Subject: Why does NetBSD ifconfig (WD8013) ifconfig on boot floppy system fail?
To: None <netbsd-bugs@sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu>
From: Wilhelm B. Kloke <wb@ifado.arb-phys.uni-dortmund.de>
List: netbsd-bugs
Date: 11/09/1993 10:44:01
Hi,
I am trying to install NetBSD-0.9 via NFS or ftp. When I try to use ifconfig
after the other steps ("achtz), ifconfig fails with message
ed0: device timeout (or similar)

The SMC elite + card is configured 0x280 0xd0000 irq 2, as required by the
docs. Why the heck doesn't it work? The card does load a kernel image
via netboot, so there is *no* major hardware defect.

A comment to the installation procedure. I tried to install the stuff on
a IDE disc containing MS-DOS in some other partition. After the writing of
the NetBSD boot block - and failing the rest of installation - I had 
*a lot* of trouble restoring a usable boot block. (Previously I had
installed os-bs.) The MSDOS (6.0) Setup refused to use the disc after
that. Even using the MSDOS floppy only for booting gave very annoying
messages. Probably the NetBSD boot did enable the memory managemant on
the 486 in a weird way. I cannot even remember how I managed to cure
this. There should be definite hints, how to avoid this sort of trouble.
Making a backup does *not* suffice, as restoring needs a way to boot.
wbk
-- 
Dipl.-Math. Wilhelm Bernhard Kloke
Institut fuer Arbeitsphysiologie an der Universitaet Dortmund
Ardeystrasse 67, D-44139 Dortmund, Tel. 0231-1084-257

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