*BSD News Article 63428


Return to BSD News archive

Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!newshost.telstra.net!act.news.telstra.net!psgrain!newsfeed.internetmci.com!howland.reston.ans.net!surfnet.nl!sun4nl!Utrecht.NL.net!news.iaf.nl!news.es.iaf.nl!fozzie.sun3.iaf.nl!fozzie.sun3.iaf.nl!not-for-mail
From: geert@fozzie.sun3.iaf.nl (Geert Bosch)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: FAQ: Mach-64 problems and solutions for them (READ THIS!)
Date: 11 Mar 1996 15:43:46 +0100
Organization: La Calandre Infortunee
Lines: 45
Message-ID: <4i1e72$o9@fozzie.sun3.iaf.nl>
NNTP-Posting-Host: fozzie.sun3.iaf.nl
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]

Since there keep coming so many questions of users who have one of the problems
described below, I decided to post this FAQ to c.u.b.f.m again. Note that you
can also find this (nicely HTML-ed, thanks for that BTW) at http://www.freebsd.org

Q: When I boot FreeBSD with my ATI Mach 64 videocard the following happens:
   when the system probes the hardware during boot the screen goes black 
   and synchronization is lost and I'm not even using X! What's the problem?!
A: The problem is that the ATI Mach 64 uses address 2e8, and the fourth serial
   port does too. Due to a bug (feature?) in the sio.c driver it will
   touch this port even if you don't have the fourth serial port, and
   *even* if you disable sio3 (the fourth port) which normally uses this 
   address.

Q: What's the solution or workaround for this problem?
A: Until the bug has been fixed, you can use this workaround:
   1. Enter -c at the bootprompt. 
      [ the kernel goes into configuration mode ]
   2. Disable sio0, sio1, sio2 and sio3 (all of them).
      This way the sio driver doesn't get activated -> no problems.
   3. Type exit to continue booting.

Q: The workaround works fine, but now I want to use my serial ports.
A: You'll have to build a new kernel with the following modification:
   in sio.c (/usr/src/sys/i386/isa/sio.c I believe) find the one
   occurrence of the string 0x2e8 and remove that string and the
   preceding comma (keep the trailing comma). 
   Now follow the normal procedure of building a new kernel.

Q: Now everything runs great, except for X Windows: my screen goed black
   or X Windows runs but with all kinds of problems.
A: Some newer ATI Mach 64 video cards (notably ATI Mach Xpression) do not 
   run with the current version of XFree86. You can get a beta-version of
   a new X-server that works better, by looking at http://www.xfree86.org
   and following the links to the new beta release. Get the following 
   files:
     AccelCards, BetaReport, Cards, Devices, FILES, README.ati, 
     README.FreeBSD, README.Mach64, RELNOTES, VGADriver.Doc,
     X312BMa64.tgz
   Replace the older files with the new versions and make sure you
   run xf86config again.


-- 
E-Mail: geert@sun3.iaf.nl      ***   Lbh whfg penpxrq ZvpebFbsg'f   ***
 Phone: +31-53-4303054         **  arj naq vzcebirq frphevgl flfgrz. **