SCO 5.0.7 No Root Controller Found

[Joe Chasan]

It's been way too long since I've messed with boot strings, but odds are
LSIL driver would have been the best bet for this model.

see: 
http://wdb1.sco.com/kb/showta?taid=126701
http://wdb1.sco.com/kb/showta?taid=126687
http://wdb1.sco.com/kb/showta?taid=126828

Getting OpenServer to run bare metal on any box less than 10 years old may
prove an exercise in frustration.  If he can't get anywhere, it may be less 
work to install some virtualization host like VMWare or VirtualBox and install
SCO as a guest virtual machine there.

-joe

On Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 08:02:54AM -0400, 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
> 
> 
> -- 
> Jason Garner
> Systems Administrator
> 
> 1801 Oberlin Rd, Suite 204
> Middletown, PA 17057
> Work   717-985-1122 x 1139
> Mobile 717-645-3521
> <tim.barr at evalsvs.com>jason.garner at evalsvs.com
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