Linux not adhering to BIOS Drive boot order?
Guys,
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And this is a problem that has plagues all PC operating systems, but has
never
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been a problem on the Macintosh. Why? Because the Mac was designed to
handle
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this problem, but the PC never was.
Quite true on this point.
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The Mac never enumerates its devices like the PC does (no C: D: etc, no
/dev/sda,/dev/sdb, or anything like that). It also remembers the boot
device
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in its EEPROM (the Startup Disk Control Panel handles this).
For ATA drives the bios handles this.
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The only way to solve this problem is the DESIGN IT INTO THE OS! Someone
needs
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to stand up and say, "This is a problem, and I'm going to fix it." There
needs
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to be a "device mount order database" or some kind, and all the disk
drivers
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need to access that database to determine where to put the devices it
finds.
NO! What needs to happen is:
1) the person who installs a second scsi card should read the manual BEFORE installing it so they know how to disable the boot features if they aren't needed,
or
2) install only one bootable scsi card, period.
Anything else is a useless kludge that will come back and bite us in the
ass.
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The only problem is BIOS boot. That information is, I believe, stored in
the
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ESCD, but I don't know if it's reliable enough and complete enough to be
usable
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by Linux.
It seems to work well enough.
Matthew D. Pitts
[email protected]
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Quoted 7 lines · Timur Tabi
And this is a problem that has plagues all PC operating systems, but has never been a problem on the Macintosh. Why? Because the Mac was designed to handle this problem, but the PC never was.
The Mac never enumerates its devices like the PC does (no C: D: etc, no
/dev/sda,/dev/sdb, or anything like that). It also remembers the boot device in its EEPROM (the Startup Disk Control Panel handles this).
Are you sure about that? According to my documentation on installing linux on a G4 with scsi disks, you need to specify a device enumeration string like the following to tell the system where to look for the boot device:
/pci@f2000000/pci-bridge@d/ATTO,ExpressPCIProUL2D@4,1/@6:5
where the '6' is the SCSI ID of the drive, and the '5' is the partition number of the boot partition. So if you change SCSI IDs or add a new partition and change the partition numbering of the drive, your computer can't boot anymore.
Chris
Signature · 8 lines
Chris Friesen | MailStop: 043/33/F10 Nortel Networks | work: (613) 765-0557 3500 Carling Avenue | fax: (613) 765-2986 Nepean, ON K2H 8E9 Canada | email: [email protected] - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [email protected] Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
** Reply to message from "Christopher Friesen" <[email protected]> on Tue, 16 Jan 2001 14:54:23 -0500
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The Mac never enumerates its devices like the PC does (no C: D: etc, no
/dev/sda,/dev/sdb, or anything like that). It also remembers the boot device in its EEPROM (the Startup Disk Control Panel handles this).Are you sure about that? According to my documentation on installing linux on a G4 with scsi disks, you need to specify a device enumeration string like the following to tell the system where to look for the boot device:
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/pci@f2000000/pci-bridge@d/ATTO,ExpressPCIProUL2D@4,1/@6:5
where the '6' is the SCSI ID of the drive, and the '5' is the partition number of the boot partition. So if you change SCSI IDs or add a new partition and change the partition numbering of the drive, your computer can't boot anymore.
I was talking about a Mac running Mac OS. I've tried change the SCSI ID of the boot device, but this discussion was about adding devices. On a Mac, I've always been able to add devices, whether they be on an exiting SCSI or IDE bus, or on a new bus, and not worry about the machine not booting.
I can't same the same about the PC. Overall, the PC is just much more sensitive to device changes than Macs are. And I think it's because the Mac BIOS and OS are just designed to handle this better. The PC BIOS never had any provision for a third-party boot device to annouce itself.
Signature · 8 lines
Timur Tabi - [email protected] Interactive Silicon - http://www.interactivesi.com When replying to a mailing-list message, please direct the reply to the mailing list only. Don't send another copy to me. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [email protected] Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/