SCO 5.0.7 No Root Controller Found

[Brian K. White]

Sadly, this was 100% me, for quite a while I was all over that, doing 
fresh installs on different hardware, and I will be no help. It's been 
too long and I don't have any test machines to try things on, and to get 
that kind of stuff right, it always takes some trial & error, even when 
I was still installing and supporting sco boxes every day. You only ever 
do that arcane bootstrap stuff one time at install, and then you have to 
figure it out again by the time the next fresh install comes around, and 
each new system with it's own different hardware needs it's quirks 
worked out new each time.

Today, of course, no way in the world would I spend any time even 
trying. Invest the time instead converting sco-dependent code and 
scripts to linux. He already knew that would the obvious suggestion, 
but, it still is the most sensible suggestion. Even if it means paying 
fp to replace sco fp binaries with linux ones, or EVEN if it means 
installing linux on the hardware and installing SCO in virtualbox or 
vmware (for which write-ups of working fresh install incantations exist, 
unlike for this particular real hardware).

If I had this machine in my hands, the only way I myself would get it 
working would be a day or several of hands-on direct trial & error and 
debugging/diagnosing to prove what things are working and how they are 
working. With hardware there are all kinds of variables like bios 
settings etc and it takes some experimenting and lots of reboots 
sometimes to figure out that you need to turn off the usb controller or 
move scsi drive id jumpers or enable something in the scsi card raid 
bios etc etc. No way is it going to get figured out by email. At least, 
I don't think so. Someone else might deliver a miracle.

But I did this all the time for a long time and got real good at it and 
nailed all the hard cases every time, and was all over porting and 
compiling modern gnu software on sco too, and I myself would not even 
try to get this thing installed  this way today. It makes no sense to 
install a sco os today except as a retro hobby project for the pure 
purpose of preserving an example system, not for actual use.

-- 
bkw

On 9/13/20 8:02 AM, Jason Garner via Filepro-list wrote:
> Good Morning,
>
> I am working with John Esak loading SCO Openserver 5.0.7 on a Dell
> Precision T7400 workstation. We have been unable to get the SCO
> bootstrapper to detect the root disk controller. John asked me to post this
> request for help on the filepro list server. See Below:
>
>
>
> Jason,
>
> I think I may have exhausted my old and decrepit knowledge on SCO
> Openserver 5.07 and bootstrapping invarious BTLD’s at install time.
>
>
>
> The server you have been helping me load with 5.07 will become my personal
> FilePro server if I can ever get it loaded properly.  It is such a nice
> machine… I am really impressed with it. Built like a tank and will be more
> than I ever need.
>
>
>
> Maybe you could forward  this question out to the FilePro list… there are
> (or used to be) many highly capable people on that list using Openserver
> 5.0.7, and though many have probably switched to Linux, they will
> definitely  remember more than I do about the correct syntax for loading
> the WD BTLD drivers at install time with BTLD floppy disks.
>
>
>
> I think all we really need to know, is **what** is the name of the HBA on
> the motherboard of the Dell Precision T7400 server?  A name that matches up
> with the correct BTLD driver for WD through SATA… whether the early group,
> or the later additions done with ahslink instead of link.
>
> As to the layout of the motherboard on the machine, there are 3 SATA ports
> that are available as well as 4 more under AHCI/ATA through an  onboard
> HBA.  The HBA seems to enumerate as a SAS6, but I don’t see that as a BTLD
> available in either the first BTLD release or the second.
>
>
>
> This is obviously a bit before PERC5 and PERC6 controllers.  I remember
> using LSiL as the controller/driver in the past for some DELL machines, but
> since that hasn’t worked… I’m now running through the end of the variations
> I can remember.
>
>
>
> I’ve tried using a USB CDROM (instead of the SATA one that came with the
> machine) to continue with the install and have used just about every
> bootstring I can imagine to load different drivers so that the T7400 can be
> loaded from scratch with a valid boot floppy  and/or  valid install CD.
> The BTLD for the WD supplements all load perfectly, but it never actually
> lets me see the hard drive root disk controller.
>
>
>
> I have tried dozens (feels like millions)  of combinations of defbootstr
> commands, but none get it right… obviously this is because I don’t know
> what to call the HBA on the T7400 motherboard.
>
>
>
> I have of course tried loading directly to the main 3 motherboard SATA
> ports as well without using AHC, but ATA mode… every choice seems to be
> fruitless.
>
>
>
> I have a junk old machine that has a “legacy” choice for its SATA/PATA
> configuration instead of just ATA/AHC and what is called “compliant”.  This
> would be more what I’m used to seeing and expecting, but the few attempts
> with that machine are yielding the same results  even though it **also**
> perfectly loads the WD BTLLD with no errors, it gets me all the way to the
> place where it should see the hard drives, but just like the Dell,  no
> joy.  I have tried different media, cables, etc. I’m very certain this is a
> simple need for a correct “defbootstr”…
>
>
>
> I’m hoping someone knows a trick or a gotcha get-around for the Dell T7400
> that I have not found.  Dell, obviously, won’t talk to me without a service
> contract…. Unfortunately, This was a used, but perfect condition server I
> found…. So no help there.
>
>
>
> Maybe some of you might  remember, I’m looking for something like this:
>
>
>
> Boot:  defbootstr link=fd(60)wd Srom=lsil(0,0,2,0) Sdsk=lsil(0,0,3,0)
>
>
>
> I’ve run through some stuff about “atapishift” to no avail, and even tried
>   to  install using a USB CDrom with something like:
>
>
>
> Defbootstr Srom=usb_msto(0,0,3,0)
>
>
>
> And so forth…Nothing gets me all the way to “seeing” the root controller. ☹
>
>
>
> If anyone has any ideas, please contact us  through a return email to Jason
> … through Jason…. Or me at john at timescape.com..
>
>
>
> Thanks, Jason… maybe someone from days of yore will know the answer to this
> frustrating sticking point.
>
> Talk to you soon, and thanks for forwarding this to the “list” for me.
>
>
>
>
>
> John
>
>
>
> --
>
> John Esak
>
> Tucson, AZ
>
>