Author Topic: ArcaOS: Impossible to install!  (Read 26917 times)

Pete

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ArcaOS: Impossible to install!
« on: June 01, 2017, 05:01:31 am »
Hi All

After all the fun I had getting ArcaOS installed and working on a laptop I thought installing it to a fairly standard amd x64 4 core with 4 Gb RAM would be a breeze.

I thought wrong.

Sadly the OS2AHCI.ADD driver included with ArcaOS fails to "see" the hard disks attached to the SATA ports. Here is the output of copy os2ahci$ captured to file:-

cmd_hdr: f3ee3620  65 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-80 d4 1e cf 00 00 00 00   e...............
ata_cmd: f9234934  01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 a0 00               ............
atapi_cmd: f92349e8  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00               ............
Adapter 0: PCI=0:17:0 ID=1002:4391 AMD SB700/800 irq=19 addr=0xfeb0b000 version=10200
  Port 0:
    No drive present
  Port 1:
    No drive present
  Port 2:
    Drive 0: atapi removable
             Model: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NSC0               
  Port 3:
    Drive 0: atapi removable
             Model: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NSC0               
Adapter 1: PCI=3:0:0 ID=1b4b:9172 Generic Generic irq=47 addr=0xfe810000 version=10000
  Port 0:
    No drive present


This is what the output should read (courtesy of os2ahci.add v1.32 from eCS2.2beta2):-

BldLevel: @#D Azarewicz:1.32#@##1## 10 Nov 2013 07:58:57     DAZAR1    ::::::@@AHCI Driver (c) 2013 D Azarewicz
CmdLine: OS2AHCI.ADD
Adapter 0: PCI=0:17:0 ID=1002:4391 AMD SB700/800 irq=19 addr=0xfeb0b000 version=10200
  Port 0:
    Drive 0: 9729 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors per track (76316MB) (LVM)
  Port 1:
    Drive 0: 60321 cylinders, 255 heads, 127 sectors per track (953855MB) (LVM)
  Port 2:
    Drive 0: atapi removable Drive present but no information available. Not queried by OS.
  Port 3:
    Drive 0: atapi removable Drive present but no information available. Not queried by OS.
  Port 4:
    No drive present
  Port 5:
    No drive present
Adapter 1: PCI=3:0:0 ID=1b4b:9172 Generic Generic irq=47 addr=0xfe810000 version=10000
  Port 0:
    No drive present
  Port 1:
    No drive present

If anyone can think of a way to get the working version of os2ahci.add into the boot files of the ArcaOS dvd I'm interested - I suspect the only answer is to ask Arca Noae if they will make a "1 off" for me.


Regards

Pete

ivan

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Re: ArcaOS: Impossible to install!
« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2017, 09:26:03 am »
Hi Pete,

Congratulations that you got that far on an AMD 64 multi core based machine.  On my brand new, never had an operating system installed I couldn't even get it to load the ram disk at the start of the process. The stupid thing is that I can setup a ram disk and load a copy of freedos into it with ease.

As a check I tried it on a single core AMD 64 processor machine that we have in the service department.  4GB ram and a brand new 500 GB hard disk.  Everything appears to go well up yo the first reboot when it reports 'no operating system found', yet I can load our standard WSeB image on to that machine and it boots and runs without problems.

Roderick Klein

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Re: ArcaOS: Impossible to install!
« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2017, 12:17:55 pm »
Hi Pete,

Congratulations that you got that far on an AMD 64 multi core based machine.  On my brand new, never had an operating system installed I couldn't even get it to load the ram disk at the start of the process. The stupid thing is that I can setup a ram disk and load a copy of freedos into it with ease.

As a check I tried it on a single core AMD 64 processor machine that we have in the service department.  4GB ram and a brand new 500 GB hard disk.  Everything appears to go well up yo the first reboot when it reports 'no operating system found', yet I can load our standard WSeB image on to that machine and it boots and runs without problems.

I wish I could help Pete.

Ivan just for information how does the boot process of Arca Noae not work with the ramdrive ?
Any error message ?
From what I understand you say that Freedos can load from ramdrive or you can create a ramdrive.
The ramdrive ArcaOS uses seems to be also Veit Kannegieser his preboot menu code that eCS uses (you can get it from Veit his website). The fact that Freedos works says nothing as to why ArcaOS is failing. As ArcaOS is whole lot more complex that freedos.

As for that boot issue you describe on the AMD 64 system it seems this is classic OS/2 issue that I have seen with OS/2 MCP, WSeB and eCS and you now possibly with ArcaOS. On the AMD 64 system install airboot and see if then boots the system. Its possibly sysinstx from rspinst failing...

You most likely have a single partition setup on that system single core AMD 64 system ?

Roderick



Doug Bissett

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Re: ArcaOS: Impossible to install!
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2017, 04:13:09 pm »
I tested ArcaOS on an AMD A6 processor (8 GB, UEFI). AHCI works as it should, and ArcaOS installed with no trouble. I also tested on older quad core, and triple core, AMD processors (2 to 6 GB). AHCI always worked as expected. I do know that you had AHCI problems in the past, and I expect that whatever that was is also causing your problems now. Be sure that you have it set to use AHCI. It may also help if you deselect the Dani driver in the preboot menu, unless you need it for something. If you do need it, driver load order may make a difference (edit CONFIG.SYS, if needed).

Pete

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Re: ArcaOS: Impossible to install!
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2017, 05:59:04 pm »
Hi ivan

Never had any real problems - sometimes had to try several different bootup settings - installing eCS to amdx64 1/2/4 core cpus in the past. Probably just been a bit lucky on hardware selection; currently have 1 2core, 1 Phenom 4core and 1 FX4300 4core all trundling nicely with various releases of eCS + some Arca Noae updates.

However, ArcaOS has totally defeated me when trying to install to the FX4300 system due to the os2ahci problem.


Regards

Pete

RickCHodgin

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Re: ArcaOS: Impossible to install!
« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2017, 06:07:23 pm »
However, ArcaOS has totally defeated me when trying to install to the FX4300 system due to the os2ahci problem.

If you want, go the secondary route:  Install Linux on that device, and then install Arca OS as a virtual machine and just run it in full-screen or seamless mode.

Arca OS is fast enough that it will be snappy even in a VM.  You'll get the best of both worlds until drivers are added for your hardware at some point.

Thank you,
Rick C. Hodgin

Pete

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Re: ArcaOS: Impossible to install!
« Reply #6 on: June 01, 2017, 06:18:10 pm »
Hi Doug

Sounds like os2ahci.add worked as it should on your systems - lucky you  :-)

Yes, BIOS disk access is set to AHCI, no the danis506.add is not in use.

As you can see from comparing output of copy os2ahci$ of the ArcaOS supplied version (v2.01 I think) which does not "see" any hard drives and also fails to "see" Adapter1 Port1 to the output of os2ahci$ v1.32 included with eCS2.2beta2 which displays connected hard disks correctly and recognises both Ports on Adapter1 there is a problem with the ArcaOS os2ahci.add driver. To clarify: the output of both drivers is on the same hardware, these are not different systems providing the output.

I have no idea why the ArcaOS version should fail so badly - but the os2ahci.add included in the Arca Noae driver pack also has problems. If I remember correctly that fails to identify Adapter1 completely - but David states that the 2 releases of os2ahci.add v1.32 are identical apart from the bldlevel info. Sorry to say but he must be wrong - possibly a different compiler switch used or other minor setting that he has forgotten about - simply because the drivers behave so differently.

I think we were hoping that problem would be resolved by the ArcaOS version...


Regards

Pete

Pete

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Re: ArcaOS: Impossible to install!
« Reply #7 on: June 01, 2017, 06:20:19 pm »
Hi Rick

If I installed linux on this system I would not bother running any OS/2 based system in a vm/vpc. I'm sure it would run quickly enough but I simply would not have any use for it.


Regards

Pete

RickCHodgin

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Re: ArcaOS: Impossible to install!
« Reply #8 on: June 01, 2017, 06:29:34 pm »
If I installed linux on this system I would not bother running any OS/2 based system in a vm/vpc. I'm sure it would run quickly enough but I simply would not have any use for it.

You might be surprised.  VirtualBox is free, fast, and it has an integrated desktop environment which allows applications on the desktop inside of OS/2 to pop out onto your Linux desktop so they are fully integrated.  I've never tried this with OS/2, but I have used it with various flavors of Windows.

You might be able to run OS/2 apps alongside Linux apps on the same desktop.  Might be worth considering.

Thank you,
Rick C. Hodgin

ak120

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Re: ArcaOS: Impossible to install!
« Reply #9 on: June 01, 2017, 06:37:17 pm »
You might be surprised.  VirtualBox is free, fast, and it has an integrated desktop environment which allows applications on the desktop inside of OS/2 to pop out onto your Linux desktop so they are fully integrated.  I've never tried this with OS/2, but I have used it with various flavors of Windows.
That's totally wrong. VirtualBox is quite slow and less acurate compared to other solutions. There is also no integration for OS/2. The guest driver misses all advanced features. The mouse driver integration can only be used in 1 PM session - better not try fullscreen OS/2 or DOS sessions including Win-OS/2-fullscreen.

Martin Iturbide

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Re: ArcaOS: Impossible to install!
« Reply #10 on: June 01, 2017, 07:02:21 pm »
That's totally wrong. VirtualBox is quite slow and less acurate compared to other solutions. There is also no integration for OS/2. The guest driver misses all advanced features. The mouse driver integration can only be used in 1 PM session - better not try fullscreen OS/2 or DOS sessions including Win-OS/2-fullscreen.

I disagree with you Andreas and your "That's totally wrong" statement is your own personal opinion. My installation of eCS under VirtualBox is working fine, it may not be perfect but it is very comfortable to work with OS/2 on a VM, specially when you are testing different kind of software and configurations.

Regards
Martin Iturbide
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Martin Iturbide

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Re: ArcaOS: Impossible to install!
« Reply #11 on: June 01, 2017, 07:07:45 pm »
Hi Pete

Maybe on this case what can be interesting it try to document the details of the mainboard, procesor and chipset that is giving you issues.

Is there any specific information that can be extracted from the mainboard to get more details of the AHCI to say something that "this kind of AHCI chipsets are not working with our current OS2AHCI.ADD" ? So it can be classified the motherboards that may have issues with ArcaOS/eCS/OS2.

Regards
« Last Edit: June 01, 2017, 07:27:57 pm by Martin Iturbide »
Martin Iturbide
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RickCHodgin

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Re: ArcaOS: Impossible to install!
« Reply #12 on: June 01, 2017, 07:34:18 pm »
... VirtualBox is quite slow and less acurate compared to other solutions. There is also no integration for OS/2. The guest driver misses all advanced features. The mouse driver integration can only be used in 1 PM session - better not try fullscreen OS/2 or DOS sessions including Win-OS/2-fullscreen.

What solution do you use?  I've used VirtualBox almost exclusively since 2012 or thereabouts.  I'd like to have a better OS/2 integration.  What do you recommend?

Thank you,
Rick C. Hodgin

Pete

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Re: ArcaOS: Impossible to install!
« Reply #13 on: June 01, 2017, 07:47:14 pm »
Hi Rick

I do not see any point in running an operating system to run an operating system. Either ArcaOS installs to real hardware  or it does not get installed.


Regards

Pete

Pete

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Re: ArcaOS: Impossible to install!
« Reply #14 on: June 01, 2017, 07:58:10 pm »
Hi Martin

The mainboard is a Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 with AMDFX990/SB950 chipsets

No problem with the eCS2.2beta2 supplied os2ahci.add v1.32 - connected disks are displayed, system boots with eSATA drive connected.

Using Arca Noae os2ahci.add v1.32 results in boot failing when an eSATA drive is attached - the only way to use an eSATA drive currently.

Using Arca Noae os2ahci.add v2.01 results in no connected hard disks available and Adapter1 Port1 missing - by far the worst os2ahci.add performance to date.


Regards

Pete