Re: Installing NetBSD over SoL

["Ben C." <armondbc%gmail.com@localhost>]

Well, that was a close hit.

I just noticed in my BIOS, indeed, instead of "com0, com1, com2" -- it
lists them as "com1, com2, com3" -- starting at 1 instead of 0

However, the NetBSD installer doesn't seem to care.  This just really
confused matters worse for me:
consdev com0 yeilds no results (as soon as I press enter, I loose focus)
consdev com1 is the same
consdev com2 is the same,
consdev com3 --
when I type it gives me the > prompt back, which after 'boot' looks
something like this:

> boot
booting cd0a:netbsd
10122912+5691904+783264=0x10d52a0

The cursor once again goes to the extreme-right of the screen and I
loose control.  I didn't try it with the 'kdb' added on there as the
bootloader's help menu says is possible, I have no idea what it
means/is (keyboard driver?  just guessing)

In the BIOS, it shows them like this:
COM1 - Base Address, IRQ ----- 3F8h, 4
COM2 - Base Address, IRQ ----- 2F8h, 3
COM3 - Base Address, IRQ ----- 3E8h, 5

Also, "Redirection after BIOS POST' is set to "Always" -- Not sure if
this really means much,

........ but this is where it gets really confusing ......
I was able to do an install of NetBSD over the iKVM interface after
about 6 attempts and it crashing, hanging, and doing bad things.  It's
a really "bad" install as I skipped the partitioning (it's default)
and generally whizzed through the install as quickly as possible just
trying to get a working system before the iKVM crashed again.
However, during the install it asked something about the 'bootblocks'
and how to install them, -- which included some section about serial
devices (which, I particularly don't understand, I must be reading the
wrong man pages...) -- When this happened I selected 'com3' at 115200
baud, which is my SoL baud.

Now, back to the working system .. When booting into this bootloader
of a working system (not the installer's) -- once again,
consdev com0 is broken
consdev com1 is broken
consdev com2 yeilds a panic.  If Jason is right then NetBSD's com2 is
the BIOS's com3 -- my SoL port -- and it's yeilding a panic.
Unfortunately I cannot copy & paste text directly to/from my ipmi/SoL
utility but here is a screenshot of what I can see (no scroll either):

http://oi52.tinypic.com/qxujr5.jpg

now, then --
consdev com3 [The BIOS's com4?] gives me a prompt to at least type
'boot' into -- unlike com0 and com1 --

I'm pretty confused at this point.  I'd like to be able to reinstall
NetBSD using the SoL so I have time and not trying to play beat the
clock with the iKVM.  It would also be extremely useful to be educated
on what's going on here... any relevant info appreciated ..

Thanks, Ben C





>>
>> ] something like this: options
>> CONSDEVNAME="\"com\"",CONADDR=0x3f8,CONSPEED=9600   # untested
>> ] if you can get the dmesg output somehow, you can find the necessary
>> i/o address. [speaking of the 0x3f8]
>> ] i think 3e8 is most likely actually, although for ports above com2
>> there doesn't seem to be a definitive standard
>>
>> I'll give this a shot if I can't find a place in my BIOS to change
>> where the SoL 'listens' on, but it still fails to answer
>> the question why consdev com3 doesn't work when it seems the behavior
>> I expected was the intended behavior.
>>
>> I wonder if NetBSD has a static CONADDR= which is incorrect for my board?
>>
>> Any thoughts? -- Ben
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 12:43 PM, Ben C.<armondbc%gmail.com@localhost> 
>>  wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello all,
>>>
>>> I recently upgraded my i7's motherboard to a SuperMicro X8SIE-F that
>>> has IPMI/Serial over LAN (SoL) capabilities.
>>> I can't get NetBSD to install via SoL:
>>>
>>> When connected using ipmiutils, I see the POST screen, and then the
>>> NetBSD bootloader, -- per some very old
>>> instructions I found via googling (sorry, I can't find the URL now..)
>>> it says use consdev comX to redirect the output
>>> to the appropriate com device.
>>>
>>> So my procedure goes something like this:
>>> Get to bootloader screen -- press 4 for bootloader prompt
>>>>
>>>> consdev com3
>>>> boot
>>>
>>> I see the kernel unpacking--checksumming--whatever it's doing (some
>>> hexadecimal stuff+hexadecimal stuff+ .. with the /\|-
>>> progress thing spinning)
>>> After that, the cursor is pushed to the far right and I see no
>>> additional output.
>>>
>>> I know there is the boot-com.iso available on the ftp which the docs
>>> state 'redirects to com0... at 9600 baud...'
>>>
>>> However, as far as I can tell (unless I'm missing something very major
>>> in the BIOS) the IPMI/SoL can only "listen" on com3.
>>>
>>> There is also a feature on the board called 'console redirection' or
>>> 'ikvm' (supermicro seems to like to rename their technologies
>>> occasionally
>>> throughout the system) -- It seems to be some kind of bastard deviant
>>> of VNC .. But I simply can't get it to work .. I'm stuck to a
>>> proprietary
>>> Java app provided by supermicro -- and it seems to hang/do something
>>> bad to the BMC chip after a few seconds of use.  This is all pretty
>>> irrelevant except for the fact it works long enough for me to verify
>>> it's booting into the installer after the above 'consdev com3...boot'
>>> --
>>> it's just not redirecting it to com3 ..
>>>
>>> Am I doing something wrong in the bootloader or is this intended
>>> behavior?  How do I build my own 'boot-com.iso' -like ISO but redirect
>>> to com3 at a higher baud?  I've read Chapt. 34 -- Making your own
>>> installation media but it doesn't cover how to customize the install
>>> in this way.
>>>
>>> Thanks, Ben
>>>
>
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