[Soekris] Hot insert CF card?

[Erik Cummings]

Yes - there is that also, and apologies if much of this has been  
discussed before - I'm new to the Soekris boards...

1.  PRIMARY problem is netbooting with a CF card in (even though there  
is NO boot record/boot part, the BIOS does not continue on to PXE)  
with the default "from factory" boot order ( 0x80 0x81 0xF0 0xFF )

2.  Flashing errorled on successful flashing/build of the CF card.  I  
saw some mentions of drivers for the 4801 on 2.6 Linux kernels.  Work  
the same for 4511?
		NOTE:  My alternative, which isn't too bad, is to build a 2.4  
installer image based on my current 2.4 firewall image (which has the  
driver for LED already built in).  Either way - it seems I'm going to  
have to manually build this kernel?!?!?!

3.  Programming the BIOS from the command line.  There are a couple of  
other parameters I'd like to modify from the commandline if possible.   
These aren't critical - but it SURE would help.

Erik



On May 21, 2008, at 2:52 PM, Chris Babcock wrote:

> Erik Cummings wrote:
>> I have a bunch of 4511 boards (BIOS 1.28) that I want to install and
>> build.
>>
>> I have configured DHCP, PXE, SystemImager, and autoinstall scripts to
>> do all the wonderful things I need done - it works great.
>>
>> HOWEVER:
>> 	- With a CF card inserted, even if it's brand new and has no boot
>> partition, the BIOS will not bypass CF and netboot (boot order is CF
>> first, THEN net).
>>
>> 	- I am trying not to change the boot order, and trying not to have  
>> to
>> serial console in.  I'd love to be able to take these as they arrive,
>> insert CF cards, plug them into my flash-builder network, they net-
>> boot and away things go - with the NEXT boot being from CF since it
>> has a valid boot partition.
>>
>> The only solution I can seem to come up with is hot-inserting the  
>> CF -
>> but that doesn't work - or at least i don't know how to make it work.
>>
>> Is it possible to get Linux (2.6 kernel) to recognize a CF that was
>> inserted AFTER the BIOS boot process on a 4511 ?
>>
>
> That's an interesting problem.  Most ATA (non-sata) systems can't do
> hot-swapping, and I would suspect that the Soekris systems are the  
> same
> way...
>
> However, does anybody know if it's possible to change BIOS settings  
> from
> inside a running OS on the Soekris?  I've seen it done on some boards,
> and if it can be done on a Soekris, you could adjust your setup/load
> sequence to change firmware settings as needed from your load scripts
> with any necessary reboots.
>
> -Chris
>
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