Hardware Documentation Guide: $Id: hardware.hlp,v 1.9.2.1 1996/11/13 11:49:40 jkh Exp $
Contents last changed: July 4th, 1996
Table of Contents
-----------------
0. Document Conventions
1. Default Configuration (GENERIC kernel)
2. Using UserConfig to change FreeBSD kernel settings
3. LINT - other possible configurations.
4. Known Hardware Problems.
=========================================================================
0. Document Conventions
-- --------------------
We have `underlined' text which represents user input with `-' symbols
throughout this document to differentiate it from the machine output.
1. Default (GENERIC) Configuration
-- -------------------------------
The following table contains a list of all of the devices that are
present in the GENERIC kernel, that being the kernel (the operating
system) that was placed in your root partition during the FreeBSD
installation process. A compressed version of the GENERIC kernel is
also used on the installation floppy diskette and DOS boot image.
The table describes the various parameters used by the driver to
communicate with the hardware in your system. There are four
parameters in the table, though not all are used by each and every
device.
Detail:
Port The starting I/O port used by the device, shown in hexadecimal.
IOMem The lowest (or starting) memory address used by the device,
also shown in hexadecimal.
IRQ The interrupt the device uses to alert the driver to an event,
given in decimal.
DRQ The DMA (direct memory access) channel the device uses to move
data to and from main memory, also given in decimal.
If an entry in the table has `n/a' for a value then it means that the
parameter in question does not apply to that device. A value of `dyn'
means that the correct value should be determined automatically by the
kernel when the system boots.
FreeBSD GENERIC kernel:
Port IRQ DRQ IOMem Description
---- --- --- ----- ---------------------------------
fdc0 3f0 6 2 n/a Floppy disk controller
wdc0 1f0 14 n/a n/a IDE/MFM/RLL disk controller
wdc1 170 15 n/a n/a IDE/MFM/RLL disk controller
ncr0 n/a n/a n/a n/a NCR PCI SCSI controller
ahc0 n/a n/a n/a n/a Adaptec 294x PCI SCSI controller
bt0 330 dyn dyn dyn Buslogic SCSI controller
uha0 330 dyn 6 dyn Ultrastore 14f
aha0 330 dyn 5 dyn Adaptec 154x SCSI controller
ahb0 dyn dyn dyn dyn Adaptec 174x SCSI controller
ahc0 dyn dyn dyn dyn Adaptec 274x/284x/294x SCSI controller
aic0 340 11 dyn dyn Adaptec 152x/AIC-6360 SCSI
controller
nca0 1f88 10 dyn dyn ProAudioSpectrum cards
sea0 dyn 5 dyn c8000 Seagate ST01/02 8 bit controller
wt0 300 5 1 dyn Wangtek and Archive QIC-02/QIC-36
mse0 23c 5 n/a n/a Microsoft Bus Mouse
psm0 60 12 n/a n/a PS/2 Mouse (disabled by default)
mcd0 300 10 n/a n/a Mitsumi CD-ROM
matcd0 230 n/a n/a n/a Matsushita/Panasonic CD-ROM
scd0 230 n/a n/a n/a Sony CD-ROM
sio0 3f8 4 n/a n/a Serial Port 0 (COM1)
sio1 2f8 3 n/a n/a Serial Port 1 (COM2)
lpt0 dyn 7 n/a n/a Printer Port 0
lpt1 dyn dyn n/a n/a Printer Port 1
de0 n/a n/a n/a n/a DEC DC21x40 PCI based cards
(including 21140 100bT cards)
ed0 280 5 dyn d8000 WD & SMC 80xx; Novell NE1000 &
NE2000; 3Com 3C503; HP PC Lan+
ed1 300 5 dyn d8000 Same as ed0
eg0 310 5 dyn dyn 3Com 3C505
ep0 300 10 dyn dyn 3Com 3C509
fe0 300 dyn n/a n/a Fujitsu MB86960A/MB86965A cards
fxp0 dyn dyn n/a dyn Intel EtherExpress Pro/100B
ie0 360 7 dyn d0000 AT&T StarLAN 10 and EN100;
3Com 3C507; NI5210
ix0 300 10 dyn d0000 Intel EtherExpress cards
le0 300 5 dyn d0000 Digital Equipment EtherWorks
2 and EtherWorks 3
lnc0 280 10 n/a dyn Lance/PCnet cards
(Isolan, Novell NE2100, NE32-VL)
vx0 dyn dyn n/a dyn 3Com 3c590 / 3c595
ze0 300 5 dyn d8000 IBM/National Semiconductor
PCMCIA Ethernet Controller
zp0 300 10 dyn d8000 3Com PCMCIA Etherlink III
Ethernet Controller
--- End of table ---
If the hardware in your computer is not set to the same settings as
those shown in the table and the item in conflict is not marked 'dyn',
you will have to either reconfigure your hardware or use UserConfig
to reconfigure the kernel to match the way your hardware is currently set
(see the next section).
If the settings do not match, the kernel may be unable to locate
or reliably access the devices in your system.
2. Using UserConfig to change FreeBSD kernel settings
-- --------------------------------------------------
The FreeBSD kernel on the install floppy contains drivers for every
piece of hardware that could concievably be used to install the rest
of the system with. Unfortunately, PC hardware being what it is, some
of these devices can be difficult to detect accurately, and for some,
the process of detecting another can cause irreversible confusion.
To make this process easier, FreeBSD provides UserConfig. With this
UserConfig, the user can configure and disable device drivers before
the kernel is loaded, avoiding potential conflicts, and eliminating
the need to reconfigure hardware to suit the default driver settings.
Once FreeBSD is installed, it will remember the changes made using
UserConfig, so that they only need be made once.
It is important to disable drivers that are not relevant to a system
in order to minimise the possibility of interference, which can cause
problems that are difficult to track down.
UserConfig features a commandline interface for users with serial
consoles or a need to type commands, and a fullscreen 'visual'
interface, which provides point-and-shoot configuration functionality.
Here is a sample UserConfig screen shot in 'visual' mode:
---Active Drivers---------------------------10 Conflicts------Dev---IRQ--Port--
Storage : (Collapsed)
Network :
NE1000,NE2000,3C503,WD/SMC80xx Ethernet adapters CONF ed0 5 0x280
NE1000,NE2000,3C503,WD/SMC80xx Ethernet adapters CONF ed1 5 0x300
Communications : (Collapsed)
Input : (Collapsed)
Multimedia :
---Inactive Drivers-------------------------------------------Dev--------------
Storage :
Network : (Collapsed)
Communications :
Input :
Multimedia :
PCI :
---Parameters-for-device-ed0---------------------------------------------------
Port address : 0x280 Memory address : 0xd8000
IRQ number : 5 Memory size : 0x2000
Flags : 0x0000
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IO Port address (Hexadecimal, 0x1-0x2000)
[TAB] Change fields [Q] Save device parameters
The screen is divided into four sections :
- Active Drivers. Listed here are the device drivers that are currently
enabled, and their basic parameters.
- Inactive Drivers. These drivers are present, but are disabled.
- Parameter edit field. This area is used for editing driver parameters.
- Help area. Keystroke help is displayed here.
One of the Active and Inactive lists is always in use, and the current
entry in the list will be shown with a highlight bar. If there are
more entries in a list than can be shown, it will scroll. The bar can
be moved up and down using the cursor keys, and moved between lists
with the TAB key.
Drivers in the Active list may be marked "CONF". This indicates that
one or more of their parameters conflicts with another device, and
indicates a potential for problems. The total number of conflicts is
displayed at the top of the screen.
As a general rule, conflicts should be avoided, either by disabling
conflicting devices that are not present in the system, or by altering
their configuration so that they match the installed hardware.
In the list areas, drivers are grouped by their basic function.
Groups can be 'Collapsed' to simplify the display (this is the default
state for all groups). If a group is collapsed, it will be shown with
'(Collapsed)' in the list, as above. To Expand a Collapsed group,
position the highlight bar over the group heading and press Enter. To
Collapse it again, repeat the process.
When a device driver in the Active list is highlighted, its full
parameters are displayed in the Parameter edit area. Note that not
all drivers use all possible parameters, and some hardware supported
by drivers may not use all the parameters the driver supports.
To disable a driver, go to the Active list, Expand the group it is in,
highlight the driver and press Del. The driver will move to its group
in the Inactive list. (If the group is collapsed or off the screen,
you may not see the driver in its new location.)
To enable a driver, go to the Inactive list, Expand the group it is
in, highlight the driver and press Enter. The highlight will move to
the Active list, and the driver you have just enabled will be
highlighted, ready to be configured.
To configure a driver, go to the Active list, Expand the group it is
in, highlight the driver and press Enter. The cursor will move to the
Parameter edit area, and the device's parameters may be edited.
While editing parameters, the TAB and cursor keys can be used to move
between fields. Most numeric values (except IRQ) are entered in
hexadecimal, as indicated by the '0x' at the beginning of the field.
The allowable values for a given field are show in the Key Help area
when the field is active.
To finish configuring a driver, press 'Q'.
Sample UserConfig session
-------------------------
Here is a walkthrough of a sample use of UserConfig. The system in
question has an IDE disk, two serial ports, a single printer port, a
floppy drive and an NE2000 ethernet card set to I/O address 0x340 and
IRQ 10.
- At the 'config>' prompt, type 'v' and press Enter to activate
'visual' mode.
- The fullscreen mode comes up, with the highlight bar in the Active Drivers
area over the 'Storage' group, which is Collapsed. Press Enter to
Expand the group.
- Disable all of the drivers listed in this group except for the
"Floppy disk controller" and "IDE/ESDI/MFM disk controller" by
highlighting each in turn and pressing Del.
- Move to the 'Network' group, Expand it, and disable all of the drivers
except for 'ed0', the first of the
"NE1000,NE2000,3C503,WD/SMC80xx Ethernet adapters".
- Move to the 'Communications' group, Expand it and disable the 'lpt1' and
'lpt2' drivers.
- Disable the 'mse0' driver in the 'Input' group.
- Go back to the 'Network' group, highlight the 'ed0' driver, and press
Enter to configure it.
- Change the 'Port address' and 'IRQ number' fields to match the
configuration of the card, ie. 0x340 and 10 respectively.
- Press 'Q' to finish configuring the device, and then 'Q' again to
leave UserConfig. Answer 'yes' to save the changes and continue to boot
using the new configuration.
3. LINT - other possible configurations
-- ------------------------------------
The following drivers are not in the GENERIC kernel but remain
available to those who do not mind compiling a custom kernel (see
section 6 of FreeBSD.FAQ). The LINT configuration file
(/sys/i386/conf/LINT) also contains prototype entries for just about
every device supported by FreeBSD and is a good general reference.
The device names and a short description of each are listed below. The port
numbers, etc, are not meaningful here since you will need to compile a
custom kernel to gain access to these devices anyway and can thus
adjust the addresses to match the hardware in your computer in the process.
The LINT file contains prototype entries for all of the below which you
can easily cut-and-paste into your own file (or simply copy LINT and edit
it to taste):
ctx: Cortex-I frame grabber
cx: Cronyx/Sigma multiport sync/async
cy: Cyclades high-speed serial driver
el: 3Com 3C501
fea: DEV DEFEA EISA FDDI adater
fpa: DEC DEFPA PCI FDDI adapter
gp: National Instruments AT-GPIB and AT-GPIB/TNT board
gsc: Genius GS-4500 hand scanner
gus: Gravis Ultrasound - Ultrasound, Ultrasound 16, Ultrasound MAX
gusxvi: Gravis Ultrasound 16-bit PCM
joy: Joystick
labpc: National Instrument's Lab-PC and Lab-PC+
meteor: Matrox Meteor frame-grabber card
mpu: Roland MPU-401 stand-alone card
mse: Logitech & ATI InPort bus mouse ports
mss: Microsoft Sound System
nic: Dr Neuhaus NICCY 3008, 3009 & 5000 ISDN cards
opl: Yamaha OPL-2 and OPL-3 FM - SB, SB Pro, SB 16, ProAudioSpectrum
pas: ProAudioSpectrum PCM and MIDI
pca: PCM audio ("/dev/audio") through your PC speaker
psm: PS/2 mouse port
rc: RISCom/8 multiport card
sb: SoundBlaster PCM - SoundBlaster, SB Pro, SB16, ProAudioSpectrum
sbmidi: SoundBlaster 16 MIDI interface
sbxvi: SoundBlaster 16
spigot: Creative Labs Video Spigot video-acquisition board
uart: Stand-alone 6850 UART for MIDI
wds: Western Digital WD7000 IDE
--- end of list ---
4. Known Hardware Problems, Q & A:
-- -------------------------------
Q: mcd0 keeps thinking that it has found a device and this stops my Intel
EtherExpress card from working.
A: Use the UserConfig utility (see section 1.0) and disable the probing of
the mcd0 and mcd1 devices. Generally speaking, you should only leave
the devices that you will be using enabled in your kernel.
Q: The system finds my ed network card, but I keep getting device
timeout errors.
A: Your card is probably on a different IRQ from what is specified in the
kernel configuration. The ed driver does not use the `soft' configuration
by default (values entered using EZSETUP in DOS), but it will use the
software configuration if you specify `?' in the IRQ field of your kernel
config file.
Either move the jumper on the card to a hard configuration setting
(altering the kernel settings if necessary), or specify the IRQ as
`-1' in UserConfig or `?' in your kernel config file. This will
tell the kernel to use the soft configuration.
Another possibility is that your card is at IRQ 9, which is shared
by IRQ 2 and frequently a cause of problems (especially when you
have a VGA card using IRQ 2! :). You should not use IRQ 2 or 9 if at
all possible.
Q: I go to boot from the hard disk for the first time after installing
FreeBSD, but the Boot Manager prompt just prints `F?' at the boot menu
each time but the boot won't go any further.
A: The hard disk geometry was set incorrectly in the Partition editor when
you installed FreeBSD. Go back into the partition editor and specify
the actual geometry of your hard disk. You must reinstall FreeBSD
again from the beginning with the correct geometry.
If you are failing entirely in figuring out the correct geometry for
your machine, here's a tip: Install a small DOS partition at the
beginning of the disk and install FreeBSD after that. The install
program will see the DOS partition and try to infer the correct
geometry from it, which usually works.
If you are setting up a truly dedicated FreeBSD server or work-
station where you don't care for (future) compatibility with DOS,
Linux or another operating system, you've also got the option to use
the entire disk (`A' in the partition editor), selecting the
non-standard option where FreeBSD occupies the entire disk from
the very first to the very last sector. This will leave all geometry
considerations aside, but is somewhat limiting unless you're never
going to run anything other than FreeBSD on a disk.
Q: I have a Matsushita/Panasonic drive but it isn't recognized by the
system.
A: Make certain that the I/O port that the matcd driver is set to is
correct for the host interface card you have. (Some SoundBlaster DOS
drivers report a hardware I/O port address for the CD-ROM interface
that is 0x10 lower than it really is.)
If you are unable to determine the settings for the card by examining
the board or documentation, you can use UserConfig to change the 'port'
address (I/O port) to -1 and start the system. This setting causes the
driver to look at a number of I/O ports that various manufacturers
use for their Matsushita/Panasonic/Creative CD-ROM interfaces.
Once the driver locates the address, you should run UserConfig again
and specify the correct address. Leaving the 'port' parameter set to -1
increases the amount of time that it takes the system to boot, and
this could interfere with other devices.
The double-speed Matsushita CR-562 and CR-563 are the only drives
that are supported.
Q: I have a Matsushita/Panasonic CR-522, a Matsushita/Panasonic CR-523 or
a TEAC CD55a drive, but it is not recognized even when the correct I/O
port is set.
A: These CD-ROM drives are currently not supported by FreeBSD. The command
sets for these drives are not compatible with the double-speed CR-562
and CR-563 drives.
The single-speed CR-522 and CR-523 drives can be identified by their
use of a CD-caddy.
Q: I'm trying to install from a tape drive but all I get is something like:
st0(aha0:1:0) NOT READY csi 40,0,0,0
on the screen. Help!
A: There's a limitation in the current sysinstall that the tape MUST
be in the drive while sysinstall is started or it won't be detected.
Try again with the tape in the drive the whole time.
Q: I've installed FreeBSD onto my system, but it hangs when booting from
the hard drive with the message: ``Changing root to /dev/sd0a''.
A: This problem may occur in a system with a 3com 3c509 ethernet adaptor.
The ep0 device driver appears to be sensitive to probes for other
devices that also use address 0x300. Boot your FreeBSD system by power
cycling the machine (turn off and on). At the ``Boot:'' prompt specify
the ``-c''. This will invoke UserConfig (see Section 1. above). Use
the ``disable'' command to disable the device probes for all devices
at address 0x300 except the ep0 driver. On exit, your machine should
successfully boot FreeBSD.
Q: My system hangs during boot, right after the "fd0: [my floppy drive]"
line.
A: This is not actually a hang, simply a very LONG "wdc0" probe that
often takes a long time to complete on certain systems (where there
usually _isn't_ a WD controller). Be patient, your system will boot!
To eliminate the problem, boot with the -c flag and eliminate the wdc0
device, or compile a custom kernel.
Q: My system can not find my Intel EtherExpress 16 card.
A: You must set your Intel EtherExpress 16 card to be memory mapped at
address 0xD0000, and set the amount of mapped memory to 32K using
the Intel supplied softset.exe program.
[ Please add more hardware tips to this Q&A section! ]
