RE: srm upgrade 6.7 -> 7.0

[janina afb net]

I must confess to a pang of conscience after my last post. In truth, I'm
now unclear as to which step worked at which point. I know that I had SRM
for a time, and ARC for a time as well. So, the more I thinkabout it, it
seems that the DOS boot floppy worked whilst ARC was in ROM.

However, there is a jumper on the motherboard that you can set to force
an update. If my recollection is indeed becoming clearer, that's how I got
SRM 7 back down to 6.9. I'm sorry I don't recall the jumper number, but it
is in the manual. I'd look it up for you, but I use other people's eyes
for such things as mine don't work.



			Janina Sajka, Director
			Information Systems Research & Development
			American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

janina@afb.net

On Mon, 3 Jan 2000, Waibel Niki wrote:

> are you using srm console, arc or alphabios?
> i had srm v6.7.
> i too tried to create a fat floppy with the firmware file first - but it
> did not boot.
> i dont think it would work if i had done a 
> `format a: /s' (instead of `format a:')
> but i am new to alpha too and so i dont know.
> 
> can anyone make this clear?
> 
> thanks, niki
> 
> BTW:
>  Michal Jaegermann [michal@ellpspace.math.ualberta.ca]:
>   your perl script is VERY nice - perl really rules!
>   i will use it next time :)
> 
> BTW2:
>  happy new year
> 
> 
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: janina@afb.net [mailto:janina@afb.net]
> >Sent: Friday, December 31, 1999 4:29 PM
> >To: 'axp-list'
> >Subject: Re: srm upgrade 6.7 -> 7.0
> >
> >
> >Maybe I'm too new to the world of Alpha's, but I'm missing 
> >something here.
> >What's the difference in your method over simply creating a bootable
> >DOS/Win floppy? If the point is to get thie update to boot, the latter
> >method worked on my AS200 just fine.
> >
> >
> >
> >			Janina Sajka, Director
> >			Information Systems Research & Development
> >			American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
> >
> >janina@afb.net
> >
> >On Fri, 31 Dec 1999, Waibel Niki wrote:
> >
> >> i just a want to inform the i upgraded the srm console on my good old
> >> alphastation255 (ev45/233).
> >> 
> >> i thought that it could help me boot from the adaptec scsi controller
> >> - but it did not.
> >> 
> >> anyway - because it was such a pain to get info about the 
> >upgrade process
> >> under srm / linux, i will explain it in this mail.
> >> 
> >> if someone has a better solution - pls mail!
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> (the info below is without warrenty - it worked on my machine)
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 1) get the latest firmware from
> >> ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/Alpha/firmware/index.html
> >> (choose your machine on the left)
> >> 
> >> 2) download the firware file (in my case it was `as255_v8_1.exe')
> >> 
> >> 3) boot a linux
> >> 
> >> 4) format a floppy (`fdformat /dev/fd0H1440')
> >>    *dont* put a filesystem onto it - you dont need it!
> >> 
> >> 5) put the firmware file onto the disk - starting with an 
> >offset of 512
> >> byte:
> >>    `dd if=as255_v8_1.exe of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 seek=1'
> >> 
> >> the next step is somehow a hack.
> >> maybe there is a better way to do it - pls inform me!
> >> you need to boot from the disk (directly in the srm console)
> >> - but currently there is no boot stuff on it.
> >> 
> >> 6) create an empty (hex) bootblock:
> >>    `dd if=/dev/zero bs=512 count=1 | xxd boot_block_empty'
> >> 
> >> 7) determine the size of the firmware file
> >>    `ls -la as255_v8_1.exe'
> >>    divide that size by 512 (decimal) and calculate the hex 
> >value of it.
> >> 
> >> 8) edit the file `boot_block_empty' you created in step 6.
> >>    you have to jump to offset 1e0 (the line before the last line).
> >>    the next is a bit complicated.
> >>    you have to reverse the byte order of the hex value calculated in
> >>    step 7 in a long int (8 byte - 64 bit) order.
> >>    example:
> >>     your value from step 7 was: a09 (= 0000 0000 0000 0a09)
> >>     the value you have to enter is: 090a 0000 0000 0000
> >>    hope everyone undersood...
> >> 
> >> 9) edit the next long int
> >>    enter: 0100 0000 0000 0000
> >>    this is the offset the file starts.
> >> 
> >> 10) make sure that the next long int (at offset 1f0) is:
> >>     0000 0000 0000 0000
> >>      this is a flag - dont know what it is used for.
> >> 
> >> 11) edit the last long int. this is a checksum.
> >>     it is the addition of all long ints (8 bytes) before.
> >>     pay attention on the REVERSE ORDER!!!
> >>     in my example it is:
> >>     0a0a 0000 0000 0000
> >> 
> >> 12) exit editor and write the bootblock back to disk:
> >>     `xxd -r boot_block_empty | dd of=/dev/fd0H1440'
> >> 
> >> 13) halt linux -> go to the srm console and boot from the 
> >created disk:
> >>     `boot dva0'
> >> 
> >> 14) the machine/srm seems to reboot - the the update menu 
> >should appear.
> >> 
> >> 
> >
> >-- 
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> >
> 
>