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- Newsgroups: comp.sys.novell
- Subject: Busmaster Adapter/A Microcode Problem
- Message-ID: <C0G2DF.56x@sunfish.usd.edu>
- From: choover@charlie.usd.edu (Christopher J. Hoover)
- Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 18:08:03 GMT
- Reply-To: choover@charlie.usd.edu
- Sender: news@sunfish.usd.edu
- Organization: The University of South Dakota Computer Science Dept.
- Nntp-Posting-Host: charlie
- Lines: 46
-
- If anyone else has encountered this problem, and found a solution, it would
- be a great help. I am administering a new Token Ring network running NetWare
- 3.11. The File server is a PS/2 Model 80 386 (8580-321), and the Token Ring
- NIC in the server is an IBM Busmaster Server Adapter/A. When the server is
- first powered up, and SERVER is run, the following error message is displayed
- when TOKENDMA.LAN, and consequently NMAGENT.NLM, is loaded:
-
- Token-Ring DMA BusMaster 4 Microcode is NOT Loaded
-
- But if you disconnect the server from the ring, boot the server with the
- Reference Diskette, and then run the Advanced Diagnostics Menu (Ctrl-A) and
- select to execute System Checkout and then diagnostics on the Busmaster,
- reconnect the server to the ring, and _then_ execute a warm boot (Ctrl-Alt-
- Del), TOKENDMA and NMAGENT load correctly, and the server will then function
- properly. So the diagnostics, it would seem, put the microcode to the
- adapter.
-
- Neat, huh?
-
- The manual that comes with the Busmaster adapter says that it does _not_ come
- with a utility to load the microcode to the adapter. Since this is a new
- machine with on-site maintenance, we had an IBM service rep come look at it,
- and after much fiddling with different slots, etc., the official IBM decision
- was given that since the IBM product (the Reference Diskette) was able to
- load the microcode, and the non-IBM product (NetWare 3.11) was not, the
- problem lies with Novell and is not IBM's responsibility, since this is
- Somebody Else's Software [tm] (this in spite of the fact that IBM itself
- resells NetWare).
-
- So, we can get the server up eventually, but it would be much, much better if
- there weren't this extra step involved that required human intervention--so
- that if power were for some reason lost (in spite of the UPS), the server
- would come back up without the administrative assistant having to call me up
- to come down and perform my little voodoo ritual to get the server back up.
-
- Any suggestions?
-
-
- Chris
-
- ---
-
- Christopher Hoover choover@charlie.usd.edu
- Network Coordinator for Student Life Disclaimer: Standard.
- User Services, University of South Dakota
- .sig line: "I'm still looking for the right quote."
-