SCO 5.0.5 Booting From a CD

[TaufeekT]

Hello,

I have a cd reader that my programs recognize in my SCO server. I have a recovery CD, however I cannot boot from it.

What steps do I take to boot from the CD?

I know I have to mount my Cd reader during normal operation. Is that needed in order to boot from it?

Thanks

 

[edfair]

If your machine BIOS Boot Order is set for CD to be higheset it should boot automatically if the CD if written correctly and the hardware fits the requirements.

You might wish to check to see if the install CD boots into the installation process. That would be an indication that the hardware is configured correctly.

Mounting is only required to add a filesystem to an operating system.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[TaufeekT]

Ok, finally I have discovered the problem with my SCSI CD-ROM drive. I found out it was connected to the same controller as my Raid controller and I know that is a No-No in hardware configuration.

So I installed a new pci scsi controller and connected the CD-ROM drive directly to it. There is no other hardware connected to this new controller.

The problem I have now is that my SCO 5.0.5 box does not recognize the new controller, or at least I can't tell that it did. What steps should I take to make the CD-ROM drive usable?

Thank You

 

[edfair]

To make it usable, other than boot, you have to create a link to the controller. Then you have to create the CD using the controller.
To get it to boot from the recover CD you have to tell it to specifically use it. This is called a boot time loadable driver, where you tell it the type of controller and where the CD resides on the controller.
Been a long time since I've done it and the steps I've proposed may be out of line.
Rather than use stuff that has the problems I go with controllers that have built in support, 3C509 (ISA) or 3C905 (PCI).

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[TaufeekT]

Sounds good,

How do I go about telling the Sco box to specifically use my controller?

Thanks

 

[edfair]

This is the way it is done with some specific controllers:
ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/drivers/OSR505/btld/btld.readme

YMMV

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[teletechtodd]

Is this issue resolved or is more help needed?

 

[TaufeekT]

Alright,

Thanks for all your help, I solved the problem by connecting the cdrom on the same scsi bus as my tape drive(not on a separate controller). I made sure everything was terminated, and I edited the mscsi file to match the CD-ROM.

Everything works now.