SCO OpenDesktop Crashing With Weird Disk Problems

[Wain Dobson]

In article <1420 at pai.UUCP> erc at pai.UUCP (Eric Johnson) writes:
>
>Help!
>
>I've been having some terrible problems with SCO's OpenDesktop 1.0.
>I'm not sure if these are hardware, software or both. And, I'd
>appreciate any help from the net. (Please note that I really don't
>blame anyone but myself and that any and all help is requested.
>Thanks.)
>
>My system:
>
>SCO ODT 1.0, X11, Motif, DOS, TCP/IP, Software Dev.
>Avex 386 mainboard 25 MHz
>Adaptec 2322-16 ESDI disk controller
>Paradise VGA Plus 800x600x16
>Western Digital 8003EBT Ethernet (thin, and the only system on my own net)
>Imprimis Wren 6 320 MB disk
>8 MB RAM
>Phoenix BIOS
>Logitech serial Mouse (latest rev)
>Relaxed security defaults
>
>
[A whole lot deleted, here.]

Think that I would backtrack and do a new install. But, before the install,
check your hardware configuration, thoroughly. First, what disk parameters
are you using? Secondly, what is the primary address of the disk? Thirdly,
what is the base address of ethernet controller. Fourthly, how is your vga
addressing its memory, contiguously or split. Since the primary disk
address, the ethernet address, and method whereby the vga sets up its
memory can all come into conflict, really check this carefully. From what
you describe about the behaviour of motif, I think that you have a
conflict, with the ethernet and the vga, or the vga is not configured
properly --- watch out for any eight bit and 16 bit configuration on
the vga (do not know the Paradise first hand so I can only suggest this as
a possible problem). On our client machines we took into consideration the
vga addressing, first, then the primary address of the disk controller,
and then the ethernet address to see how things would layout. Then we
reversed the orde to ethernet, disk, vga. (Eliminated alot of vga's
that way.) Anyways, SCO's release notes are very explicit on how to
set up the WD8003E. Follow it and don't monkey with it. Then do the
hard drive, and then the vga.

As to the install itself, make sure that you install the upgrade
immediately after the OS. If it fails with an internal error,
move /etc/perms/dsmd to /tmp and then do the upgrade installation and
then move /tmp/dsmd back to /etc/perms/dsmd. 
-- 
Wain Dobson, Vancouver, B.C.
	...!{uunet,ubc-cs}!van-bc!seac!wain