If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Board with USB boot capability?
I am looking for a micro-atx motherboard to use for linux routers that can
boot from a usb flash card. Which asus boards do this? It would be nice to have a list of model numbers (if anyone has them). From what I can see, boards with the new AMI bios seem to have usb booting. I have tried it on a A7N8X-VM, and it would boot (but it did have issues as I explain below). However I want to go with an intel celeron on these. Also I need to be able to use nic drivers that come with the stock kernel (for maintainability, and since the kernel I use does not support modules), so the nforce chipset is out anyway. I have done this on an intel board, which I do not mind all that much. However I am having an issue with reliability. Basically I had some issues with the usb not detecting on reboot sometimes, so I modified a script to reboot when it finished booting, so it would keep rebooting automatically and I could check on it every now and then. After about 20-30 reboots, the intel board would either not detect the usb flash or I would end up getting some other usb error from the kernel. I tried this with the A7N8X-VM, and got the same results. I have tried 3 different brands of usb card readers and 3 different flash cards (different brands too), all have the same problem. To troubleshoot further I tried using a ide flash reader on the intel board, and it still had the reboot problem. It seems that a p4b533 is not having the problem when using the IDE reader. After hours and hours of messing around with this, it seems that the only thing that the failing systems have in common (and that is different from systems that work), is the AMI bios. I am not completely certain if this is the problem, but it is all I can come up with. That is why I would like to find a non-AMI (pref award) bios driven board that will do usb booting. I could then get one and do my tests on it. The problem is that I don't know which boards would fit this profile. Help, anyone? |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
In article , N
wrote: I am looking for a micro-atx motherboard to use for linux routers that can boot from a usb flash card. Which asus boards do this? It would be nice to have a list of model numbers (if anyone has them). From what I can see, boards with the new AMI bios seem to have usb booting. I have tried it on a A7N8X-VM, and it would boot (but it did have issues as I explain below). However I want to go with an intel celeron on these. Also I need to be able to use nic drivers that come with the stock kernel (for maintainability, and since the kernel I use does not support modules), so the nforce chipset is out anyway. I have done this on an intel board, which I do not mind all that much. However I am having an issue with reliability. Basically I had some issues with the usb not detecting on reboot sometimes, so I modified a script to reboot when it finished booting, so it would keep rebooting automatically and I could check on it every now and then. After about 20-30 reboots, the intel board would either not detect the usb flash or I would end up getting some other usb error from the kernel. I tried this with the A7N8X-VM, and got the same results. I have tried 3 different brands of usb card readers and 3 different flash cards (different brands too), all have the same problem. To troubleshoot further I tried using a ide flash reader on the intel board, and it still had the reboot problem. It seems that a p4b533 is not having the problem when using the IDE reader. After hours and hours of messing around with this, it seems that the only thing that the failing systems have in common (and that is different from systems that work), is the AMI bios. I am not completely certain if this is the problem, but it is all I can come up with. That is why I would like to find a non-AMI (pref award) bios driven board that will do usb booting. I could then get one and do my tests on it. The problem is that I don't know which boards would fit this profile. Help, anyone? Hardware to the rescue! Here is a picture of a flash drive which is IDE based. http://www.smartmodular.com/binary/photo/3.5IDE_lrg.jpg http://www.smartmodular.com/news/article.cfm?newsID=131 http://www.smartmodulartech.com/bina...lashDrives.pdf A 640MB drive is $214.73 here. A picture of the form factor would have been nice. SM9FLAM2AE640M1 http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....iteria=3325999 There are other manufacturers - try "ide flash drive" in your favorite search engine. And be careful of the interface, as there are 40 pin 0.1" centers connectors on some, and 44 pin (similar to laptop drives?) on others. HTH, Paul |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
=|[ N's ]|= wrote:
I am looking for a micro-atx motherboard to use for linux routers that can boot from a usb flash card.... I was just thinking, if you want to test the bios idea, why not buy an award bios for your current test board/s -they're modular and seem to get thrown together~ http://www.esupport.com/biosupgrades/index.cfm -- ' gathering moss, andy [ the beep is presently hiding from a new Hal ] |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Actually I am trying to get away from using the ide flash readers. The
main reasons being that I have a reliable in-town distributor for usb flash readers (we are having to order the ide flash readers online, and sometimes it takes quite a while), and I want to be able to do a software raid 1 without adding a promise card (without the flash on one channel, I can put 1 hard disk on each). Also it would be nice to have the hot-swap features of usb. On Fri, 27 Feb 2004 20:24:36 -0500, Paul wrote: Hardware to the rescue! Here is a picture of a flash drive which is IDE based. http://www.smartmodular.com/binary/photo/3.5IDE_lrg.jpg http://www.smartmodular.com/news/article.cfm?newsID=131 http://www.smartmodulartech.com/bina...lashDrives.pdf A 640MB drive is $214.73 here. A picture of the form factor would have been nice. SM9FLAM2AE640M1 http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....iteria=3325999 There are other manufacturers - try "ide flash drive" in your favorite search engine. And be careful of the interface, as there are 40 pin 0.1" centers connectors on some, and 44 pin (similar to laptop drives?) on others. HTH, Paul |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
In article , N
wrote: Actually I am trying to get away from using the ide flash readers. The main reasons being that I have a reliable in-town distributor for usb flash readers (we are having to order the ide flash readers online, and sometimes it takes quite a while), and I want to be able to do a software raid 1 without adding a promise card (without the flash on one channel, I can put 1 hard disk on each). Also it would be nice to have the hot-swap features of usb. There is a slightly interesting thread he http://forums.sudhian.com/messagevie...threadid=39177 I was under the impression that for the most part, USB keychain devices weren't bootable, based on so many people asking how to do it :-) Paul On Fri, 27 Feb 2004 20:24:36 -0500, Paul wrote: Hardware to the rescue! Here is a picture of a flash drive which is IDE based. http://www.smartmodular.com/binary/photo/3.5IDE_lrg.jpg http://www.smartmodular.com/news/article.cfm?newsID=131 http://www.smartmodulartech.com/bina...lashDrives.pdf A 640MB drive is $214.73 here. A picture of the form factor would have been nice. SM9FLAM2AE640M1 http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....iteria=3325999 There are other manufacturers - try "ide flash drive" in your favorite search engine. And be careful of the interface, as there are 40 pin 0.1" centers connectors on some, and 44 pin (similar to laptop drives?) on others. HTH, Paul |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
why not buy an award bios for your current test board/s
Trust me, that's a dumb suggestion. "Creeping Stone" wrote in message . .. =|[ N's ]|= wrote: I am looking for a micro-atx motherboard to use for linux routers that can boot from a usb flash card.... I was just thinking, if you want to test the bios idea, why not buy an award bios for your current test board/s -they're modular and seem to get thrown together~ http://www.esupport.com/biosupgrades/index.cfm -- ' gathering moss, andy [ the beep is presently hiding from a new Hal ] |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
=|[ Derek Hawkins's ]|= wrote:
why not buy an award bios for your current test board/s Trust me, that's a dumb suggestion. It was just a thought, Id like to know why its dumb though ? -- ' gathering moss, andy |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Here's a cow instead of a glass of milk (hope you aren't lactose
intolerant); Search Google on ["core bios" chipset]. "Creeping Stone" wrote in message ... =|[ Derek Hawkins's ]|= wrote: why not buy an award bios for your current test board/s Trust me, that's a dumb suggestion. It was just a thought, Id like to know why its dumb though ? -- ' gathering moss, andy |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Check out CF-IDE adapters like: http://siliconkit.com/cart/
or: http://www.cwlinux.com/eng/products/products_ide2cf.php Or build your own: The following is a pin definition & connection table for CF/PCMCIA cards in "True-IDE" mode. "xx" means that this signal has no equivalent connection in this standard. The following pins are straight through connections: PCMCIA..CF......IDE...Signal Name 30------21------17....D0 31------22------15....D1 32------23------13....D2 2-------2-------11....D3 3-------3-------9.....D4 4-------4-------7.....D5 5-------5-------5.....D6 6-------6-------3.....D7 64------47------4.....D8 65------48------6.....D9 66------49------8.....D10 37------27------10....D11 38------28------12....D12 39------29------14....D13 40------30------16....D14 41------31------18....D15 29------20------35....A0 28------19------33....A1 27------18------36....A2 16------37------31....INTRQ 33------24------32....-IOCS16 44------34------25....-IORD 45------35------23....-IOWR 58------41------1.....-RESET 59------42------27....IORDY 62------45------39....DASP 63------46------34....-PDIAG 7-------7-------37....-CE1 select 0x1Fx 42------32------38....-CE2 select 0x3Fx The following pins should be connected to power, ground or not at all: PCMCIA..CF......IDE...Signal Name..connect to 26------17------xx....A3...........=GND 25------16------xx....A4...........=GND 24------15------xx....A5...........=GND 23------14------xx....A6...........=GND 22------12------xx....A7...........=GND 12------11------xx....A8...........=GND 11------10------xx....A9...........=GND 8-------8-------xx....A10..........=GND 1-------1-------xx....Power GND....=GND 34------xx------xx....Power GND....=GND 35------xx------xx....Power GND....=GND 68------50------xx....Power GND....=GND 17------13------xx....Power VCC....=VCC 51------38------xx....Power VCC....=VCC 9-------9-------xx....-OE..........=GND-selects "True-IDE" 15------36------xx....-WE..........=VCC 61------44------xx....-REG.........=VCC 56------39------xx....-CSEL........=GND-master/=n.c.-slave 36------26------xx....-CD1.........=not connected 67------25------xx....-CD2.........=not connected 43------33------xx....-VS1.........=not connected 57------40------xx....-VS2.........=not connected 60------43------xx....-INPACK......=not connected xx------xx------2.....GND..........=GND xx------xx------19....GND..........=GND xx------xx------22....GND..........=GND xx------xx------24....GND..........=GND xx------xx------26....GND..........=GND xx------xx------30....GND..........=GND xx------xx------40....GND..........=GND xx------xx------20....KEY..........=missing pin in IDE connector xx------xx------21....DMAREQ.......=not connected xx------xx------28....SPSYNC.......=not connected xx------xx------29....DMACK........=not connected All other pins of PCMCIA are not connected. Connect all pins of IDE and CF/PCMCIA connector marked GND to the GND pin of the power supply connector. Connect all pins of the CF/PCMCIA connector marked VCC to the +5V pin of the power supply connector. PCMCIA/CF cards DO NOT SUPPORT DMA; they can only be used in pio mode. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Important Note THIS ADAPTER CAN ONLY BE USED WITH PCMCIA/CF CARDS WITH +5V VCC POWER SUPPLY. APPLYING +5V TO CARDS DESIGNED TO OPERATE ONLY FROM +3.3V MAY PERMANENTLY DAMAGE THEM. USING 3.3V CARDS AT THEIR RATED VOLTAGE ON A NORMAL IDE-BUS *MAY* WORK, BUT NOT NESCESSARILY, AS THE IDE INTERFACE IS DESIGNED AROUND +5V LOGIC CIRCUITS. USING 3.3V CARDS AT THEIR RATED VOLTAGE ON A "3.3V COMPATIBLE" IDE-BUS SHOULD WORK, BUT HAS NOT BEEN TESTED. FOR INFORMATION ON POWER SUPPLY REQUIREMENTS OF CF CARDS CONTACT THEIR MANUFACTURER. note: many of the higher capacity (16 MB+) are 3.3V ONLY devices. The circuit described above has been tested with 8 MB Hitachi flash cards. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Check out CF-IDE adapters like: http://siliconkit.com/cart/
or: http://www.cwlinux.com/eng/products/products_ide2cf.php Or build your own: The following is a pin definition & connection table for CF/PCMCIA cards in "True-IDE" mode. "xx" means that this signal has no equivalent connection in this standard. The following pins are straight through connections: PCMCIA..CF......IDE...Signal Name 30------21------17....D0 31------22------15....D1 32------23------13....D2 2-------2-------11....D3 3-------3-------9.....D4 4-------4-------7.....D5 5-------5-------5.....D6 6-------6-------3.....D7 64------47------4.....D8 65------48------6.....D9 66------49------8.....D10 37------27------10....D11 38------28------12....D12 39------29------14....D13 40------30------16....D14 41------31------18....D15 29------20------35....A0 28------19------33....A1 27------18------36....A2 16------37------31....INTRQ 33------24------32....-IOCS16 44------34------25....-IORD 45------35------23....-IOWR 58------41------1.....-RESET 59------42------27....IORDY 62------45------39....DASP 63------46------34....-PDIAG 7-------7-------37....-CE1 select 0x1Fx 42------32------38....-CE2 select 0x3Fx The following pins should be connected to power, ground or not at all: PCMCIA..CF......IDE...Signal Name..connect to 26------17------xx....A3...........=GND 25------16------xx....A4...........=GND 24------15------xx....A5...........=GND 23------14------xx....A6...........=GND 22------12------xx....A7...........=GND 12------11------xx....A8...........=GND 11------10------xx....A9...........=GND 8-------8-------xx....A10..........=GND 1-------1-------xx....Power GND....=GND 34------xx------xx....Power GND....=GND 35------xx------xx....Power GND....=GND 68------50------xx....Power GND....=GND 17------13------xx....Power VCC....=VCC 51------38------xx....Power VCC....=VCC 9-------9-------xx....-OE..........=GND-selects "True-IDE" 15------36------xx....-WE..........=VCC 61------44------xx....-REG.........=VCC 56------39------xx....-CSEL........=GND-master/=n.c.-slave 36------26------xx....-CD1.........=not connected 67------25------xx....-CD2.........=not connected 43------33------xx....-VS1.........=not connected 57------40------xx....-VS2.........=not connected 60------43------xx....-INPACK......=not connected xx------xx------2.....GND..........=GND xx------xx------19....GND..........=GND xx------xx------22....GND..........=GND xx------xx------24....GND..........=GND xx------xx------26....GND..........=GND xx------xx------30....GND..........=GND xx------xx------40....GND..........=GND xx------xx------20....KEY..........=missing pin in IDE connector xx------xx------21....DMAREQ.......=not connected xx------xx------28....SPSYNC.......=not connected xx------xx------29....DMACK........=not connected All other pins of PCMCIA are not connected. Connect all pins of IDE and CF/PCMCIA connector marked GND to the GND pin of the power supply connector. Connect all pins of the CF/PCMCIA connector marked VCC to the +5V pin of the power supply connector. PCMCIA/CF cards DO NOT SUPPORT DMA; they can only be used in pio mode. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Important Note THIS ADAPTER CAN ONLY BE USED WITH PCMCIA/CF CARDS WITH +5V VCC POWER SUPPLY. APPLYING +5V TO CARDS DESIGNED TO OPERATE ONLY FROM +3.3V MAY PERMANENTLY DAMAGE THEM. USING 3.3V CARDS AT THEIR RATED VOLTAGE ON A NORMAL IDE-BUS *MAY* WORK, BUT NOT NESCESSARILY, AS THE IDE INTERFACE IS DESIGNED AROUND +5V LOGIC CIRCUITS. USING 3.3V CARDS AT THEIR RATED VOLTAGE ON A "3.3V COMPATIBLE" IDE-BUS SHOULD WORK, BUT HAS NOT BEEN TESTED. FOR INFORMATION ON POWER SUPPLY REQUIREMENTS OF CF CARDS CONTACT THEIR MANUFACTURER. note: many of the higher capacity (16 MB+) are 3.3V ONLY devices. The circuit described above has been tested with 8 MB Hitachi flash cards. |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Boot problem with Promise SATA Fasttrack S150TX2 Plus | Wizard | General | 0 | September 13th 04 06:54 PM |
250 watt and ATX 2.1 needed to kep xp 2000 board running ? | We Live for the One we Die for the One | Overclocking | 0 | May 31st 04 02:38 PM |
Hard drive will not boot | Dave | General | 1 | March 9th 04 06:16 PM |
P4B266 BIOS failure | Jim in Canada | Asus Motherboards | 19 | February 20th 04 04:36 PM |
ASUS A7V RAID ? | Matt | Asus Motherboards | 10 | July 11th 03 07:33 PM |