Re: [K12OSN] Enabling boot prom on SMC1211TX
Jim Thomas (jthomas@bittware.com)
Fri, 30 Aug 2002 13:23:41 -0400
I'm still have problems booting from a PROM on the SMC1211TX. It just
gets stranger and stranger.
I have used SMC's utility to enable the boot rom (and set its size to
16K, which is the size of the 27C128's I'm using), but it still isn't
recognized during boot up.
After a lot of experimentation, I dug out an old Linksys ISA NIC which I
had configured to boot from an etherboot ne2k rom a few years ago. I
verified that it would still boot. I replaced the Linksys EPROM with
the SMC EPROM and plugged the Linksys NIC into a PC.
It found the smc rom, but of course, it couldn't find an SMC NIC. So I
plugged the SMC NIC into the same box, right next to the Linksys NIC
(which still had the SMC bootrom). This time, the BIOS found the SMC
rom on the Linksys card, and the ROM found the SMC card. It then
attempted to find a DHCP server, but I didn't have it on a network, so
it didn't find one. I conclude from this that the EPROM I burned for
the SMC1211TX does indeed work, and that it will find and use an
SMC1211TX if one is present in the box. The problem must therefore lie
with the SMC1211TX card. Why can't the BIOS see the bootrom on the
SMC1211TX?
I obviously do not intend to install a Linksys ISA NIC as well as an SMC
PCI NIC in every single machine in the lab, so this is not a viable
solution. It does however, help in isolating the problem. Perhaps if
my client machines have an extra BIOS socket on the motherboard this
would work, but I haven't been able to get over to the school to check
yet.
I brought both NICs to work with me (I don't work at the school, I
volunteer there) so I could demo this behavior to a co-worker. I popped
both cards into a Dell machine, but was unable to reproduce my earlier
success. The Dell ignores the boot rom no matter which NIC I install it
on.
So now my puzzler is getting sore, and I'm looking for more ideas. Can
anyone offer a suggestion?
--
Jim Thomas Principal Applications Engineer Bittware, Inc
jthomas@bittware.com http://www.bittware.com (703) 779-7770
A pessimist is an optimist with experience
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