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eCS 2.0RC6a Install on Compaq Presario 1240

Started by Saijin_Naib, 2009.03.06, 03:03:11

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Saijin_Naib

Hey, I need the help of the gurus. I desperately want to not throw this ancient piece of junk out but I have no use for it because: I will not waste a license of XP on it to get WPA2 support and ME is terrible, no linux distro I have tried will install and eCS will not install.

The problem is thus: once the computer boots to the install CD it can't go any further. On the Linux side, it says it can not find the CD-ROM drive. This issue I am familiar with on this laptop because I had an issue with the DANIs drivers post 1.2mr but not even the IBM drivers will make it go past the splash screen.

My question is, how do I get eCS on this thing? I've tried DANIs compat, DANIs performance, and IBM compat/performance. ACPI off because this computer is ancient and only supports APM (barely).

Thanks.

Pete

Hi

If this Compaq is really old maybe the cdrom drive is failing. I have had cdrom drives work for a short period of time eg 15 mins, and then not work but work again a little later - usually following a reboot - again for only a short time.

Do you have another cdrom drive you could try to test the above theory? - it would also give the chance of physically checking cables are OK and fully pushed home.

Regards

Pete

Saijin_Naib

Hey Pete,

No go on the extra CD drive although I'm 100% sure it works correctly as I can install any WinOS (98-XP) without any issues what-so-ever. I believe the problem stems from the ATAPI CD-ROM interface of the drive and how it is handled in both DANIs for eCS and the linux kernels. I tried using XUbuntu with the "magic switch" for ATAPI devices ide=0x180,0x386 but it did not help. I'm now trying to muscle DSL onto the HDD and install from there but that is proving to be a dead end too as it also can not find the drive after the installer starts.

warpcafe

Hi guys,

can it be that the Compaq uses some kind of "proprietary" IDE/ATAPI controller which is perhaps not 100% standards-compliant? I had that with some laptops dated back in the Warp3 heydays. Quite a lot of the thinggies required special drivers (on modified boot floppies set).
Talking about Win98 being able to see+use the CD drive: What's it loading? The generic "OAK Technology" driver? Or something else? Also, what does the Compaq (HP) site offer as drivers, if any...?

Cheers,
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

ivan

Hi Saijin

It could also be something as simple as the CD drive being set to slave and being the only drive on the channel.  Since both OS/2 and Linux check the hardware and want things to be correct whereas windows doesn't care because it lets the drivers sort it out, this could be why you are seeing what you are.  I also speak from having been caught by an older Compaq having that fault.

warpcafe

Hi, me again...

I did some search. Apparently, there are no specific drivers for the CD drive of that laptop (not even Win9x). That means that perhaps you need a special "switch" to Danis drivers for that device only (like no DMA, BM or whatever) or perhaps it is a glitch in Compaqs BIOS that can be corrected by applying a RomPaq like
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp09501-10000/sp9678.exe (the only one)
No guarantees as usual. ;)
Also, did you try to see if using JJSCDROM makes any difference?

It might also help to turn on the /V (verbose) switch for ibm1s506 / dani to see if they "see" the drive at all (like what ivan said). I don't know all parameters by heart but there is a doc somewhere to explain how to manually specify I/O, IRQ etc. for non-standard drives (like slave on single channel according to ivan).

Note that IIRC there's more to it than just the IDE drivers... not sure but there's things like the .DMD and some filter files as well.

Perhaps also these drivers in RC2 are just "too modern" to make them run on "vintage" hardware?
IIRC Daniela sometime ago said that she dropped support of some chipsets in favor of SATA stuff in the DANIS506.ADD ...perhaps that has an impact?
Out of curiosity - have you got any Warp3 / Warp4 GA version install media somewhere and could give these a try to see if they install (meaning: CD drive is accessible) ?

Cheers,
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

Blonde Guy

I may be suggesting something you already tried, but did you turn off ACPI in the pre-boot menu? That would seem to be important to me, but if you already did that then disregard this message. Maybe you should turn off USB in the pre-boot menu as well, but do you have a floppy drive to put in your install key?

Also, maybe eCS 1.2r install disk would do better (no ACPI...)

Neil
Expert Consulting for OS/2 and eComStation

Saijin_Naib

Hey Ivan, as far as I can tell from the limited BIOS (I hate laptop BIOSes) I have two IDE channels: Primary (HDD and CD-ROM) and Secondary (Floppy). I think the CD-ROM is the slave on the Primary channel.

Warpcafe, I have updated the Compaq BIOS as per your ROMPAQ and I've also tried to update the Keyboard Controller/Battery Firmware update as listed in the Windows ME update section for the Presario 1240, but apparently I've done it as it says it does not need the update.

I've taken the DANIATAP.FLT and DANIS506.ADD from my 1.2mr install (currently working on the Presario 1240) and put them onto a floppy labeled BOOT_UPDATE in the root as described per the Online Instructions on the installer CD. I specified DANIS506 for the pre-boot menu from the floppy and it got the installer past the splash screen but it still could not find the CD-ROM. Should I have specified DANIATAP instead?

I have not tried the other CD drivers yet as I used the standard OS2CDROM driver for the 1.2mr install and I assume it has not changed since then. I have however, updated the 1.2mr install with many of the packages from 2.0RC6a and many of the .dll and .exe files so it is a hybrid thing now. It boots so I guess I have not broken anything :P

Now what I desperately need is for GenMac packages which have support for my Microsoft MN-720 (Dell 1350), Broadcom chipset. eCS 1.2mr does NOT work with my USB stuff unless I get all the USB updates and that is a pain in the ass over floppies so network first.

Thanks guys!

Pete

Hi Saijin_Naib

You definitely want to use Danis drivers as a matched pair rather than mixing the builds.

Of interest is that the DANIATAP(I).FLT provides cd/dvd access so if you find the earlier build works and the later build does not Dani herself may be interested in being told about the problem - be aware that she does provide a bug report form, PROBLEM.TXT,  that you need to fill in before she will take an interest though.

Regards

Pete

Saijin_Naib

Hey Pete, to ascertain whether it was an issue with DANIs and my craptop or some other eCS 2.0 weirdness I took the DANIs 1.8.5 build and replaced my working version from 1.2mr with those and no-boot. No HDD nor CD activity, so it does indeed seem like some issue with whatever chipset my laptop has and the newer DANIs builds. Now I guess I just have to either slipstream them into the 2.0RC6a ISO and re-burn or try the BOOT_UPDATE method but I don't know what to do with that really.

The Blue Warper

Hi, Saijin_Naib,

just a note.  Maybe you've already done this, but there are many switches available for Dani(ela's) drivers.  Perhaps one (or more) of them can do your job.  You'll find a full list of all the parameters in the docs coming with the driver archives.
Good luck!

Saijin_Naib

Thanks TBW.

So far I swapped the !BIOS switch for /V and it booted 2.0RC6a fine and started to install. Unfortunately, at Phase 2 of the install it can no longer find the CD-ROM drive and shutting off and rebooting yields the installer stopping at loading IBM1FLPY.ADD every time. Ugh. What does this mean?

David McKenna

  Boot the CD and go to a command line (hit cancel as soon as possible, then 'System Management', then choose command window from 'Tools' drop down) and type: diskinfo. What does it say? This should list IDE drives present. Also, check the 'CONFIG.SYS' file on your eCS boot drive and see if the /!BIOS switch is still being used there. REM out any ACPI or APM lines too...

warpcafe

Quote from: Saijin_Naib on 2009.03.07, 18:42:04
Unfortunately, at Phase 2 of the install it can no longer find the CD-ROM drive and shutting off and rebooting yields the installer stopping at loading IBM1FLPY.ADD every time. Ugh. What does this mean?

Hi,

most likely it means that the switch you added manually is used during pre-install and phase 1 but perhaps did not make it into the config.sys written to disk and used during phase 2. This points to what David said in the previous posting. Also note that if ibm1flpy.add is the last driver shown before the system stops does not automatically mean that ibm1flpy.add is the actual "culprit"...
Check the config.sys that was created on your harddrive to see if it uses the same modifications like what you specified for/in the pre-installer menu. If you used drivers from a floppy, make sure the floppy is inserted during the hard-disk boot for phase2 (just to make sure...) and in this case also check that the drivers read from harddisk are the same that you possibly had on your floppy (if drivers from floppy used at all).

Keeping fingers crossed,
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

Pete

Hi

Isn't the IBM1FLPY.ADD driver loaded just before the IDE drivers?

Could that indicate the wrong Danis drivers made it to hard disk? - boot to a command line using the Installer CD and check the actual files on disk.

Never had to include any extra drivers during an eCS install but there must be some way of getting eCS Installer to add them - possibly in the CD pre-boot menu options.

Regards

Pete

Regards

Pete