DOCUMENT ID: 1333-02

SYNOPSIS:    Removing conflicting driver device probes from a MDB diskette 

OS RELEASE:  2.1, 2.4

PRODUCT:     Solaris

KEYWORDS:    MDB device probe conflict


SYMPTOMS: 

Controller cards with same hardware address are falsely classified. 


DESCRIPTION:

As the population of devices for the P.C.  market grows the demand for
hardware addresses increases.  Solaris uses device addresses to
determine the required drivers during the initial loading of the
operating system.  The program used to probe devices on the Multiple
Device Boot (MDB) diskette may incorrectly sense a device due to the a
duplicate address being used by another controller. 


SOLUTION:

The MDB diskette must be modified in the field to remove device drivers
not required by the local system. 

Required Tools:

A bootable DOS 5.0 > system with these commands available: DISKCOPY,
DISKCOMP, RENAME, ATTRIB, EDIT, and DIR. 

Background:

The MDB diskette is a special BIOS bootable, in DOS format.  The
structure of the diskette is DOS, hence DOS commands are utilized for
modifications.  There are real mode and protected mode drivers on the
diskette. 

Procedure:

All operations and commands assume the first addressed drive (A:).

Part One: Disable the real mode driver.

 1) Determine if DOS can read the diskette using the DIR command.
    COMMAND:  dir a:
    RESPONSE: a directory listing of the diskette.

 2) Make a clone of the MDB diskette
    COMMAND:  diskcopy a: a:
    RESPONSE: Alternate messages to insert the source (MDB) 
    and target (clone).

 3) Compare the clone and MDB diskettes
    COMMAND:  diskcomp a: a:
    RESPONSE: Alternate messages to insert the source (MDB) 
    and target (clone).

 4) Customize the clone diskette
 a) Make A: the active drive
    COMMAND: a:
 b) List the diskette contents
    COMMAND: dir
    RESPONSE: A directory listing.

Note the driver files with the suffix "BEF" and the name portion which
matches a name in the documentation. 

 c) Select a file from the list as the object for modification
 d) Change the attribute of the file to allow writing.
    COMMAND:  attrib +w filename.BEF
 e) Disable the device probe
    COMMAND: ren filename.BEF filename.DEF

Continue steps c through e until all desired drivers are disabled.

Part two: Disable protected mode driver.

This section requires editing a system file and adding an exclude clauses.

  1) cd \solaris

  2) Edit system.add

Several lines will be present starting with the clause "forceload". 
Locate the name of a driver matching the file name of the "BEF" file. 

  3) replace the clause "forceload" with "exclude".
     This will prevent the driver from trying to load.

  4) Save the edited file and try the system install.

The proof of successful completion of clone diskette modification is the
complete loading of Solaris. 
   

DATE APPROVED: 05/08/95