Re: [Etherboot-developers] Etherboot as a PnP ROM

[Matt H. <mbh...@ie...>]

> >Is anyone successfully using Etherboot as a PnP bootrom?  Up to this
> >point, we were using Etherboot only as an "ISA rom" and it works fine.
> >However, we sent a rom image to a vendor to integrate into the BIOS
> >as a PnP rom and they complained that the checksum was invalid.  We
> >then tried to integrate it into Award BIOS ourselves as a PnP rom  and
> >we were also unsuccessful.  Has anyone done this?
> 
> Yes, it works fine with quite a few drivers, I'm booting from a Tulip
> clone. Another example, a friend of mine has integrated the rtl8139
> driver into an Award BIOS. Which one were you trying to make a PnP ROM,
> was this the 82559ER? I assume it works ok from floppy, so you sent it
> off to the vendor? Remember the ID must also be set correctly in the
> call to makerom, hence the NIC file.

It's an 82558 that the vendor is integrating into a Phoenix bios.
Sure, it worked fine with the floppy and it works fine if we integrate
it into an Award bios as an ISA rom but not as a PnP rom.  We don't
have the tools to integrate it into Phoenix in-house.  The part I
really don't understand is the vendor complaint that the checksum is
invalid.  

I am using an old version of Etherboot (4.4.0) but I compared the
checksum generation code with the current version and saw no
differences (in makerom.c and loader.asm).

> BTW, nothing to do with your PnP ROM problem, if you could please try
> this fix to eepro100.c and let me know if 1. it causes any problems you
> didn't have before, 2. if fixes any problems with kernel crashing that
> some people have reported. If I get a no for 1. I will put the fix in
> anyway.
> 
> Replace the empty eepro100_disable with this:
> 
> static void eepro100_disable(struct nic *nic)
> {
>     /* See if this PartialReset solves the problem with interfering with
>        kernel operation after Etherboot hands over. - Ken 20001102 */
>     outl(2, ioaddr + SCBPort);
> }

I haven't seen the problem with the kernel crashing but I will try
this tomorrow and let you know if it causes any side effects.

thanks,

-Matt