>Number:         7877
>Category:       install
>Synopsis:       Computer stops after POST screen following successful install to HD
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       serious
>Priority:       low
>Responsible:    install-manager (NetBSD system installation bug manager)
>State:          open
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Mon Jun 28 12:05:00 1999
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Shimon Rura
>Organization:
>Release:        NetBSD/i386 1.4
>Environment:
NetBSD 1.4 (GENERIC) #0: Fri May  7 12:27:31 PDT 1999     perry@cynic.cynic.net:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/GENERIC i386


>Description:
On SuperMicro P5STE Board with BIOS revision 1.3, the computer stops 
with a flashing cursor after Power-On Self Test following a successful 
install to hard drive.  Tested with different peripherals and different
hard drives and same drive on different computer -- problem is due to 
motherboard quirks.  Boot is not possible from any device as computer
does not get past POST screen.  Does not appear to timeout.

Hardware: SuperMicro P5STE Mainboard, Pentium CPU, Maxtor and Western 
Digital 850MB IDE hard drives.
>How-To-Repeat:
Make sure you have a SuperMicro P5STE mainboard with BIOS revision <1.7
(this appears with Revision 1.3 and I have not tested any revisions 
other than these two).

Install NetBSD onto Hard drive after booting from install floppy.  
Following install, your computer will reboot, your POST screen will appear
with BIOS info, RAM test, and your IDE devices will be detected.  Then 
the cursor will move down a line and your computer will stop.  It will 
respond to Ctrl-Alt-Del if pressed.

I do not know if the size of your hard drive or the configuration of IDE
devices on your system effects this.  It has only been tested with WD and
Maxtor 850MB hard drives as the only IDE device.
>Fix:
Upgrade your BIOS to the latest revision, which is 1.7 at the time of 
this writing.  In my case, I also needed to restore the master boot 
record (I used `fdisk /mbr' under DOS) and then I was able to boot NetBSD
directly off the drive as I had installed.  Besides being able to boot,
the BIOS upgrade adds some settings to CMOS setup and other fun stuff,
so it's probably a good idea to upgrade anyway if you have this board.

However, this problem did not manifest itself with installs of FreeBSD or
GNU/Linux, so perhaps there is some quirk about how NetBSD writes to the
Hard Drive that should be investigate, or a warning following setup that
says "If you have problems booting after this install that occur before 
you reach the NetBSD boot manager, you should check if there is a BIOS
update for your motherboard, and install it if the update exists."
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: