Re: can't get past BIOS...

Christopher Hilton <[email protected]> Tue, 12 Aug 2014 12:32:55 -0400
Newsgroups	gmane.comp.hardware.soekris.technical
Message-ID	<[email protected]>
On Aug 12, 2014, at 4:41 AM, Eric Abrahamsen <[email protected]> wrote:

> 
> On 08/11/14 16:39 PM, ED Fochler wrote:
>> ^P is only useful at one particular stage of boot in the BIOS. net6501
>> also accepts +++ followed by 1 second of nothing to display the
>> uManager (micro manager) interface. I’d use that as your test, so you
>> don’t need to keep re-setting the unit to get interaction. Just try a
>> new terminal speed and hit + 3 times to see if you get a reaction.
>> 
>> This is the bane of serial connections. Short of hooking up an
>> oscilloscope, I think you just have to keep guessing and trying.
>> Possible values can be 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600.
>> 
>> 	ED.
> 
> Thanks for the responses! I've tried a few of these suggestions with no
> luck yet. Since most of this stuff is new to me, and I might be making
> dumb mistakes, let me outline exactly what's happening.
> 
> 1. I plug in the cable, start minicom, set to 19200 or what have you.
> 2. I plug in power on the router
> 3. The power and error lights both come on (none of the others)
> 4. Six or seven seconds later the error light goes off, and I get my
> line of gibberish
> 
> That's it! I tried changing speeds in minicom then hitting "+++", and
> nothing happened -- no new output, the lights didn't change, nothing.
> 
> I also opened it up and pulled the internal SSD, and that didn't affect
> anything at all -- everything happens just as it did before.
> 
> Net booting sounds promising, I don't know how to do that but I'll give
> it a Google and see what comes up. Any further hints much appreciated!
> 

I'd try unplugging any "hard drive" connected the machine. That's USB, SATA or mSATA and putting it aside while you attempt to find out what the console speed is. This should shorten your test cycle since you won't have to wait for whatever operating system is trying to come up on the machine. For this to work you also want to disconnect any network cables.

Also, after reading the thread I'm not sure what kind of cable you have. Serial defines a crossover cable for really simple situations and a null modem cable for connecting a computer to another computer. The reasons for this are buried in the original function of serial protocol. It was designed to connect "intelligent" hardware like computers to relatively "unintelligent" peripherals like modems or printers or mice or what have you. You're crossover cable can work with a little knowledge of the serial protocol but a proper null modem cable should be foolproof. I've used the orange banded null modem adapters available on Amazon with the Trendnet USB serial adapter and had great success managing my fleet of soekris boxes. I'd test without a hard drive before buying new equipment. If you are still stumped after testing without a hard drive as a complication, I'd look at the cables.

-- Chris

_______________________________________________
Soekris-tech mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech
signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, 841 B)