View Single Post
  #3  
Old June 16th 06, 10:07 PM posted to alt.sys.pc-clone.compaq.servers
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Fedora Core 5 on Compaq Proliant 2500

Steve,

I'm not a Fedora Core user so I don't know which kernel it uses.

The Linux kernel doesn't understand the way that the Proliant 2500 (and
other early models) reports memory. I'm betting linux is only seeing
16meg of ram.

The fix for this is to specify memory at boot time.

For the 2.4 Kernel
mem=exactmap mem=640K@0M mem=(actual ram - 1m)M@1M

For the 2.6 Kernel
memmap=exactmap memmap=640K@0M memmap=(actual ram - 1M)@1M

append the appropriate text when you select the kernel to boot from on
a system with 128 megs of ram it woul look like:

linux memmap=exactmap memmap=640K@0M memmap=127M@1M

Good Luck!
VinceV


wrote:
{Cross-posted to linux.redhat.install}

I was given a Compaq Proliant 2500 server and a Compaq Storage System
last week just to tinker with at home. My goal is to install Fedora
Core 5 (so I can learn more about the Linux environment) and to become
more comfortable with SCSI drive management. I'm not a true Linux
newbie, but I have only administered existing Linux/Apache servers at
work and my only installs have been on desktops with IDE drives.

The server has the Compaq Smart Array 2/P RAID Controller installed and
two 2.1 GB SCSI drives in the drive cage. The Storage System is also
full of drives, but I am waiting for the SCSI cable to attach it to the
server, because he forgot to grab that when he brought me the rest of
the stuff.

I was able to download and use the SmartStart 5.50 CD to erase the
system and congifure the array. I told it to optimize the system for a
Linux install and at the end, it told me it would restart and I should
follow the OS instructions to continue my install.

I put CD#1 in and let the system boot to it.

The install started and reached a certain point and hung for a very
long time. I cycled the power and tried one mor time. It hangs in the
same place every time.

Here's the text that is on the screen when it hangs:

CPU: Intel Pentium Pro Stepping 07
Checking 'hit' instruction... OK.
ExtINT not setup in hardware but reported by MP table
ENABLING IO-APIC IRQs
..TIMER: vector=0x31 apic1=0 pin1=2 apic2=0 pin2=0
..MP-BIOS bug: 8254 timer not connected to IO-APIC
...trying to set up timer (IRQ0) through the 8259A ...
..... (found pin 0) ...works.
checking if image is initramfs... it is
Freeing initrd memory: 4859k freed
NET: Registered protocal family 16
PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xf0068, last bus=2
PCI: Using configuration type 1
ACPI: Subsystem revision 20060127
ACPI: Interpreter disabled.
Linux Plug and Play Support v0.97 (c) Adam Belay
pnp: PnP ACPI: disabled
usbco registered new driver usbfs
usbco registered new driver hub
PCI: Probing PCI hardware
PCI BIOS passed nonexistent PCI bus 2!
PCI: Device 0000:00:00.0 not found by BIOS
PCI: Device 0000:00:14.0 not found by BIOS
PCI: Failed to allocate mem resource #6:1000000@42000000 for
0000:01:06.0
PCI: Bridge: 0000:00:0d.0

Things I am uncertain about:

Since I don't have the SCSI cable for attaching the Storage System, the
SCSI connector on th rear of the server is unterminated. I don't know
if this model is self terminating, or if I need a terminator. If so,
could that be what is hanging it up?

Could it be a bad RAM issue? The system has, I believe, the 64MB DIMM
and two 128MB DIMMs. Memory counts up fine, but it counts to only 274K
and some change. I'm assuming that's a shared memory situation.

By the way, I tried just for fun and giggles late last night booting to
the Knoppix 5.0.1 CD. It wouldn't load either, but I didn't get the
text from that error, other than it was unable to load and was loading
instead a minimal enivornment that gave me a prompt only.

I really want to get this going. Any hints?

Thanks

Steve