How to install DSL .5 with SCSI CDROM?

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: How to install DSL .5 with SCSI CDROM?
started by: lynchaj

Posted by lynchaj on Nov. 27 2003,20:21

Hello,

I am having troubles getting DSL .5 to recognise the SCSI controller when I boot with the boot floppy.

Please bear with me as this requires some explanation.

I have an old Pentium I PC (133 MHz, 32 MB RAM) with a SCSI controller with a NEC CDROM and 360M HD attached.

The SCSI controller is an embedded AHA152x (from SB 16 SCSI CT1770) with *NO BOOT BIOS*.

I have installed MS-DOS, Mandrake 9.2 and Debian 2.2 on this PC so I know it works and is configured properly. Since the PC is so old and slow DSL's small size is very appealling. I know the PC works ok but requires some TLC.

I know the DSL .5 CDROM works since it boots several other computers and works fine. I know the NEC CDROM can read the DSL .5 CD as I have tested it earlier.

My main problem is that I cannot seem to get the DSL .5 boot floppy to recognise the SCSI controller and/or recognise the SCSI devices. I read the knoppix forum for ideas, but they did not address the problem directly or did not work (or I am screwing something up, please tell me what!).

The boot floppy does have the aha152x.o module but I am unable to successfully pass boot kernel options to the module to get it to work. When I use Debian or Mandrake to install, I had to pass "aha152x=0x340,11".

I tried using the "expert" mode but it does allow passing kernel options (that I could get to work). I tried "knoppix aha152x=0x340,11" at the boot prompt menu with no luck.

Mandrake 9.2 required the scsi_mod.o and sd_mod.o modules to be installed before it worked properly. Debian 2.2 had those compiled into the kernel so it only needed the aha152x=0x340,11 kernel option appended in LILO to work right.

I am stuck, can any DSL and/or SCSI gurus be so kind as to enlighten me as to what I am doing wrong? I RTFM and tried a bunch of stuff but cannot get this to work.

Is there someway I could "break in" the install procedure and drop to a shell so I could insmod the device manually and then continue the install? (hidden debug mode?).

I tried editting the boot floppy "Syslinux.cfg" to add the "aha152x=0x340,11" kernel option with no success.

THANKS IN ADVANCE

Andrew Lynch

PS, I have never gotten knoppix, morphix, or DSL to boot properly on this PC. I wonder if there is a bug in the SCSI modules code/config or something.

PPS, please refrain from suggesting that I add an EIDE CDROM, get a new PC, etc. I know that is a solution already. This old PC still has life but it is not getting any new HW as it is the collection of old cast off remanents already. I'd like to put it back to work WITHOUT investing in new hardware. THANKS!

Posted by cbagger01 on Nov. 28 2003,19:52

Two things that you should be aware of:

(1) The DSL boot floppy allows you to boot to an "expert" mode. In this expert mode, you are allowed to install additional modules. DSL should have the SCSI support built into the kernel, so all you need to do is install the SCSI driver module. This means that you need to boot DSL from a different computer and copy over the SCSI card driver module on to a blank floppy disk. If I remember correctly, the expert prompt expects you to insert the floppy disk with the driver on it and then type in the name of the module (without the ".0" file extension).

(2) if that doesn't work, you can always copy the contents of the live CD over to an IDE hard disk (if you own one) and boot from the hard drive instead of the CDROM. DSL will recognize HDA1 as a CDROM if the files are saved in the correct location (C:\KNOPPIX ALL CAPS REQUIRED)

That's all I know of.