Bug#35351: Unable to boot from Debian 2.1 CDROM on Dell OptiPlex GX1
Package: boot-floppies
Version: Official Debian 2.1 (slink) CD from Cheapbytes
architecture: i386
model: Dell OptiPlex GX1 350MTBr+
memory: 128M
scsi: AHA-2940 SCSI BIOS v1.21
cd-rom: ATAPI
network card: motherboard
When trying to install Debian 2.1, I started by trying to boot from
the CD ROM (obtained from Cheapbytes). The boot process hangs after
initializing the SCSI adapter. The last 9 lines on the screen are
(retyped so there may be typos):
(scsi0) <Adaptec AHA-294X Ultra SCSI host adapter> found at PCI 11/0
(scsi0) Wide Channel, SCSI ID=7, 16/255 SCBs
(scsi0) Warning - detected auto-termination
(scsi0) Please verify driver detected settings are correct.
(scsi0) If not, then please properly set the device termination
(scsi0) in the Adaptec SCSI BIOS by hitting CTRL-A when prompted
(scsi0) during machine bootup.
(scsi0) Cables present (Int-50 NO, Int-68 NO, Ext-68 YES)
(scsi0) Downloading sequencer code... 419 instructions downloaded
Then I have a blinking cursor. Ctrl-Alt-Del has no effect. My only
recourse is to press the hardware reset button.
I tried
boot: linux mem=128m
boot: linux aic7xxx=no_reset
The later just changed the final error message.
As an aside, I have Red Hat 5.2 installed on this machine. It gives
me exacly the same messages from (scsi0); except, it doesn't hang. It
goes on to detect the SCSI disk and finish the boot. Why I am playing
around with Debian 2.1 if I've got RH 5.2 installed? I am interested
in comparing RH 5.2 and Debian 2.1.
I've got one SCSI device. It's ID and logical unit number are 0.
I also tried booting:
boot: linux max_scsi_luns=1
This didn't change the behavior.
My CDROM is an IDE CD ROM.
Tom Epperly
epperly@aspentech.com
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