[parisc-linux] booting a 9000/785/C8000

[Helge Deller]

(please keep the parisc-linux list on CC).

On Tuesday 04 September 2007, Rick Vernam wrote:
> On Tuesday 04 September 2007 03:17:56 pm you wrote:
> > On Friday 31 August 2007, Rick Vernam wrote:
> > > I'm new to parisc (hppa) machines - never touched one before.
> > > I'm trying to boot into linux so that i can do a simple
> > > 	dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/[hard drive]
> > > I have about 25-30 machines to work on, so I'm looking for a rather clean
> > > solution :-)
> > >
> > > I've tried both Gentoo's and Debian's hppa offerings, but am having the
> > > same problems on both (i've used gentoo x86/amd64 for years...):
> > > 1 - I can boot with 'console=tty0 sti=0/4/0/0' (as added by palo) and the
> > > boot process will stop with
> > > 	Console: colour dummy device 160x64
> > > at this point, it is not hard locked - I can ctrl-alt-del to reboot.  it
> > > would probably sit there indefinitely - I did leave it for about 16-18
> > > hours (running when I left work, still there the next day).
> > > 2 - I can boot without the 'console=tty0' and the kernel will load, but
> > > then fail when it can't find initial console (panic: kernel not syncing).
> > >
> > > I've tried with both the AGP 8x Fire GL X1 that comes in the machine, and
> > > a PCI Rage XL of some sort.
> > >
> > > The Gentoo kernel is 2.6.20 (most recent livecd, 2007.0), and debian's is
> > > also recent cd with 2.6.18 kernel.
> > > In both cases, the complete kernel command line were pretty much the same
> > > (maybe they varied in looptype? ...and order of arguments)
> > >
> > > TERM=linux root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc cdroot looptype=normal
> > > loop=/image.loop hda=scsi hdb=scsi console=tty0 sti=/0/4/0/0
> > > sti_font=VGA8x16 palo_kernel=0/vmlinux
> > >
> > > while it is doing whatever it does prior to when it can be stopped to
> > > specify a boot path (analogous to x86 post?) it does say something along
> > > the lines of:
> > > 	console device			graph3
> > > 						0/4/0/0.0
> > > 	current console device	graph3
> > > 						0/04/0/0.256
> > >
> > > So, upon seeing that tried to set the sti= kernel arg to those values,
> > > but found the same results.
> > >
> > > anybody, anything?
> >
> > Yes.
> > Probably the reason is, that you are using unsupported graphic cards.
> > Both, the Fire GL and the Rage XL are not supported, although maybe the
> > Rage XL could be made working (if a developer will/can try). Please see
> > http://parisc-linux.org/faq/index.html#fxgfx  and 
> > http://parisc-linux.org/faq/graphics-howto.html
> >
> > Helge
> 
> Well, The Fire GL X1 is the original card for the machine...and it boots HP-UX 
> just fine...
> I'm not looking even for framebuffer...nor will I be using X.
> I'd be happy with a non-framebuffered boot.
> Anything to get me to a shell.  (the machines have come in off-lease, and I 
> don't have root passwd for the existing HP-UX install).
> 
> Can I pass some kind of nofb kernel command line or something?

No, even "plain" text mode ("sticon") needs a driver, and the "STI" (Standard Text Interface) BIOS routines are not supported by the newer HP graphic cards.
Your only chance is to boot with serial cable and minicom (unplug keyboad/gfx cable):
http://parisc-linux.org/faq/index.html#serialcon

Helge