Re: Install CD for NetBSD amd64 7.0 doesn't boot on Dell FX 160

[Emiliano Gavilan <emilianogavilan%gmail.com@localhost>]

2015-10-30 21:27 GMT-03:00 Hal Murray <hmurray%megapathdsl.net@localhost>:
> It loads everything and starts.  After a screenfull or so of typical boot
> messages, the screen gets trashed.  Ctrl-Alt-DEL doesn't work.
>
> Does anybody recognize this problem?  What can I do to collect more info?
>
> I tried the no ACPI and no SMP options.  That didn't help.
>
> The 6.0 CD acts the same way.
>
> The FX-160 is a low power (no fan) box with a dual core Atom CPU plus
> hyperthreading so it looks like 4 CPUs.  This box has 4 GB of memory and an
> 80 GB disk.
>
>
> lspci from Linux says:
> 00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 671MX
> 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] AGP Port (virtual
> PCI-to-PCI bridge)
> 00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS968 [MuTIOL Media IO]
> (rev 01)
> 00:03.0 USB controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller
> (rev 0f)
> 00:03.1 USB controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller
> (rev 0f)
> 00:03.3 USB controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
> 00:05.0 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SATA Controller / IDE
> mode (rev 03)
> 00:06.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] PCI-to-PCI bridge
> 00:0f.0 Audio device: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Azalia Audio Controller
> 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 771/671
> PCIE VGA Display Adapter (rev 10)
> 02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5764M Gigabit
> Ethernet PCIe (rev 10)

The problem is the sis chipset, it doesn't work well (or at all) with
netbsd or X11.

To get netbsd to boot, disable the agp driver. If you run into
problems with the siside driver (messages about lost interrupts, or
DMA problems), disable it as well.

Don't expect great performance, or the possibility to run X11.

Regards
Emiliano