Re: Problems with TOD clock data on i386?

["John D. Baker" <jdbaker%mylinuxisp.com@localhost>]

On Wed, 18 Jul 2012, Brian Buhrow wrote:

>         hello John.  I'm sorry, I forget these details and I don't see your
> original message, but here are more questions.
>
> 1.  What version of NetBSD are you running?

NetBSD skuld 6.0_BETA2 NetBSD 6.0_BETA2 (SKULD) #39: Mon Jul 23 15:29:41 CDT 
2012  sysop@skuld:/d0/build/netbsd-6/obj/i386/sys/arch/i386/compile/SKULD i386

> 2.  What architecture are you running?

As above, i386.  The machine has an EM64T-capable CPU, so it could run
the amd64 port, but there's currently no pressing reason to do so.

>         I'm guessing the problem is somewhere in
> /usr/src/sys/arch/x86/isa/rtc.c
> probably in rtcinit()
>
> How old is your machine?  Can you boot NetBSD-4 or NetBSD-3 on it?  What do
> they do in terms of initializing the tod clock?

According to:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c00589068&lang=en&cc=us&taskId=130&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=1118267&prodTypeId=12454

it is probably of 2006 vintage.  When I acquired the machine about 1.5
years ago, I immediately put -current (5.99.x at the time) on it.  I
could arrange to try netbsd-5 or netbsd-4 (so long as the 'wm' ethernet
interface is supported--the integrated network adapter doesn't work).

>         I'm thinking that your machine has some sort of emulated mc146818
> software in it and there's an incompatibility between the NetBSD mc146818
> driver and your emulated chip.  I would have never even thought of this
> except for a recent discussion on some list about emulated 16550A serial
> chips on modern motherboards.
>         I take it you have updated the BIOS on this machine to the latest
> available?  Does google have anything to say about the tod clock in this
> machine model?  The manual?

The previous owner of this machine was attempting to turn it into a
"Hackintosh" and it supposedly has a custom-tweaked BIOS to support
this.  From what I've been able to determine either HP never issued a
BIOS update for this machine (that I can see) or it is embedded inside
some other software which I can't run (windoze), so I'm stuck with it
unless someone with an identical machine can send me an image of their
factory BIOS I could figure out how to install it.

The "manual" for this machine are a series of the typical drool-catcher
that is typical of the machine's target market.  They are not helpful.

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