installing on sx164

[Rajiv Prasad]

Bojan ÿffff8aernek wrote:

>Okay, after some pondering, I've decided to install AC
>to my dusty old sx164. This machine is also quite
>weird in that it boots normally on power on, but if
>you power cycle it, it doesn't work anymore ... you
>need to leave it powered off for a few minutes, then
>it works, again. Any pointers as to what could be
>wrong, or estimates on how long this alpha will still
>work?
>  
>

Sounds like your CPU fan may be acting up.  I saw this intermittently on 
my SX164, but a through dusting and reconnecting the cpu and fan to the 
board fixed it for me.

>Here's my check list of what to do:
>
>* flash the AlphaBIOS to SRM
>  I presume you downlod from
>http://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/Alpha/firmware/archive/alphapc164sx.html
>and download this one :
>http://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/Alpha/firmware/archive/alphapc164sx/sx164_v5_8.exe,
>then rename it to fwupdate.exe and write it down to a
>diskette.
>  
>

I don't think that would work.  AFAIK, fwupdate.exe is for upgrading 
from an already running SRM (someone please correct me if I'm wrong).  I 
downloaded the ROM image for the SX164 and put that on a fat formatted 
floppy.  In AlphaBIOS, you then point the upgrade firmware to the 
floppy, and it should flash to SRM.  It was relatively painless for me.  
Check here for the ROM image:

http://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/Alpha/firmware/readmes/archive/pc164sx/

>* show dev in SRM
>
>* boot (cdrom device) in SRM
>
>* install linux normally (but have disks partitioned
>using BSD disklabel not DOS. And make the first real
>partition begin 1 MB or so after the beginning of
>disk).
>  Can I presume that the installation program can do
>this on it's own?
>
>  
>

Disk Druid won't do that.  I had to manually create the first (empty) 
partition.

>* install a boot loader somehow
>  Can I presume that the installation program can do
>this on it's own?
>
>  
>

The installation for AC1.0 did do that for me -- aboot was put on the 
first (empty) partition I had created, and the machine booted from the 
hard disk (an IDE disk) after installation without any additional 
modifications.

>I have two SCSI drives on a cheaper Adaptec controller
>and a CD drive on the IDE controller on the board.
>
>Many Thanks,
>Bojan.
>
>  
>

Not sure if the Adaptec would work with SRM to let you boot.  I have a 
Qlogic in there, but all my disks are IDE.

Good luck with the install.

Rajiv