Re: BDI 2.18 install problem

["William Scalione" <wscalione-at-nc.rr.com>]

Hi John,

Just for fun, you might want to try doing a text install, I had to do that
with an Advantech industrial computer with a touch screen. Worked fine once
the install was done.

Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Kasunich" <jmkasunich-at-worldnet.att.net>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <emc-at-nist.gov>
Sent: Sunday, April 13, 2003 1:18 AM
Subject: BDI 2.18 install problem


>
>
> I'm trying to install BDI 2.18 on an Allen Bradley 6180 industrial PC.
> It boots from the CD-ROM and all goes well through the config part.
> But when it starts the actual installation, things get VERY slow.
> The help screen says 15-20 minutes.  Well, it takes 10 mins or
> so to set up the file system.  Then that little dialog box goes away
> and it just sits there.  It's not totally locked up - the mouse cursor
> moves, and if I click on "Hide Help", it works.  But it's been about
> 50 minutes now, and it still hasn't even started installing packages.
>
> This is a 200MHz Pentium, 430HX chipset motherboard.  64M of
> x9 EDO ram, with ECC turned on.  I'm pretty sure the BIOS is a
> customized Award, can't check right now cause I'm still waiting
> to see if anything is gonna happen.  It has a 4G IDE drive on the
> primary IDE, the CD-ROM drive is on the secondary.  There is a
> proprietary ISA card that lets you use the front panel membrane
> switches along with a conventional keyboard, but as far as I can
> tell, that board only gets accessed when you want to change the
> definitions of the front panel keys.  (I don't have the utility to do
> that, which is a DOS/Windows thing anyway.)  I'm using an
> external keyboard and mouse for the config.  The video is an
> Allen Bradley board, but it uses a CHIPS B65555 chipset.
> Linux autodetected the chipset as a CT65520.  The first time
> I corrected it to CT65555, the second time I left it alone.
> Both times, I was able to test X, and it seemed fine.
> It also has a 3COM 3C905 10/100 NIC in it.  I assume Linux
> detected that too, since it ran through the config screen for
> eth0.
>
> I'm not trying to do a dual boot or anything, just a simple
> "wipe everything" install.  OK, it's been sitting there for an
> hour, I'm gonna kill it.
>
> I was wrong about the BIOS.  It is:
>
> AMIBIOS  (C) 1992 American Megatrends, Inc.
> (C) 1992-1997 Intel Corp.
> BIOS Version 1.00.08.DB0
>
> Looking in the BIOS setup, I see that the PnP config
> is set for "Use setup utility", whatever that is.  I'm
> gonna try setting it for a "Use ICU".
>
> Oh well, I typed all this for nothing, now it's working
> fine, less than 5 minutes and it's almost done.
>
> That's odd.  After installing all the packages, it seemed
> to stall.  Sat there doing nothing for several minutes till
> I touched the mouse.  As soon as I moved the mouse
> a dialog box popped up "Performing post install
> configuration"
>
> That dialog box is still there 5+ minutes later.  Mouse
> pointer still moves, the "Hide Help" button doesn't respond.
> No disk accesses for several minutes...
>
> 5 more minutes - it must be dead.  Power cycle.
> Running through the BIOS setup, most stuff looks normal.
> Things I don't understand:
> ISA LFB size - choices are disabled or 1MB, currently disabled
> PnP Config Mode - choices are "Use setup utility" and "Use ICU"
> "Use setup utility" was really bad, currently set to "Use ICU"
> When set for ICU, the next parameter is
> "Boot with PnP OS", choices are None, Other, and Windows 95
> was on None, trying Other
>
> Let's see what happens...
> NOT an improvement.  Crashed and burned part way through
> loading packages.  "Multiple segmentation faults occurred;
> can't display error dialog".  At least I didn't have to wait a long
> time.  OK, we'll change "Boot with PnP OS" to "Windows 95"
> (yuck - but it's the only choice left)
>
> Trying again....
> Same thing, crash and burn.  Almost looks like it's trying
> to restart X - the startup screen (sort of a diagonal weave
> pattern with an X cursor in the middle) popped up for a
> split second before the crash.  After the crash, there are
> messages starting with "(--) SVGA: XAA:" on the screen
> before the final error message (in text mode, X is gone now).
>
> Set PnP OS back to None.  Maybe this is X related.  During
> monitor configuration, I set it to Generic Laptop Display Panel,
> 800x600.  This thing has an 800x600 flat screen, I have no idea
> who made it.  All that does is set the Horizontal and Vertical
> frequencies, right?  31.5-37.9 KHz hor, 40-70Hz vert.
>
> It's still autodetecting a Chips and Technologies CT65520.
> The numbers on the chip are B655555.  I'm gonna leave it
> the way it is.  (I've tried changing it to CT655555, didn't seem
> to make any difference).  It correctly detected 4M of video
> memory.  Clicked on "Test this Config", worked OK.
>
> Start the install.....
> Formatting seemed to take a long time.  It was sleeping
> again, touching the mouse woke it up.  (Which reminds me,
> not really sleeping, all power management turned off in BIOS.)
> OK, format is complete, the format dialog box is gone, but
> nothing is happening.  This is where I started two hours ago.
> It's 1:15 am, time to give it up.
>
> HELP!
>
> John Kasunich
>
>
>