Dont Panic

WTware network boot ways - bootable floppy, DOS, PXE-loaders, BootROM chips.
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PaulU
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Aug 11, 2008 4:38 pm

Dont Panic

Post by PaulU »

Hi Guys
I have a problem with the ION A503 Thin Client, Nothing But
WTware Lite Version 4.2.1 will even boot this little Geode Based system

Tried booting from "USB flash, and USB cdrom"

When i do get 4.2.1 to run up, i am then unable to carry out the install to hard drive or any configrations as the USB keyboard is not Found ?.

All versions from 4.2.1 onwards cause the A503 to hang including the Pro
version i tryed out.

It grinds to a halt giving the error message "Kernal Panic"

Is anyone aware of Problems with this small micro PC

Regards Paul
PaulU
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Aug 11, 2008 4:38 pm

More Info

Post by PaulU »

Hi All,
During my continued testing with WTware lite, i found that a problem
seems to occur with the Tftp side of things, PXE booting fails and displays
an error mesage "Malformed RRQ", Stopping and disabling WTwares
TFTP service and reinstalling a new separate tftp server cured this problem,

BUT i still have the original problem above with my AMD Geode
systems...........

Regards Paul..
aka
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Post by aka »

Please, try newer wtware versions. We have several Geode systems, and 4.4.x and 4.5.x versions work well on it.
PaulU
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Aug 11, 2008 4:38 pm

Post by PaulU »

Hi Aka,
I shall try your advice and try the new version 4.5.13 which i
notice has just been posted.

Will let you know the results

Kind regards Paul
PaulU
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Aug 11, 2008 4:38 pm

Post by PaulU »

Hi Aka,
Just loaded the new 4.5.13 Beta onto my NoteBook, then created a USB boot PenDrive and tryed to boot the Geode via The memory stick.

Whilst it does Boot I,m afraid it still just hangs and comes up with a Kernel error..

One of the main error messages states

Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address
0000001c
*pde = 00000000

Futher on it states...

Code 8b 48 1c 31 ff 31 f6 8b 11 8a 42 01 3c 02 74 0b 3c 14 75 0e
<0> Kernal panic: attempted to kill init!

Hope you can make some sense of this let's know what you think

Kind Regards Paul

P.S. if you need more info from the screen i will type it up by hand ...
PaulU
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Aug 11, 2008 4:38 pm

Post by PaulU »

Hi All,
After my tests last night with the Beat Version 4.5.13 at home,
i decided to reinstall it and test again at work in the server room.

My test setup FAILED!!

Once again the Malformed RRQ error shows up, the only way around this
is to use Tftpd32 as the tftp server, and not the wtware Tftp server.

Once this issue was resolved i then found that when trying to PXE boot random machines in our IT suite, another error shows

The Message "Incorrect noddc value"

Any Ideas ??

Test Carried out on Dell Machines

Must remember this is a Beta..

And the software still don't like my Geode CPU's at all

Regards Paul...
aka
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Post by aka »

What DHCP server do you use?

"Incorrect noddc value" is our fault, sorry. Fixed in 4.5.14.

And please give me more details abuot Geode board. Google doesn't know "ION A503".
PaulU
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Aug 11, 2008 4:38 pm

Post by PaulU »

Hi Aka,
Thankyou for the feedback, the DHCP server is our domain controller, using Win2k3 server standard.

Re: The ION A503

Here's a link to the unit

http://www.viglen.co.uk/webmail/pdfs/MPC-l.pdf

The Original Manafacturer is here

Model shown here is now the current Production Unit The ION A603
with full spesification list &chipset info

http://www.fic.com.tw/product/minipc.aspx

Best Regards Paul..
aka
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Re: Dont Panic

Post by aka »

Newer WTware version should fix this problem.
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