SCO 5.0.7 No Root Controller Found

[Scott Nelson]

Ask John if I can post this to the iXorg list, where there is more 
expertise on all things SCO.





On 09/13/2020 07:02 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
>
>