Very Computer

by **William D. Hachfel** » Tue, 20 Jan 1998 04:00:00

I posted a message to the group about a week ago regarding a problem with
installing Solaris 2.6 x86 on a Dell Dimension XPS D300. During the install
process, random lockups have been occuring. I received feedback from a few
people regarding ideas, but have been unable to get Solaris working. Thanks
to all who have replied thus-far.

I thought I'd provide a little extra information... My CD-ROM drive is a
Toshiba 24x CD-ROM XM-6102B drive. Occasionally I get the following error
message without the system actually locking up:

Error for command 'read sector' Error Level: Informational

Sense Key: aborted command

Vendor 'TOSHIBA' error code: 0x3

One person suggested disabling UltraDMA in the BIOS... I have been unable
to identify how to do this. I know the system uses the Intel 440LX chipset
(which implements the UltraDMA protcol), but there does not appear to be an
option in the BIOS. I have the following options available for each of my
IDE hard disks and the CD-ROM drive:

Multi-Sector Transfers:
Disabled, 2, 4, 8, or 16 Sectors
LBA Mode Control:
Disabled or Enabled
Transfer Mode:
Standard
Fast PIO 1, 2, 3, or 4
FPIO3 & Bus Mastering, FPIO4 & Bus Mastering

The default on the hard drive is:

16 Sector, LBA Enabled, FPIO4 & Bus Mastering

and for the CD-ROM drive is:

16 Sectorm LBA Enabled, FPIO3 & Bus Mastering

I also tried downloading the recently released Driver Update 2 for Solaris
2.6. Didn't seem to help at all.

Well, I'm looking for any last suggestions. Should I try buying another
CD-ROM drive and hook it up? I hate to go through all the trouble getting
it all setup just to be disappointed again... I'd appreciate any
suggestions anybody might have. Thanks in advance for your help!

by **Anthony Mandi** » Tue, 20 Jan 1998 04:00:00

> The default on the hard drive is:

> 16 Sector, LBA Enabled, FPIO4 & Bus Mastering

> and for the CD-ROM drive is:

> 16 Sectorm LBA Enabled, FPIO3 & Bus Mastering

> Well, I'm looking for any last suggestions. Should I try buying another
> CD-ROM drive and hook it up? I hate to go through all the trouble getting
> it all setup just to be disappointed again... I'd appreciate any
> suggestions anybody might have. Thanks in advance for your help!

I think its just a BIOS configuration issue. I don't think
you should be using LBA for any of your IDE drives as far
as Solaris is concerned. Solaris can handle the large drives
without it (unlike Windoes NT/95). I don't know what you would
do, however, if you were sharing a drive between Solaris and
Windows.

-am

by **Wayne Y** » Tue, 20 Jan 1998 04:00:00

If you use SCSI CDROM drive, you would not be disapppointed.
As matter as fact, SCSI provide better performance for your
disks as well.

> I posted a message to the group about a week ago regarding a problem with
> installing Solaris 2.6 x86 on a Dell Dimension XPS D300. During the install
> process, random lockups have been occuring. I received feedback from a few
> people regarding ideas, but have been unable to get Solaris working. Thanks
> to all who have replied thus-far.

> I thought I'd provide a little extra information... My CD-ROM drive is a
> Toshiba 24x CD-ROM XM-6102B drive. Occasionally I get the following error
> message without the system actually locking up:

> Error for command 'read sector' Error Level: Informational

> Sense Key: aborted command

> Vendor 'TOSHIBA' error code: 0x3

> One person suggested disabling UltraDMA in the BIOS... I have been unable
> to identify how to do this. I know the system uses the Intel 440LX chipset
> (which implements the UltraDMA protcol), but there does not appear to be an
> option in the BIOS. I have the following options available for each of my
> IDE hard disks and the CD-ROM drive:

> Multi-Sector Transfers:
> Disabled, 2, 4, 8, or 16 Sectors
> LBA Mode Control:
> Disabled or Enabled
> Transfer Mode:
> Standard
> Fast PIO 1, 2, 3, or 4
> FPIO3 & Bus Mastering, FPIO4 & Bus Mastering

> The default on the hard drive is:

> 16 Sector, LBA Enabled, FPIO4 & Bus Mastering

> and for the CD-ROM drive is:

> 16 Sectorm LBA Enabled, FPIO3 & Bus Mastering

> I also tried downloading the recently released Driver Update 2 for Solaris
> 2.6. Didn't seem to help at all.

> Well, I'm looking for any last suggestions. Should I try buying another
> CD-ROM drive and hook it up? I hate to go through all the trouble getting
> it all setup just to be disappointed again... I'd appreciate any
> suggestions anybody might have. Thanks in advance for your help!

Very Computer

Solaris 2.6 x86, Dell Dimension XPS D300, UltraDMA, and Toshiba 24x CD-ROM

Solaris 2.6 x86, Dell Dimension XPS D300, UltraDMA, and Toshiba 24x CD-ROM

Solaris 2.6 x86, Dell Dimension XPS D300, UltraDMA, and Toshiba 24x CD-ROM

Solaris 2.6 x86, Dell Dimension XPS D300, UltraDMA, and Toshiba 24x CD-ROM