[Discussion] Already A Boot Problem

[Thomas Clayton]

Dear POSSI:


For my Hardware setup see my immediately previous letter, "Commencing Installation".

Well, I've tried to "check out" my recently completed assembly (hardware, not programming). I've noticed a problem already. When I went to check its memory ("MemCheck 86") by booting from a DAD in the Toshiba DVDD (ID = 4), the system would NOT boot! Even though ALL settings seem (ARE) correct, the system would NOT boot in that configuration.

This was verified by placing the DAD into the Plextor RW-DADD and resetting the SCSI boot device to its ID (5). Then the boot took place normally. Also, when a DVD (SUSE Enterprise Linux) was placed into the Toshiba - and it was reset to be the boot device - a boot DID occur.

Has ANYone else seen this behavior? 

I've never seen it in ATAPI DVDDs. There, either kind of COD (DAD or DVD) will boot the system.
Here it seems ONLY the matching COD will. Hmmm. So, for OS installation purposes I may ?HAVE TO? Hw install the Toshiba XM-6401 RO-DADD - in order to get a decent speed of installation. The Toshiba DVDD, btw, is rated at the same speed for reading DADs as the Toshiba DADD.

One other thing just occurred to me: Since the DVDD is an ex-SUN unit, could the block size (512KB or 2048KB) setting be causing this? (I'd just left the jumper where it was when it came to me. To test it, I'd run it connected to another system (W3C), which indicated it could read DADs. So I figured it was working - which I wanted to confirm upon its reception - and I thought it is configured correctly.


Sincerely,

Thomas Clayton