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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!yarrina.connect.com.au!news.mira.net.au!news.netspace.net.au!serval.net.wsu.edu!netnews.nwnet.net!oracle.pnl.gov!osi-east2.es.net!lll-winken.llnl.gov!uwm.edu!news.alpha.net!news.mathworks.com!uunet!zib-berlin.de!rs1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de!rrz.uni-koeln.de!RRZ.Uni-Koeln.DE!RRZ.Uni-Koeln.DE!news From: se@fileserv1.MI.Uni-Koeln.DE (Stefan Esser) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions Subject: Re: NetBSD boot problem - cannot install Date: 12 Jan 1995 20:25:26 GMT Organization: Institute for Mathematics, University of Cologne, Germany Lines: 69 Distribution: world Message-ID: <3f437mINN310g@rs1.rrz.Uni-Koeln.DE> References: <crussellD25yFF.Jt4@netcom.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: fileserv1.mi.uni-koeln.de In article <crussellD25yFF.Jt4@netcom.com>, crussell@netcom.com (Chris Russell) writes: |> I get the following error while attempting to boot from the NetBSD |> installation boot floppy: |> |> > ncr0 at pci0 bus0 device 3 |> > pci_map_mem: memory mapped at c0000000-c0000fff |> > pci_map_int: pin a mapped to irq 9 |> > CACHE TEST FAILED: host wrote 1, ncr read -1. |> > CACHE TEST FAILED: ncr wrote 2, host read 1. |> > CACHE TEST FAILED: ncr write 2, read back -1. |> > CACHE INCORRECTLY CONFIGURED. |> |> and the system halts. These are cache cherency tests, which don't succeed, if you use teh NCR in a non-bus master slot, or if your system has a buggy secondary cache implementation (problem with bus snoop). |> I have a 486DX/2-66 w/ PCI and ISA busses; built-in enhanced-IDE, |> floppy, serial, and parallel; NCR PCI SCSI-II controller; 16MB RAM; |> 540MB boot drive, 1.8GB SCSI drive, and NEC 3Xi SCSI CDROM drive; |> QIC-80 tape drive; SuperVGA (Orchid ET4000); and SMC Ultra Elite 16C |> Ethernet. Please include information on the motherboard type and the chip set used, as well as all "dmesg" output, not just the lines where the problem is indicated. |> I have DOS, NT Server, and Linux working on this configuration |> already (so I believe the hardware works correctly in general). That's no proof the system is working correctly, since none of them has the NCR running as an independent CPU, they use it more like an intelligent DMA controller. The FreeBSD/NetBSD driver lets the NCR run in a program loop, looking for new command queue entries, and working on them without any CPU intervention, except in case of unexpected problems (parity error, short read, ...). This makes the BSD driver perform much better than any of the drivers mentioned above. (Its about a factor of two faster than the Linux driver, and puts much less load on the host CPU at the same time). |> Does anyone know what may be the problem and/or have some suggestions. 1) Check whether the NCR is put into a bus master slot. 2) Try bootimg with the secondary cache set to write through. 3) Try with the secondary cache disabled, if 2) didn't work. 4) Send mail to <wolf@dentaro.gun.de> and me, to let us put your system in the list of systems known to not work with the NCR, if none of the above solved the problem. (I've heard that the driver doesn't work on the ASUS VIP 486 board. But up to now, that was the only motherboard I know of, that failed the cache coherency tests.) Regards, STefan -- Stefan Esser Internet: <se@ZPR.Uni-Koeln.DE> Zentrum fuer Paralleles Rechnen Tel: +49 221 4706010 Universitaet zu Koeln FAX: +49 221 4705160 Weyertal 80 50931 Koeln