6.0R-alpha ISOs - not bootable?

[Wilko Bulte]

On Sat, Jan 07, 2006 at 05:36:06PM -0600, Tillman Hodgson wrote..
> On Sun, Jan 08, 2006 at 12:31:20AM +0100, Wilko Bulte wrote:
> > On Sat, Jan 07, 2006 at 05:28:33PM -0600, Tillman Hodgson wrote..
> > 
> > > AlphaServer 2100A Console V5.3-10, built on Oct 16 1998 at 14:06:58
> > 
> >   	      ^^^^
> <snip>
> > > (boot dka600.6.0.2001.0 -flags A)
> > > failed to open dka600.6.0.2001.0
> > > 
> > > I've tried both disc1 (shown) and bootonly. I've confirmed the SHA256
> > > checksums on the downloaded images and I burned them using burncd on a
> > > FreeBSD -current i386 box.
> > > 
> > > My older 6.0-beta5 CD boots fine (though as an older thread will show
> > > actually doesn't noot *correctly* on 2100A machines, but that's a whole
> > > other issue).
> > > 
> > > Is this a known issue? Does that ISO image work for other folks?
> > 
> > It does.  But support for the AS2100A 'Lynx' wasn't stellar in its best
> > days, and apparantly it has gone downhill :(
> 
> It seems odd that that ability to even open the CD went away for 2100A
> machines between beta5 and release. I was hoping for an /improvement/ as
> it seems that the EISA detection was the only thing holding me back ;-)

I have seen the phenomenon you see only when either the media was goofed
or the cd drive bad.  Or a CDR or CDRW in an old-model CD drive.  Older
Alphas typically have CD drives that will either not read CDRW, sometimes
read CDR depending on the media used.  

This is a wild guess in this case.

> What are other folks doing with their 2100As these days?

Scrap them?  I was offered one recently but politely declined :)

-- 
Wilko Bulte				wilko at FreeBSD.org