Disabled                                                             
> BootPartition=Disabled                                                        
> BootDrive=8081F0FF                                                         
> ShowPCI=Enabled                                                               
> Reset = Hard

David, is it a typo or BootDrive is really set to "8081F0FF"?
I suppose that there are some missing spaces in that string
and that it is "80 81 F0 FF" instead.  In any case, it is not
related with your problem, as that computer can boot from the CF.

I will try booting from the CF as soon as possible (I use the CF
on my net4801 to store net4801 manuals, supported firmware upgrades
-nothing earlier than 1.28 on my net4801, it is the original firmware
release on the unit I adquired last summer- and the installation
packages for OpenBSD (base40, comp40, game40 and misc40) so it is
bootable from a ramdisk kernel--in fact, it is the installation
media on this net4801!

Sorry, I will need some time.  My Dell Latitude CPi R400GT is
currently broken (one of the metal pieces that join the display
to the laptop broke yesterday, it seems that laptop manufacturers
do not care about the quality of the computer cases, I had same
problem with my old HP OmniBook five years ago, perhaps I should
refrain buying used laptops).  I will use a PC with OpenBSD instead.

I will say you tomorrow if I can boot from the CF (and, if true,
if I can see the HDD as secondary drive!).

I hope the best to you,
Igor.