[gentoo-alpha] AlphaStation 200 (Mustang) won't boot 2004.3 liveCD

[gentoo-alpha] AlphaStation 200 (Mustang) won't boot 2004.3 liveCD

[Gabriel M. Beddingfield]

I have an AlphaStation 200 4/166 (Mustang) and I'm trying to do a gentoo
install. I can't get it to boot.

1. I have the minimal LiveCD install-alpha-minimal-2004.3-r1.iso.
2. MD5s check out.
3. CD Burn verified OK.
4. Firmware updated to V7.0 (was X5.0, I think)

What happens:

1. power on computer
2. >>> show dev
...
dka400.4.0.6.0  DKA400  RRD43  1084
...
3. >>> boot dka400 -flags 0
(boot dka400.4.0.6.0 -flags 0)
block 0 of dka400.4.0.6.0 is a valid boot block
....
aboot: no disklabel found.
iso: Max size 27007   Long zone size: 2048
iso: First datazone:40   Root inode number 8190
aboot: loading uncompressed /boot/gentoo...
aboot: loading compressed /boot/gentoo...
aboot: zero-filling 644040 bytes at 0xfffffc0000828c40
aboot: loading initrd (1222017 bytes/1193 blocks) at 0xfffffc0007d0e000
oboot: starting kernel /boot/gentoo with arguments root=/dev/ram0
init=/linuxrc looptype=zisofs loop=/zisofs cdroot

4. System hangs there.

Note:  the 'oboot' at the end is *not* a typo.

Thanks in advance!

-- 
                     G a b r i e l   M .   B e d d i n g f i e l d


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Re: [gentoo-alpha] AlphaStation 200 (Mustang) won't boot 2004.3 liveCD

[Marnix Arnold]

Hi Gabriel,

Have you tried to connect a serial terminal to your AlphaStation (I'm
assuming it has a serial port)? If you do get a console prompt there, you
probably have a video card problem. Has your AlphaStation ever run Linux
before?

You also may want to try to boot from an older LiveCD, e.g., 1.4rc1-test4,
that may have the legacy boot option, which works with most alphas. I
haven't used this LiveCD myself since 2004.x works very well on my XLT-300
(amazingly ;-).

Hope this helps,

Marnix.

>
> I have an AlphaStation 200 4/166 (Mustang) and I'm trying to do a gentoo
> install. I can't get it to boot.
>
[snip]


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Re: [gentoo-alpha] AlphaStation 200 (Mustang) won't boot 2004.3 liveCD

[Gabriel M. Beddingfield]

On Monday 06 December 2004 01:39 am, Marnix Arnold wrote:

> Have you tried to connect a serial terminal to your AlphaStation
> (I'm assuming it has a serial port)? If you do get a console prompt
> there, you probably have a video card problem. Has your
> AlphaStation ever run Linux before?

Thanks, I'll give it a try.  No, this box has only run Windows NT.

> You also may want to try to boot from an older LiveCD, e.g.,
> 1.4rc1-test4, that may have the legacy boot option, which works

I'll look for it.  I also got a "jumpstart" CD image last night.  I'll 
probably burn it and give it a shot soon.


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            G a b r i e l   M .  B e d d i n g f i e l d

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Re: [gentoo-alpha] AlphaStation 200 (Mustang) won't boot 2004.3 liveCD

[Gabriel M. Beddingfield]

On Monday 06 December 2004 01:39 am, Marnix Arnold wrote:

> Have you tried to connect a serial terminal to your AlphaStation
> (I'm assuming it has a serial port)? If you do get a console prompt
> there, you probably have a video card problem. Has your
> AlphaStation ever run Linux before?

Tried to connect serial port.  Didn't work.  However, it *did* work 
using the JumpStart disk.

> You also may want to try to boot from an older LiveCD, e.g.,
> 1.4rc1-test4, that may have the legacy boot option, which works
> with most alphas. I haven't used this LiveCD myself since 2004.x
> works very well on my XLT-300 (amazingly ;-).

The jumpstart disk (using aboot 0.7) worked.  I just have to come up 
with a new gentoo installation strategy.  It's geared toward RedHat, 
SUSE, Debian, etc.

but looks like the problem is (at least partially) with 2004.3.  I'll 
poke around the mirrors for an 1.4rc1-test4.


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            G a b r i e l   M .  B e d d i n g f i e l d

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Re: [gentoo-alpha] AlphaStation 200 (Mustang) won't boot 2004.3 liveCD

[Gabriel M. Beddingfield]

On Monday 06 December 2004 09:01 pm, Gabriel M. Beddingfield wrote:

> but looks like the problem is (at least partially) with 2004.3. 
> I'll poke around the mirrors for an 1.4rc1-test4.

UPDATE:  Got 1.4rc1-test4 and booted it.  Works fine.

From the sounds, it appears that the 2004.3 really *was* booting.  
However, it failed to re-initialize the video or something.

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            G a b r i e l   M .  B e d d i n g f i e l d

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Re: [gentoo-alpha] AlphaStation 200 (Mustang) won't boot 2004.3 liveCD

[Marnix Arnold]

Hi Gabriel,

> On Monday 06 December 2004 09:01 pm, Gabriel M. Beddingfield wrote:
> UPDATE:  Got 1.4rc1-test4 and booted it.  Works fine.

Well, that's good news! If you can get your network up and running with
the 1.4rc1-test4 (or any other liveCD, for that matter), you can pull the
stage tarball of your choice from the net, as per the Gentoo handbook:
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-alpha.xml?part=1&chap=5#doc_chap2
. This will probably work just fine with the 2004.3 stages; I don't think
you are restricted to the 1.4rc1 stages just because you use the 1.4rc1
liveCD.

> From the sounds, it appears that the 2004.3 really *was* booting.
> However, it failed to re-initialize the video or something.

When (not if! ;-) you build your own kernel, you may want to be careful
around video options initially since your problems appear indeed to have
to do with video initialization. For instance, try disabling support for
the framebuffer console at first; just get a minimal kernel to boot on
your machine and add nice features incrementally. I'd start from the
alpha-sources (alpha-sources ebuild, which is the 2.4.21 kernel with loads
of alpha-specific patches).

Good luck!

Marnix.




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