Re: Install problems with Phoenix BIOS
On Sat, Feb 12, 2000 at 05:59:28PM -0600, Jonathan Hall wrote:
> I have now experienced problems with two different computers using old
> versions of Phoenix BIOS, when booting the Debian 2.1 rescue floppy. One
> was a Packard Bell system at a free Linux Install our LUG did a couple
> months ago... the other is a Gateway system. Both 486's.
>
> It gets give the SYSLINUX prompt, asks you to hit ENTER, and upon doing so,
> it freezes, saying, I believe, "Loading Linux..."
>
> A RedHat floppy on both systems worked fine.
>
> At the Install a couple months ago, we ended up doing a custom boot from a
> DOS floppy, using LOADLIN.... But certianly there's a better way.
>
> What is it with the Debian Rescue disk that doesn't like the Phoenix BIOSes,
> but that RedHat gets along just fine?
>
> Is there a newer (potato?) or older (hamm or bo?) boot disk that is known to
> work with these BIOSes?
>
> Is this an as-of-yet unreported problem that should be submitted as a bug
> somewhere?
I have an old 486 here that I had problems with as well. In my
case the problem was solved by using the Tecra image instead of
the "standard" image. I'm not 100% sure, but I do believe that
this 486 does use a Phoenix BIOS. This 486 also refuses to boot
a kernel made with make bzimage but boots a kernel made with make
zimage just fine, so that *might* be something else to keep in mind.
>From what little I understand of the whole thing, it's actually a
hardware thing. Somehow the way that the motherboard is done is
just enough nonstandard that something in the kernel compression
routine barfs when it trys to hit a certain area in the memory or
something along those lines. And as I understand it the Tecra
images were created specifically in response to this. IIRC they
are named Tecra as that was the first machine to be made this way.
Bear in mind this entire last paragraph could well be nowhere near
reality, so don't take it as gospel. It's just that's the way I
seem to remember things going.
--
Mike Werner KA8YSD | "Where do you want to go today?"
ICQ# 12934898 | "As far from Redmond as possible!"
'91 GS500E |
Morgantown WV | Only dead fish go with the flow.
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