unbootable plextor cd, buslogic controller

[Matthias Andree]

freebsd at dreamchaser.org writes:

> I've been suffering with this for years, and finally decided I should
> resolve it...
>
>   buslogic BT-930 (flashpoint lt) pci scsi adapter
>   plextor 12Plex PX-12CSi CD rom
>
> I can't boot from the CD.

Plextor CD-ROMs are slow to get ready after a reset or cold start, I've
needed to increase the "Delay before BIOS scans device" in my Tekram
DC-390U (default 3 s, options are 5 s, 10 s, and beyond up to 30 s IIRC,
before I could boot from a CD in my Plextor PX-32TSi.

The SCSI BIOS needs to provide the boot sector of the CD-ROM in floppy
emulation for older PC BIOS, and some CDs don't run in emulation mode
but boot directly, which doesn't work with older mobo BIOS...

> I'm now using an Asus A7N8X-E mobo, which appears to have bios boot

...but I think the A7N8X should handle things fine...

> settings only for SCSI in general, and not a particular type of SCSI
> device.  It does have settings for CD-ROM and HDD-0,1,2,3 but as
> nearly as I can tell those all assume EIDE devices.

...and the SCSI BIOS determines which SCSI device to boot from.

Try increasing the delay between bus reset and bus scan, try switching
off the bus reset.

Note that I don't have a Flashpoint LT, so all I can say is play with
the options. Some BIOSes need several options on to boot from CD.

Note that this is not FreeBSD-specific AFAICS, so if you have further
questions, please ask BusLogic or in some adequate newsgroup for help.

-- 
Matthias Andree

Encrypted mail welcome: my GnuPG key ID is 0x052E7D95 (PGP/MIME preferred)