To start out the new year, I decided to upgrade 3 of my existing PCs to new ones. My goals were:

• Save energy
• Improve performance
• Get systems that still had PS/2 ports and serial ports before they were discontinued

The reason for the 3rd item is that I use a specialty keyboard (in particular, the DEC/Compaq/HP LK450 family) which is very hard to find in USB form and which my applications don’t support in USB mode. So I needed PS/2 support. Many vendors are moving to so-called “legacy-free” systems that don’t have these ports.

I usually purchase Dell PCs as they do a good job of integrating quality components (at least in the business-class systems) at a good price. I could probably build a similar system for a comparable price, but in my opinion it isn’t worth the hassle. What is best for anyone else probably depends on how they value their time.

I had recommended the Optiplex 740 (AMD-based) for a friend, and he was quite happy with them (I think his systems came in at under $400 each, complete). But I was looking for higher performance, and Dell wasn’t offering quad-core AMD systems. [Apparently there are L3 cache issues with the new AMD quad-core units that are severely limiting availability of parts.]

So I selected the Optiplex 755. I chose the Optiplex for a number of reasons. First, it is possible to order these with a PS/2 adapter that gives you PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports as well as a second serial port. Next, it comes with US-based tech support – not that I call for software help, but I’d like to be able to convince the tech to “just send me the part” to fix the unit, without needing to do the whole song-and-dance of running tests I already did, seeing if a software update will fix it, etc. – and that seems to be a lot easier with domestic tech support.

I spec’d a high-end (but not top-of-the-line) model as follows:

That was my system for my digital darkroom. The other two systems were the same except that I didn’t order the 1394 card. This system priced out at $1397.00 after discounts, but before tax. Shipping was free.

I ordered the next-to-the-top CPU. Choosing a Q6700 would have been $320 more for only 260MHz more speed. I can always swap the CPU later on.

Some readers may question my choice of 4GB RAM in a 32-bit XP system. While it is true that Windows won’t use all of it, it does use 3.25GB. Dell doesn’t offer this system with a 3GB memory size. 4GB was only $139 more than 2GB.

I also ordered a 30″ widescreen monitor to go with that system:

The systems were ordered on January 13th and were scheduled to ship on January 18th, but actually arrived here on the 17th. That’s amazing service.

The first thing I did upon unpacking the first system was to image the hard drive to my backup server using G4U. This lets me restore things to the as-shipped state without needing to play with restore CDs, system-specific software utilities, etc. Unfortunately, the hardware in the system was too new for G4U to support it, so I resorted to my usual trick of moving the hard drive to one of my utility boxes to do the backup. Dell uses quick-removal brackets for most components (including the hard disk) so the swap was very easy. Once that was done, it was back into the Optiplex for startup.

Upon cabling things up, I discovered that I had ordered the wrong video card for the 3008WFP panel. It uses dual-link DVI, since its maximum resolution of 2560 x 1600 exceeds the limits of a single DVI link. I had assumed that a card listed as “dual DVI” would support dual-link. Silly me… So I ran the panel in 1920 x 1200 mode and ordered a retail Radeon HD 2400 Pro card. I could have asked Dell to swap out the card, but this was arguably my error and they listed the card as on back-order when not part of a system. A note for people who are going to say “why didn’t you get video card X instead?” – I’ve been very happy with ATI cards (in fact, one of the reasons I chose this model was that it included an ATI card) and the newer ATI cards (at least in their retail versions) use a second slot for their cooling fan. As I describe later on, slots are at a premium in this system.

On starting the system up, I was pleased to discover that it was remarkably free of what I call “shovel-ware” – stuff that’s shoveled onto the system to clutter up the desktop and start menu, like “Try AOL for 3 months free!”, “Yahoo! Toolbar”, “Norton AntiVirus Trial Edition” and so forth. I’d much rather install the stuff I want rather than trying to remove all traces of stuff I didn’t want from the system.

I then looked to see what sort of hardware came with the system. The DVD burner was a brand I didn’t recognize (it turns out is is some sort of OEM Philips drive). The hard drive was a Seagate model – very nice. A Vostro 400 (home / home office) system a friend ordered came with a Hitachi Deskstar drive. I prefer the Seagate and I’m glad Dell uses them on their higher-end systems.

I decided to replace the DVD burner with a pair of Pioneer DVR-212D burners. This is a top-rated burner which comes with Cyberlink PowerDVD and Nero Essentials. The version of PowerDVD bundled with the Optiplex had a funky user interface and rather than trying to get it to act like the versions I was familiar with, I just de-installed it and installed the version from the Pioneer accessory disk. Similarly, I de-installed Roxio from the system (I have always loathed that software) and installed Nero.

To be continued… 

UPDATED May 4th, 2007

Today we’ll take a look inside the Linksys NSS4000. This is the entry-level unit in the Linksys One network storage family. You can read the official Linksys literature  here, but technical info is rather lacking there (they don’t even say how much RAM is in the unit).

 First, let’s take a look at the mainboard (click the image to enlarge):

The processor is a PMC-Sierra RM7035C, part of the MIPS family, running at 600MHz. A PM8172 system controller provides the interface for most other peripheral controllers on the board, as well as being the attachment point for the system’s 128KB of Hynix SDRAM. Other notable components are an ITE IT8712 Super I/O controller and IT8907E USB flash controller, connected to a 512MB Samsung flash chip; Promise PDC40518 SATA controller; NEC UPD720101 USB 2.0 controller;  SafeXcel 1741 security co-processor; two Marvell Yukon Lite 10/100/1000 Ethernet controllers (under heat sinks), and a MX 29LV800CBTC 1MB boot flash.

Upon initial observation, there is a 4-pin connector labeled “J29 CONSOLE” near the back edge of the board:

It turns out that this connector has the exact same pinout as the Linksys NSLU2’s serial port, as described here. Linksys was even nice enough to pre-install a connector for us. I made a cable out of an old Sound Blaster cable (connectors / pins) and a piece of USB cable (wire). There is just enough room to snake the cable into the chassis via the RPS (Redundant Power System) connector opening on the rear:

This was enough to get a serial console working, to observe the bootstrap procedure. Here is a complete log of the boot process, from PMON start through the Linux login prompt:

PMON2000 MIPS Initializing. Standby...ERRORPC=80102c4c CONFIG=404664b0 STATUS=00410000 
CPU PRID 00002753 
Initializing SDRAM controller 
Clearing first 1MB of memory...done 
Sizing caches... 
Initializing L1 cache...done 
Initializing L2 cache...enabling...done 
Testing first MB of RAM... 
Wlk-1 OK! Wlk-0 OK! OwnAddr OK! Copy PMON to execute location...done 
Booting compressed image. 
Wlk-1 OK! Wlk-0 OK! OwnAddr OK! mainbus0 (root) 
pcibr0 at mainbus0 
pci0 at pcibr0 bus 0 
vendor "ITExpress", unknown product 0x0801 rev 0xb1 at pci0 dev 1 function 0 not configured 
vendor "ITExpress", unknown product 0x8172 rev 0x10 at pci0 dev 1 function 1 not configured 
ohci0 at pci0 dev 1 function 3 vendor "ITExpress", unknown product 0x1234 rev 0x07: generic poll, version 1.0, legacy support 
usb1 at ohci0: USB revision 1.0 
uhub1 at usb1 
uhub1: class 9/0 rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1 
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered 
vendor "ITExpress", unknown product 0x8172 rev 0x11 at pci0 dev 1 function 4 not configured 
vendor "ITExpress", unknown product 0x8172 rev 0x10 at pci0 dev 1 function 6 not configured 
"SafeNet SafeXcel" rev 0x01 at pci0 dev 16 function 0 not configured 
ohci1 at pci0 dev 17 function 0 "NEC USB" rev 0x43: generic poll, version 1.0 
usb2 at ohci1: USB revision 1.0 
uhub2 at usb2 
uhub2: class 9/0 rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1 
uhub2: 3 ports with 3 removable, self powered 
ohci2 at pci0 dev 17 function 1 "NEC USB" rev 0x43: generic poll, version 1.0 
usb3 at ohci2: USB revision 1.0 
uhub3 at usb3 
uhub3: class 9/0 rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1 
uhub3: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered 
ehci0 at pci0 dev 17 function 2 "NEC USB" rev 0x04: generic poll 
ehci0: EHCI version 1.0 
ehci0: companion controllers, 3 ports each: ohci1 ohci2 
usb0 at ehci0: USB revision 2.0 
uhub0 at usb0 
uhub0: class 9/0 rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1 
uhub0: 5 ports with 5 removable, self powered 
skc0 at pci0 dev 18 function 0 "Marvell Yukon 88E8001/8003/8010" rev 0x10, Marvell Yukon Lite (0x9): generic poll 
sk0 at skc0 port A, address aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff 
eephy0 at sk0 phy 0: Marvell 88E1011 Gigabit PHY, rev. 5 
vendor "Promise", unknown product 0x3d18 rev 0x02 at pci0 dev 19 function 0 not configured 
skc1 at pci0 dev 20 function 0 "Marvell Yukon 88E8001/8003/8010" rev 0x10, Marvell Yukon Lite (0x9): generic poll 
sk1 at skc1 port A, address aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff 
eephy1 at sk1 phy 0: Marvell 88E1011 Gigabit PHY, rev. 5 
umass0 at uhub0 port 1 configuration 1 interface 0 
umass0: rev 2.00/2.00, addr 2 using umass0 over SCSI 
scsibus0 at umass0: 2 targets 
sd0 at scsibus0 targ 1 lun 0:  SCSI2 0/direct removable 
sd0: 499MB, 499 cyl, 64 head, 32 sec, 512 bytes/sec, 1022976 sec total 
System init done.Configuration [PM74101,EL,NET,SCSI] 
Version: PMON2000 3.1.17-B019 (PM74101) #0: Mon Jan  8 12:24:25 PST 2007. 
Supported loaders [srec, elf, bin] 
Supported filesystems [net, fat, disk, tty, ram] 
This software may be redistributed under the BSD copyright. 
Copyright 2005, PMC-Sierra, Inc. 
CPU RM7000 @ 601.28 MHz / Bus @ 100.21 MHz 
Memory size 128 MB. 
Primary Instruction cache size 16KB (32 line, 4 way) 
Primary Data cache size 16KB (32 line, 4 way) 
Secondary cache size 256KB 
Diagnostic Test Started 
=============================================================== 
PCI test started .................. 
Testing PCI Device NEC USB Controller 
Testing PCI Device Promise SATA Controller 
Testing PCI Device Marvell Gigabit Ethernet Controller 
Testing PCI Device Safenet SafeXel encryptor 
PCI test finished .................  SUCCESS 
USB test started .................. 
USB test finished .................  SUCCESS 
LPC test started .................. 
Testing LPC Environment Controller 
Testing LPC GPIO Controller 
LPC: GPIO Controller Passed 
LPC test finished .................  SUCCESS 
RTC test started .................. 
Setting the time as Sun Jan  1 00:00:00 GMT 2006 
RTC test finished .................  SUCCESS 
Mfg  0, Id  0 
Could not find Flash Area to write 
*************************************************************** 
*            Diagnostic Test Status of this device            * 
*************************************************************** 
* Memory Test                               -   SUCCESS       * 
* NEC USB Controller                        -   SUCCESS       * 
* Promise SATA Controller                   -   SUCCESS       * 
* Marvell Gigabit Ethernet Controller       -   SUCCESS       * 
* Safenet SafeXel encryptor                 -   SUCCESS       * 
* USB OnBoard FLASH                         -   SUCCESS       * 
* LPC Device                                -   SUCCESS       * 
* LPC: Environment Controller               -   SUCCESS       * 
* LPC: GPIO Controller                      -   SUCCESS       * 
* RTC setting                               -   SUCCESS       * 
* UDI Programming                           -   FAILED        * 
*************************************************************** 
Diagnostic test completed. Test Status - FAILURE 
=============================================================== 
Hit any key to return to PMON prompt or power down. 
> 
Autoboot command: "boot /dev/sd0@0x100 root=/dev/scsibd2 hwrev=3" 
Press  to execute now or any other key to abort. 
 1 
Loading file: /dev/sd0@0x100 [elf32] [mips4] [32bitmode] 
ffffffff80100000/53d085(5492869) + ffffffff8063d085/22f9b(z) + ehci_shutdown: stopping the HC 
ohci_shutdown: stopping the HC 
ohci_shutdown: stopping the HC 
ohci_shutdown: stopping the HC 
setting pci bus 0 device 1 function 0 reg 10 to default: 0x14017001 
setting pci bus 0 device 1 function 5 reg 20 to default: 0x01401780 
Linux version 2.6.18 (build@schnitzel) (gcc version 3.3.6) #1 Fri Jan 26 02:36:34 PST 2007 
UDI: initializing 
UDI: found UDI at offset 0xa80ff000 
UDI: V2 info format 
UDI: hardware revision is 3 
UDI: available 
memsize: 128 
Memory size: 128MB 
CPU revision is: 00002753 
FPU revision is: 00002750 
Found IT8712 Super IO 
Determined physical RAM map: 
 memory: 08000000 @ 00000000 (usable) 
Built 1 zonelists.  Total pages: 32768 
Kernel command line: root=/dev/scsibd2 hwrev=3 console=ttyS0,115200 
Primary instruction cache 16kB, physically tagged, 4-way, linesize 32 bytes. 
Primary data cache 16kB, 4-way, linesize 32 bytes. 
Secondary cache size 256K, linesize 32 bytes. 
Synthesized TLB refill handler (23 instructions). 
Synthesized TLB load handler fastpath (35 instructions). 
Synthesized TLB store handler fastpath (35 instructions). 
Synthesized TLB modify handler fastpath (34 instructions). 
PID hash table entries: 1024 (order: 10, 4096 bytes) 
calculating r4koff... 0012597e(1202558) 
CPU frequency 601.28 MHz 
Using 300.640 MHz high precision timer. 
Dentry cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes) 
Inode-cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 3, 32768 bytes) 
Memory: 123264k/131072k available (4092k kernel code, 7664k reserved, 1107k data , 164k init, 0k highmem) 
Mount-cache hash table entries: 512 
Checking for 'wait' instruction...  available. 
NET: Registered protocol family 16 
SCSI subsystem initialized 
usbcore: registered new driver usbfs 
usbcore: registered new driver hub 
NET: Registered protocol family 2 
IP route cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes) 
TCP established hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes) 
TCP bind hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes) 
TCP: Hash tables configured (established 4096 bind 2048) 
TCP reno registered 
UDI: created "/proc/manuinfo" entry 
VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.5.1 
Dquot-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order 0, 4096 bytes) 
squashfs: version 3.1 (2006/08/19) Phillip Lougher 
Installing knfsd (copyright (C) 1996 okir@monad.swb.de). 
NTFS driver 2.1.27 [Flags: R/O]. 
JFFS2 version 2.2. (NAND) (C) 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc. 
SGI XFS with ACLs, large block numbers, no debug enabled 
SGI XFS Quota Management subsystem 
Initializing Cryptographic API 
io scheduler noop registered 
io scheduler anticipatory registered 
io scheduler deadline registered 
io scheduler cfq registered (default) 
it8172 fixup: Configuring Audio adapter 0000:00:01.0 
Generic RTC Driver v1.07 
GPIO poller thread started. 
GPIO at 0x14013800 (irq = 20) 
powerdn: pwdnInit 
Watchdog Timer (ITE 8712) Initialized 
is_watchdog_running()(0x0), WDT Timeout Value (0x0)... 
watchdog_init(): Did not spawn it8712_wdt_ctrl_kthread... 
Serial: 8250/16550 driver $Revision: 1.6 $ 4 ports, IRQ sharing disabled 
serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x14011800 (irq = 23) is a 16550A 
serial8250: ttyS1 at I/O 0x140003f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A 
serial8250: ttyS2 at I/O 0x14012000 (irq = 24) is a 16550A 
serial8250: ttyS3 at I/O 0x14012800 (irq = 25) is a 16550A 
loop: loaded (max 8 devices) 
skge 1.6 addr 0x10104000 irq 39 chip Yukon-Lite rev 9 
skge eth0: addr aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff 
skge 1.6 addr 0x10108000 irq 40 chip Yukon-Lite rev 9 
skge eth1: addr aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff 
tun: Universal TUN/TAP device driver, 1.6 
tun: (C) 1999-2004 Max Krasnyansky  
Board Hardware Revision: 3 
libata: Powering drive 1 (gpio 19) 
libata: Powering drive 2 (gpio 18) 
libata: Powering drive 3 (gpio 17) 
libata: Powering drive 4 (gpio 16) 
ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xB010E200 ctl 0xB010E238 bmdma 0x0 irq 41 
ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xB010E280 ctl 0xB010E2B8 bmdma 0x0 irq 41 
ata3: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xB010E300 ctl 0xB010E338 bmdma 0x0 irq 41 
ata4: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xB010E380 ctl 0xB010E3B8 bmdma 0x0 irq 41 
scsi0 : sata_promise 
ata1: SRST failed (status 0xFF) 
ata1: SRST failed (err_mask=0x100) 
ata1: softreset failed, retrying in 5 secs 
ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300) 
ata1.00: ATA-7, max UDMA/133, 781422768 sectors: LBA48 NCQ (depth 0/32) 
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133 
scsi1 : sata_promise 
ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300) 
ata2.00: ATA-7, max UDMA/133, 781422768 sectors: LBA48 NCQ (depth 0/32) 
ata2.00: configured for UDMA/133 
scsi2 : sata_promise 
ata3: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300) 
ata3.00: ATA-7, max UDMA/133, 781422768 sectors: LBA48 NCQ (depth 0/32) 
ata3.00: configured for UDMA/133 
scsi3 : sata_promise 
ata4: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300) 
ata4.00: ATA-7, max UDMA/133, 781422768 sectors: LBA48 NCQ (depth 0/32) 
ata4.00: configured for UDMA/133 
  Vendor: ATA       Model: ST3400832AS       Rev: 3.01 
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 05 
  Vendor: ATA       Model: ST3400832AS       Rev: 3.01 
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 05 
  Vendor: ATA       Model: ST3400832AS       Rev: 3.01 
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 05 
  Vendor: ATA       Model: ST3400832AS       Rev: 3.01 
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 05 
SCSI device sda: 781422768 512-byte hdwr sectors (400088 MB) 
sda: Write Protect is off 
SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back 
SCSI device sda: 781422768 512-byte hdwr sectors (400088 MB) 
sda: Write Protect is off 
SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back 
 sda: 
sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi disk sda 
SCSI device sdb: 781422768 512-byte hdwr sectors (400088 MB) 
sdb: Write Protect is off 
SCSI device sdb: drive cache: write back 
SCSI device sdb: 781422768 512-byte hdwr sectors (400088 MB) 
sdb: Write Protect is off 
SCSI device sdb: drive cache: write back 
 sdb: 
sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi disk sdb 
SCSI device sdc: 781422768 512-byte hdwr sectors (400088 MB) 
sdc: Write Protect is off 
SCSI device sdc: drive cache: write back 
SCSI device sdc: 781422768 512-byte hdwr sectors (400088 MB) 
sdc: Write Protect is off 
SCSI device sdc: drive cache: write back 
 sdc: 
sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi disk sdc 
SCSI device sdd: 781422768 512-byte hdwr sectors (400088 MB) 
sdd: Write Protect is off 
SCSI device sdd: drive cache: write back 
SCSI device sdd: 781422768 512-byte hdwr sectors (400088 MB) 
sdd: Write Protect is off 
SCSI device sdd: drive cache: write back 
 sdd: 
sd 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi disk sdd 
sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0 
sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0 
sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0 
sd 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0 
physmap-flash.0: failed to claim resource 0 
ehci_hcd 0000:00:11.2: EHCI Host Controller 
ehci_hcd 0000:00:11.2: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1 
ehci_hcd 0000:00:11.2: irq 40, io mem 0x1010f000 
ehci_hcd 0000:00:11.2: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00, driver 10 Dec 2004 
usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice 
hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found 
hub 1-0:1.0: 5 ports detected 
ohci_hcd 0000:00:01.3: Itentionally disabling ITE USB controller. 
ohci_hcd 0000:00:01.3: init 0000:00:01.3 fail, -19 
ohci_hcd 0000:00:11.0: OHCI Host Controller 
ohci_hcd 0000:00:11.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2 
ohci_hcd 0000:00:11.0: irq 38, io mem 0x1010c000 
usb usb2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice 
hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found 
hub 2-0:1.0: 3 ports detected 
ohci_hcd 0000:00:11.1: OHCI Host Controller 
ohci_hcd 0000:00:11.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3 
ohci_hcd 0000:00:11.1: irq 39, io mem 0x1010d000 
usb 1-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2 
usb usb3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice 
hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found 
hub 3-0:1.0: 2 ports detected 
usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice 
Initializing USB Mass Storage driver... 
scsi4 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices 
  Vendor: ITE TECH  Model:  PEN DRIVE Flash  Rev: 2.20 
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02 
Hooray! Discovered SCSI boot device! 
host_no [4], channel [0], id [0], lun [0] 
SCSI device sde: 1022976 512-byte hdwr sectors (524 MB) 
sde: Write Protect is off 
sde: assuming drive cache: write through 
SCSI device sde: 1022976 512-byte hdwr sectors (524 MB) 
sde: Write Protect is off 
sde: assuming drive cache: write through 
 sde: sde1 sde2 sde3 sde4 
SCSI device scsibd: 1022976 512-byte hdwr sectors (524 MB) 
scsibd: Write Protect is off 
scsibd: assuming drive cache: write through 
 scsibd: scsibd1 scsibd2 scsibd3 scsibd4 
sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk scsibd 
sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0 
usbcore: registered new driver usb-storage 
USB Mass Storage support registered. 
usbcore: registered new driver hiddev 
usbcore: registered new driver usbhid 
drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: v2.6:USB HID core driver 
Non-volatile memory driver v1.0 
i2c /dev entries driver 
Initialize ITE IIC adapter module 
 found device at 0x14014030 irq 0. 
ITE iic (i2c) algorithm module 
it87: Device not activated, enabling 
it87: Found IT8712F chip at 0x290, revision 8 
hwmon-vid: Unknown VRM version of your CPU 
md: linear personality registered for level -1 
md: raid0 personality registered for level 0 
md: raid1 personality registered for level 1 
md: raid10 personality registered for level 10 
raid6: int32x1    129 MB/s 
raid6: int32x2    152 MB/s 
raid6: int32x4    217 MB/s 
raid6: int32x8    170 MB/s 
raid6: using algorithm int32x4 (217 MB/s) 
md: raid6 personality registered for level 6 
md: raid5 personality registered for level 5 
md: raid4 personality registered for level 4 
raid5: measuring checksumming speed 
   8regs     :   550.000 MB/sec 
   8regs_prefetch:   519.000 MB/sec 
   32regs    :   643.000 MB/sec 
   32regs_prefetch:   602.000 MB/sec 
raid5: using function: 32regs (643.000 MB/sec) 
md: md driver 0.90.3 MAX_MD_DEVS=256, MD_SB_DISKS=27 
md: bitmap version 4.39 
device-mapper: ioctl: 4.7.0-ioctl (2006-06-24) initialised: dm-devel@redhat.com 
ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team 
TCP bic registered 
NET: Registered protocol family 1 
NET: Registered protocol family 17 
802.1Q VLAN Support v1.8 Ben Greear  
All bugs added by David S. Miller  
drivers/rtc/hctosys.c: unable to open rtc device (rtc0) 
md: Autodetecting RAID arrays. 
md: autorun ... 
md: ... autorun DONE.
Root device ("/dev/scsibd2") is now online. 
VFS: Mounted root (squashfs filesystem) readonly. 
Freeing unused kernel memory: 164k freed 
Doing sysinit 
Mounting procfs 
Mounting sysfs 
Starting udev 
Mounting nfsd 
Mounting tmpfs on /var (limited to [5242880] bytes) 
Mounting tmpfs on /tmp 
Mounting tmpfs on /mnt (limited to [131072] bytes) 
Creating dev entries for mtdblock devices... 
Boot device was /dev/scsibd, making partitions and 
mounting linuxrtconfig on /linuxrwfs (jffs2)... 
trying to mount jffs2 as rw partition... 
block2mtd: version $Revision: 1.1.1.3 $ 
actual jffs2 partition erase size will be [0x20000]... 
block2mtd: default erase size is [4096] 
block2mtd: mtd0: [d: /dev/scsibd1] erase_size = 128KiB [131072] 
block2mtd module loaded successfully. 
jffs2 will use mtdblock0 
Trying to mount jffs2 on /linuxrwfs... 
block2mtd: Overrun end of disk in cache readahead 
jffs2 mounted on /linuxrwfs 
Starting udevd... 
Starting udevtrigger... 
Starting udevsettle... 
Making useful softlinks... 
Removing hotplug... 
Mounting devpts... 
Start executing startup scripts... 
/etc/init.d/S01sysinit(start): doing some sysinit stuff... 
Dirty shutdown counter looks good... 
Dirty shutdown count is [3] 
Previous shutdown was dirty, message to user set... 
Checking the sanity of the rw file system... 
Softlinking /dev/sd0 to /dev/scsibd (bootenv may need it)... 
/etc/init.d/S01sysinit(start): OK 
/etc/init.d/S02checkroot(start): OK 
/etc/init.d/S02hwdep(start): Fixing gpio.conf files... 
Board hardware revision is [3]. 
gpio.conf already exists (OK) 
/etc/init.d/S03modules(start): OK 
/etc/init.d/S04raid(start): Starting up raids... 
Making additional md devices... 
Updating exports... 
found /etc/nas/spindown -- setting new spindown timeout... 
SATA spindown timeout set to 86400 seconds... 
Default RAID metadata version is 1.2 . 
There is no /etc/nas/uuids_stopped file -- starting all available arrays... 
md: md0 stopped. 
md: bind 
md: bind 
md: bind 
md: bind 
md: md0: raid array is not clean -- starting background reconstruction 
raid5: device sda operational as raid disk 0
raid5: device sdd operational as raid disk 3 
raid5: device sdc operational as raid disk 2 
raid5: device sdb operational as raid disk 1 
raid5: allocated 4212kB for md0 
raid5: raid level 5 set md0 active with 4 out of 4 devices, algorithm 2 
RAID5 conf printout: 
 --- rd:4 wd:4 fd:0 
 disk 0, o:1, dev:sda 
 disk 1, o:1, dev:sdb 
 disk 2, o:1, dev:sdc 
 disk 3, o:1, dev:sdd 
md: syncing RAID array md0 
md: minimum _guaranteed_ reconstruction speed: 1000 KB/sec/disc. 
md: using maximum available idle IO bandwidth (but not more than 7000 KB/sec) for reconstruction. 
md: using 128k window, over a total of 390711232 blocks. 
md: resuming recovery of md0 from checkpoint. 
mdadm: /dev/md/0 has been started with 4 drives. 
1853 
/etc/init.d/S04raid(start): OK 
/etc/init.d/S05lvm(start): Starting up lvm... 
  Reading all physical volumes.  This may take a while... 
  Found volume group "RAIDA" using metadata type lvm2 
  WARNING: This metadata update is NOT backed up 
  WARNING: This metadata update is NOT backed up 
  1 logical volume(s) in volume group "RAIDA" now active 
/etc/init.d/S05lvm(start): OK 
/etc/init.d/S06mount(start): Mounting file systems... 
Running 70's disco mount... 
  Reading all physical volumes.  This may take a while... 
  Found volume group "RAIDA" using metadata type lvm2 
  WARNING: This metadata update is NOT backed up 
  WARNING: This metadata update is NOT backed up 
  1 logical volume(s) in volume group "RAIDA" now active 
Checking for RAIDA - TEST 
Updated Fstab...[/dev/RAIDA/TEST        /mnt/RAIDA/TEST] 
Check mount point for /mnt/RAIDA/TEST 
Mount point DOES NOT exist 
Filesystem "dm-0": Disabling barriers, not supported by the underlying device 
XFS mounting filesystem dm-0 
Starting XFS recovery on filesystem: dm-0 (logdev: internal) 
Ending XFS recovery on filesystem: dm-0 (logdev: internal) 
Adding include path /mnt/RAIDA/TEST/.config/smb.conf 
Updated Fstab...[/mnt/RAIDA/TEST/share1 /mnt/ftp_dir/share1] 
  Reading all physical volumes.  This may take a while... 
  Found volume group "RAIDA" using metadata type lvm2 
  WARNING: This metadata update is NOT backed up 
/etc/init.d/S06mount(start): OK 
/etc/init.d/S07mtd(start): Making read-only mtd character devices... 
/etc/init.d/S07mtd(start): OK 
/etc/init.d/S08tmpfs(start): Preparing tmpfs directories... 
Making directories in /var: 
+run... 
+log directories and files (httpd, messages, wtmp, lastlog, cups, samba)... 
+cache... 
+empty... 
+ftp... 
+spool directories (cups, cron)... 
+tmp... 
+lock directories (apache, lvm, subsys, samba)... 
+lib directories (nfs, snmp)... 
+state directories... 
+yp directories... 
+samba private dir... 
Done making /var directories. 
Making anon ftp user dir... 
/etc/init.d/S08tmpfs(start): OK 
/etc/init.d/S09sensors(start): Setting up sensors ... 
/etc/init.d/S09sensors(start): OK 
Initializing random number generator... done. 
/etc/init.d/S21fixrandom(start): Fixing random devices... 
/etc/init.d/S21fixrandom(start): OK 
/etc/init.d/S25safenet(start): Starting crypto (loading aes)... 
/etc/init.d/S25safenet(start): OK 
/etc/init.d/S30certs(start): Generating self-signing certs (if necessary)... 
/etc/init.d/S30certs(start): OK 
Flushing all current rules and user defined chains: SUCCESS: 
Clearing all current rules and user defined chains: SUCCESS: 
Applying iptables firewall rules:  SUCCESS: 
Setting hostname:  NAS0018f804fa07 
Starting network... 
+starting loopback interface 
Dynamic network was not running lo 
udhcpc was not running for lo 
Autoipd was not running for lo 
No bonding device present. 
Device lo is present and available 
This is not a slave device 
 DHCP not used on device lo 
 Bringing up lo 
arping: Interface lo is not ARPable 
Updating ARP cache of other devices on this subnet. Please wait 2 sec. 
arping: Interface lo is not ARPable 
ARP tables updated successfully. 
Adding route add 127.0.0.0/8 dev lo 
+starting ifplugd... 
Starting Network Interface Plugging Daemon:No bonding device present. 
bond0 
Doing insmode for bonding module... 
Ethernet Channel Bonding Driver: v3.0.3 (March 23, 2006) 
bonding: MII link monitoring set to 100 ms 
Device bond0 is present and available 
This is a master device. Bringing link down and then up. 
Bringing up master link for bond. 
Dynamic network was not running eth0 
udhcpc was not running for eth0 
Autoipd was not running for eth0 
No bonding device present. 
Device eth0 is present and available 
Enslaving eth0 to bond0 
bonding: bond0: enslaving eth0 as a backup interface with a down link. 
Dynamic network was not running eth1 
udhcpc was not running for eth1 
Autoipd was not running for eth1 
No bonding device present. 
Device eth1 is present and available 
Enslaving eth1 to bond0 
bonding: bond0: enslaving eth1 as a backup interface with a down link. 
Restarting vblade service 
Stopping /sbin/nas_vblade...OK 
Restoring raw socket buffer sizes...OK 
skge eth0: Link is up at 1000 Mbps, full duplex, flow control tx and rx 
bonding: bond0: link status up for interface eth0, enabling it in 200 ms. 
bonding: bond0: link status definitely up for interface eth0. 
bonding: bond0: making interface eth0 the new active one. 
bonding: bond0: first active interface up! 
Stopping /sbin/nas_vblade...OK 
udhcpc[2175]: udhcpc (v0.9.9-pre) started 
skge eth0: Link is up at 1000 Mbps, full duplex, flow control tx and rx 
udhcpc[2175]: Sending discover... 
. 
Waiting for network (60 second max): 
 + (try#1/12) Currently 1 active interfaces: 
   + bond0 : IP address not set 
udhcpc[2175]: Sending discover... 
udhcpc[2175]: Sending select for 10.20.30.40... 
udhcpc[2175]: Lease of 10.20.30.40 obtained, lease time 86400 
 + (try#2/12) Currently 1 active interfaces: 
   + bond0 : 10.20.30.40 
NET OK: All active interfaces are online. 
Starting Disk Aggregation Server... 
Stopping /sbin/nas_vblade...OK 
Starting ntpd: syncing (timeout in 20 seconds): OK 
Starting /sbin/portmap: OK 
Starting dropbear (from tcpserver): OK 
Starting /sbin/rpc.statd: OK 
Starting nfs services: 
Starting nfs quotas: 
Starting nfs daemon: 
Starting nfs mountd: 
/etc/init.d/S60vsftpd: setting maximum 2 connections 
/etc/init.d/S60vsftpd: setting maximum 2 connections per IP 
Starting vsftpd (from tcpserver): OK 
/etc/init.d/S82httpdswiw: setting maximum 99 connections 
/etc/init.d/S82httpdswiw: setting maximum 99 connections per IP 
Starting httpdswiw (from tcpserver): OK 
Starting httpdsl1 (from tcpserver): OK 
/etc/init.d/S84httpds: setting maximum 99 connections 
/etc/init.d/S84httpds: setting maximum 99 connections per IP 
Starting httpds (from tcpserver): OK 
/etc/init.d/S85httpd: setting maximum 99 connections 
/etc/init.d/S85httpd: setting maximum 99 connections per IP 
Starting httpd (from tcpserver): OK 
Starting UPnP daemon: OK 
/etc/init.d/S90samba: setting maximum 15 connections 
Starting samba: secrets.tdb : 1 records 
OK 
Starting winbind daemon: OK 
Starting CRON daemon: OK 
Starting auto nice daemon:/usr/sbin/and[2500]: Configuration file is: /etc/and.conf 
/usr/sbin/and[2500]: Priority database is: /etc/and.priorities 
/usr/sbin/and[2500]: AND ready. 
 done 
Starting Discovery Agent daemon: OK 
Starting mDNSPosix daemon: 
 +Writing /tmp/mDNSPosix.conf...OK 
/etc/init.d/S99local(start): Finalizing system startup... 
watchdog not started (userland have to keep it that way). 
  +starting gpio_poller --disable-watchdog (watchdog is disabled)... 
Indicating that boot was OK... 
Setting bootstate to A0... 
Unsetting bootcount... 
bootcount: No matching variable to unset 
Warning: couldn't unset bootcount. 
/etc/init.d/S99local(start): OK

My next task was to determine a working login username and password. Fortunately, the same username and password that is used for the NSS4000’s web interface will work (as an unprivileged user) on the serial console. Unfortunately, attempts to guess the root password failed, so I resorted to restarting the system and interrupting the boot process. The standard boot string is:

boot /dev/sd0@0x100 root=/dev/scsibd2 hwrev=3

to which I added “single” to get the box to stop in single-user mode:

boot /dev/sd0@0x100 root=/dev/scsibd2 hwrev=3 single

At that point, I did a ^D to continue with the startup process (necessary to mount the filesystems on from the USB flash drive) and then did a “passwd root” to change the root password.

After that, I was able to read all files on the system, including one named “gpio.config” which described a “diagnostic jumper” that would enable the Dropbear SSH server (needed if I wanted to remotely connect to the box instead of using the serial console). After tracing out some wiring, I found that J34 is the jumper in question, located here:

A quick scrounge through the parts box yielded an appropriate jumper:

And I had my SSH console working.

That’s it for now – in a subsequent article I will discuss building the NSS4000 software from the Linksys GPL distribution, as well as adding additional utilities.

UPDATE: The diag jumper also causes additional testing while in the PMON2000 monitor, as well as preventing unattended booting (since one of the PMON diagnostics fails, autoboot is disabled). A better way to enable the dropbear SSH server is to leave the diag jumper off and to edit line 26 of the file /linuxrwfs/etc/init.d/S02hwdep to read /usr/sbin/dropbear_start.sh instead of /usr/sbin/dropbear_stop.sh.

I stayed home today to receive a package that was scheduled for delivery today. The status didn’t update on the UPS web site until after 7 PM (the time at which corporate magically loses the ability to contact the local UPS facility). Then the status changed to “THE RECEIVER WAS UNAVAILABLE TO SIGN ON THE 1ST DELIVERY ATTEMPT.” This despite the fact that I was home all day and the doorbell never rang and no notice was left at the door, and the claimed delivery attempt was at 2:59 PM, when the UPS driver never gets here before 5:30 PM. Since this fiasco is still in progress, I don’t have any additional info for this rant. However, you might like to look at this PDF file, which documents an “Early AM” shipment from last year which took a vacation from Newark to Kentucky and back to Newark, which “inexplicably” delayed its delivery. Another example of stellar UPS service (not!).

As part of my project to upgrade my network to Gigabit Ethernet capability, I purchased a 3X-DEGXA-TA card for $469 from a vendor that shall remain nameless. Upon installing it in my DS10 system and booting, the system locked up after 10 minutes or so. Upon each reboot, the uptime was shorter and shorter, until finally the system wouldn’t boot at all.

When I contacted the vendor, their response was “well, it worked when you got it – call your service people”. As this is a hobby system, I am my service people.

I removed the card and studied it in detail, and as far as I could tell it was a generic BCM5703 card with a DEGXA bumper sticker on it. With the help of some resources on the net:

http://moon.hanya-n.org/comp/alpha/hct/GbE.html

http://www.techiegroups.com/archive/index.php/t-56718.html

I determined that it was likely that the only difference between a card that would work and one that wouldn’t was the PCI subvendor / subdevice data. While it was possible to have VMS recognize the card by editing a VMS configuration file (as shown in the second post above), that meant that the system couldn’t netboot from the card. It also struck me as a bit of a hack.

I thought about obtaining a new NC7771 card and unsoldering the SEEPROM from the dead DEGXA-TA and moving it to the new card, but that was a bit of a kludge and might not work, since the NC7771’s available these days are rev B0 cards, corresponding to the DEGXA-TB. Also, the burned-in MAC address wouldn’t match the sticker on the card, a minor annoyance.

Broadcom does a pretty good job of locking down the SEEPROM, but I felt that there must be a way to accomplish this with the tools available on the net. I searched for various items related to the BCM5703, such as utilities to change the MAC address. Finally, I had enough information to begin experimenting. After a day or so of fiddling around, I came up with a system that works.

IMPORTANT: Use the following information at your own risk. If you break your network card or computer(s), don’t blame me. I have tested the procedure here on multiple cards and they all work, but variations in cards may mean that this procedure won’t work for you.

First, you’ll need to download the latest HP Broadcom firmware update utility from: http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/networking/us/download/24056.html

Next, you’ll need a copy of the OEM version of the Broadcom diagnostic utility from: http://portal.atcelestica.com/public/global/suppchman/alpha/alphadw.nsf/downloads/000031/$file/B57DIAG.EXE

You will also need a utility to modify binary files. This could be as simple as the MS-DOS “debug” utility – it really doesn’t matter. You’ll also need a bootable DOS floppy, and an Intel-architecture machine to install the network card into to perform the upgrade.

Unpack the SP31728.exe file somewhere on your hard disk and copy the file 7771v235.bin to degxa.bin. Copy 7782327B.BIN to degx2.bin.

Using a binary editor, edit the file degxa.bin and change the bytes starting at 0xA4 to the new subvendor and subdevice by replacing bytes 00 CA 0E 11 with 60 1B 0E 11.

Using a binary editor, edit the file degx2.bin and change the bytes starting at 0xA4 to the new subvendor and subdevice by replacing bytes 00 D0 0E 11 with 00 C9 0E 11.

Copy all of the files from your work directory to the bootable DOS floppy.

For a BCM5703-based card like the NC7771, boot the DOS floppy on a machine with the Broadcom card installed, and give the following command:
     b57diag -e b57kia -c 0 -t a35b35cd -f degxa.bin

For a BCM5704-based card like the IBM 31P6401,  boot the DOS floppy on a machine with the Broadcom card installed, and give the following command:
     b57diag -e b57kia -c 0 -t a35b35cd -f degx2.bin

Note: these commands assume that this is the only 5703 card in this system. If there are other cards, you may need to change the value of -c (“card”).

This vendor is fantastic – I needed some surface-mount rework equipment in a hurry, and I found these guys via a web search. I placed an order via their web site after 10 PM and inquired if they carried an item I couldn’t find on their web site. Within minutes, I had an emailed reply saying they’d pull the item out of another kit and include it in my shipment. They shipped the next morning and I received it the next day.

If you need any tools or supplies related to soldering or brazing, these are the folks you should talk to.

I picked up a board labeled “PowerEdge 750” for 99 cents because the seller “couldn’t get it to recognize any peripherals”. It turns out that it was the motherboard from a PowerVault 745N, which uses the same hardware, but a different BIOS that disables the floppy, CD-ROM, and onboard SATA ports.

I poked around in the BIOS flash utility and discovered it has a large number of undocumented command-line switches, one of which is /BRANDNAME, which brings up a menu where you can select whether the motherboard is for a PE750 or a PV745N.

After that, it was just a matter of finding a way to get the flash utility to run on that motherboard, which is difficult when none of the peripherals are enabled. I wound up installing an Adaptec 39160 SCSI card with an old 2GB drive on it, and copying the flash utility to that drive. The board is happy in its new life as a PE750.

Also, Dell’s “asset.com” utility has a number of additional functions which are not described in the online help. Here’s the complete list of what’s available:

ASSET — Version 2.09 (C) Copyright 1993-2004 Dell Inc.
Usage:
  ASSET new_asset_tag        Specify new asset tag
  ASSET /d                   Delete asset tag
  ASSET /o new_owner_tag     Specify new owner tag (if applicable)
  ASSET /o /d                Delete owner tag (if applicable)
  ASSET /?                   This help screen
  ASSET /s new_service_tag   Specify new service tag
  ASSET /s /d                Delete service tag
  ASSET /b                   Specify new system board tag
      system board tag must be “ssssssssssssssssssss-vvv-“, where
      s..s is the 20 digit system board Part number string,
      vvv is the 3 digit system board rev,
      – is a don’t care character, but must be present
  ASSET /b /d                Delete system board tag
  ASSET /k                   Fix 2000:0000 memory issue
  ASSET /f [other_options]   Force Affirmative response
  ASSET /x [other options]   eXtended display – displays all tags

Everything past the “This help screen” is undocumented.

Yesterday I finished installing energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps in the house. I’m using the Ikea 3-packs of 11W lamps (supposedly 60W equivalent brightness). This was a major change – I changed every standard-usage incandescent lamp, leaving only a few oddballs like the fridge and oven lamps (where CFL’s won’t work) and 2 rooms that have dimmable ceiling lights (likewise). There was already a substantial amount of fluorescent lighting (2-tube 2′ and 4′ fixtures). The total tally of replaced lamps is:

• Basement – 5
• 1st floor – 11
• 2nd floor – 17
• 3rd floor – 13

for a total of 46 lamps. That leaves the outside lights for now – I’m looking at a fixture called the GB-2000, but I want to get a sample here to test before I commit to buying a whole set of them – my experience with outdoor units like this hasn’t been that great.