Solaris Insallation problem

[earlboy]

Hi all,

I've just installed Solaris 8 for intel on my new machine, but whenever I log in, my desktop shows a black background with 2 windows opened, one is a window looking like a file manager and the other is the help window, no CDE. I've checked the directory and found a core dump file in the root directory. Went to the Sun website but found nothing that would help me.

As far as I know the instalation went fine, it detected all my hardware. But whenever I log in and set my desktop to CDE I end up with the screen mentioned above.

Any help appreciated.

[Statica]

Sounds like an old buggy Xfree86. Try installing the latest. I know the shipping version of x86 on the Solaris had some known bugs.

[earlboy]

Thanks, I'll try that.

[earlboy]

Hi Statica,

I've managed to make CDE run, it seems that Solaris8 for Intel has a problem with my network card. During installation for networking it defaulted to a non network setup and I overiden it, which caused the crash.

Please, I need help me configure my network card for Intel Solaris 8.

My network card is an AOpen AON-325. I've looked at the compatibility list and sure enough it's not there. But I believe that there is a generic driver, the problem is I am very new at installing this OS.

Thanks.

[Statica]

Hi Earlboy:

Unless am very wrong, the Aopen uses the Realtek 8129/8139 chipset, which is very compatible with most every OS. So try compiling drivers as realtek 8139! Solaris likes realtek.

If you are setting up as ne2k:
Startup the Solaris and log on to Solaris as Superuser(root).
# touch /reconfigure
Edit /kernel/drv/nei.conf to change "ioaddr" and "intr" value specified in step 2.
The IRQ and I/O address in nei.conf file should be the right ones.

[Edited by Statica on 04-08-2001 at 12:46 AM]

[earlboy]

The file nie.conf does not exist. I did a clean reinstall and chose networked in the installation prompt in the hope that it will create the said file. As expected cde crashed and the file nie.conf still isn't in the /kernel/drv directory.

I chose all the default options in installing except for the option where Solaris asked me if my machine is networked or not.

It seems odd that I got a floppy disk called configuration assistant which I thought should be used when istalling the OS, but when I boot from it it goes to debug mode and prompts me to enter a command, so I booted of the installation CD instead.

By the way, I keep on booting into the Device Assistant. I've checked the FAQ and I did remove the boot CD when it rebooted, so it seems that my problem is something else.

[Edited by earlboy on 04-08-2001 at 03:26 AM]

[earlboy]

Hello again Statica,

I've found out why nei.conf is not existing in my machine. In Solaris 8 it was not included for some reason I can't remember. I've also found out possible solution from a usenet, that is to use the ne2000 driver of Solaris 7. I've already downloaded the driver, my problem now is that my floppy drive is not ( again!! ) recognized by the OS.

I'll be searching for the solution to this new problem, and will be checking on this post from time to time. Hopefully I either find a solution or somebody in this forum can give me one.

Thanks again.

[earlboy]

Found out that via chipset bios have some problems with solaris 8 with regards to the floppy. The only available workaround is for the asus mobo which involves downgrading the bios to an older version. No workaround is available for gigabyte, I've already tried downloading the version of my bios but still have the same problems.

Anyway I talked to the supplier where I bought my mobo and they were willing to replace it with a CUSL2-C, I'm also getting an 3Com ethernet card from a friend so this should solve my problems.

Thanks for the reply, it pointed me to the right direction.