Arch Linux

jakhead

Member

Registered: 2011-11-08

Posts: 9

[SOLVED] aic94xx firmware in initramfs - luks/dm-crypt

I'm trying to install arch on an old IBM 306m which uses a hostraid and a custom aic94xx firmware which I found on IBM's support site. After booting from a usb, I can copy the aic94xx-seq.fw to /lib/firmware and then rmmod/modprobe aic94xx to see the drives and then install as usual, and I made sure to also copy the firmware to the new install's /lib/firmware directory. However when booting, the machine gets to syslinux ok, but after says

Waiting 10 seconds for device ...

And then times out and aborts the boot sequence. I though this might be due to the aic94xx-seq.fw not being included in the initramfs-linux.img, but using

lsinitcpio

I can see it's there. I generated the image with

mkinitcpio -p linux

Should I be using another preset or some other options?

Last edited by jakhead (2015-03-19 22:44:13)

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-jakhead <jakhead@gmail.com>

nullified

Member

From: Massachusetts, USA

Registered: 2013-12-09

Posts: 468

Re: [SOLVED] aic94xx firmware in initramfs - luks/dm-crypt

What exactly does it say when it aborts the boot sequence? Does it give additional information? If you are not already, boot without the quiet parameter. There should be more information to lead you in the right troubleshooting direction.

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"We may say most aptly, that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves." - Ada Lovelace

jakhead

Member

Registered: 2011-11-08

Posts: 9

Re: [SOLVED] aic94xx firmware in initramfs - luks/dm-crypt

I'm sorry. After you posted, I started playing around in the emergency shell it dropped me into and realized the firmware was in fact loaded and I could see the drives. I believe it was actually a luks/dm-crypt issue and not related to the aic94xx at all. Since drive encryption isn't really necessary for this I disabled it and it's booting fine now. Thanks for the reply nullified. I'm going to mark this as solved and edit the title so as to be too misleading.

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-jakhead <jakhead@gmail.com>