hardware for onboard/WiFi NICs and chipset

[John DeStefano]

For those interested: I cured the system of its boot problem by
disabling ACPI.  There are two ways to do this: by appending the
following text to /boot/device.hints:
  hint.acpi.0.disabled="1"

...or by selecting "Boot with ACPI disabled" (choice 2) from the FBSD
boot menu.  Note that when you do this while booting on install, the
script recognizes your selection and prompts you to choose whether
you'd like to disable ACPI permanently.

Regarding the onboard and wireless NICs: the solution seems to be an
implementation of NDIS by Bill Paul that interprets Windows .INF and
.SYS driver files.  The documentation I've found for this module points
to the locations /sys/modules/ndis or /usr/src/sys/compat/ndis/ . 
These locations do not exist on my installed system, and I can't reach
beyond the scope of the system to cvsup or grab them from a remote
location.  I just Googled and found that NDIS has its own SF project,
so I'll throw what I can find on a floppy and go from there.  If anyone
has experience with implementing this package or tips to pass on,
please do.

I also noted two other errors during install/boot on I hope someone can
shed some light: 

During initial boot: "MProbe table : MP table has bad sig : : "

During "all source" install, particularly during XFree86 install
(multiple sequential occurances):
"acd0: failure - READ_BIG status=51<READY, DISC, ERROR> sensekey=medium
error ERROR = 0"

I see that the second error has been posted before, but I don't see a
solution/resultion.

Thanks for your help.
~John

--- John DeStefano <deesto at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I remember part of this topic being addressed somewhat about a year
> ago, and I'm wondering if it's reached a resolution by now (doesn't
> seem so from recent list discussion, but it can't hurt to ask).
> 
> I have a Chaintech Zenith motherboard:
>
http://www.chaintechusa.com/tw/eng/product_spec.asp?MPSNo=13&PISNo=196
> I've always had a bit of trouble installing FreeBSD on this machine;
> now, unfortunately, it's the only one I have to work with.  I've just
> tried installing both 4.10 and 5.2.1, and both give unpleasantly
> similar results: they get through most of the initial install boot
> sequence but freeze as it tries to mount.  However, if I install by
> booting into "safe mode", I can get through the install process with
> a
> few hiccups, one of them (the entire XFree86 library) being fairly
> crucial.  Even when I do this, I still can't boot BSD afterward in
> its
> default mode, only using "safe mode".
> 
> In addition, I can't configure the onboard NIC, which is the ongoing
> problem I mentioned earlier.  I asked about a year ago, and the basic
> response was that support hasn't been added because the chipset MFR
> doesn't want to help in developing a solution or offering source code
> for the drivers.  I'm hopeful (but somewhat cynical) this has
> changed. 
> In any case, the chipset is: NVIDIA nForce2 SPP + MCP-T.
> The on-board LAN controller:
> - Fast Ethernet Controller with MII Interface
> - Support 10/100Mb Fast Ethernet with External PHY
> 
> The alternative I have is a wireless-G NIC card from TrendNET:
> http://www.trendnet.com/products/TEW-403PI.htm
> I have this card configured for Windows XP (not flawlessly, but it
> works after some tinkering).  I haven't been able to find drivers for
> BSD, and the MFR support wasn't warm to my plea for a non-Windows
> solution. I've seen a few threads on wireless use, but nothing
> reporting the results or what works/what doesn't work, and nothing
> specific to 802.11g support.  A side note: as you may surmise, I
> wouldn't recommend TrendNET products to my worst enemy.  The product
> was absolutely painful to configure (after about a year, they just
> came
> out with a driver that actually works for XP, and then promptly
> discontinued the product) and their customer service was equally
> painful to endure.
> 
> Any help you could offer to get this thing running BSD and back on
> the
> network would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> ~John





	
		
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