Yup, it's the AssetID chip (RFID eeprom). So, it does seem to be the 'Thinkpad' issue after all. Thanks for the link. That's intesting that it effected your bootloader of all things. Odd. If you get brave and want to try sensors-detect again, try to tell it to skip address 0x5C. That's where the access controls are for the RFID chip. In any case, I'm glad things are working for you again! :') Phil On Wed, Jul 31, 2002 at 06:43:24AM -0700, Minesh Khatri wrote: > Well thankfully, the Linux reinstall worked fine. it appears lm-sensors might > have messed up the boot manager because I was still able to get into a bare bones > linux rescue mode which allowed me to mount my old filesystem before i wiped it > out. (though i don't know how lm-sensors caused the problem) > > i think that chip you're talking about is the AssetID chip? if that's the case, > they are equipped in intellistations and other newer IBMs, as this link > indicates: > > http://216.239.37.100/search?q=cache:J1jUqL825uwC:www5.pc.ibm.com/ww/me.nsf/fd3ecf9754f09e878525697a006cc4a5/322919c94899700e85256a9d006e99a0/%24FILE/xbasset.PDF+atmel+intellistation&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 > > if it's just a problem with that particular chip, maybe you guys should just try > to scan for that chip, and blacklist the computer if it has it (and not just all > IBMs in general, since i bet there are a lot of IBMs on which lm-sensors would > work, and maybe there are also other computers out there that might have this > Atmel chip) but until then, a disclaimer in the documentation warning all IBMs > might be a good idea :-) > > --- phil at netroedge.com wrote: > > > > Interesting... Well, I hope a reinstall works for you. I couldn't say > > how or why it might. Lm-sensors doesn't have much to do with > > harddrive storage or how the boot-blocks work. > > > > Yeah, actually the Thinkpad issue (from my understanding) is this: > > > > IBM uses a strange chip on some Thinkpads made by Atmel (the AT24RF08, > > if I remember correctly) which is an eeprom as well as having some > > controls over the access abilities (sort of 'permissions' of the areas > > of it's memory). From our current understanding, there is little (or > > none) actual corruption, but rather a 'messing up' of the permissions > > which causes the Bios to not be able to calculate the checksum of the > > eeprom on boot up, and kick out a warning (which is by-passable by > > hitting ESC). Some users have said that the error was fatal, but some > > other say that simply hitting ESC solves the issue. But, most of this > > is just a guess. IBM hasn't been helpful in working with us, so there > > isn't much we can do but gather info from users out there having > > problems or experimenting. If we had a Thinkpad or some technical > > data from IBM, we would be better off. > > > > The cause (as is warned in the documentation and in sensors-detect) is > > this: The I2C/SMBus protocol is very simple. It has no indications > > for what is present on the bus. Unlike PCI, we can't just ask the > > system the vendor/type/model of the device on the bus before talking > > with it. We must 'probe' all addresses on the bus to find chips, and > > then try to identify them using a variety of tests and deductive > > logic. Some chips do NOT like this and react unfavorable if > > communicated with in an unfavorable way. Our first experience with > > such a chip (which I experienced personally) was a clock generator > > chip at 0x69 which would hang the I2C/SMBus when it was probed. > > Cycling the power on the box would make everything return to normal. > > > > To this point, only IBM Thinkpads have had a chip which reacts > > unfavorably to our probes (in a completely undocumented way) in a > > persist condition. That's why I was thinking that your computer (also > > made by IBM) might have the same chip (still possible!). > > > > I think you might be correct that we should warn ALL IBM users about > > using sensors-detect. We are working on code, too, which will try to > > identify IBM's and simply blacklist them all so no Lm-sensors will > > attempt to run on the platform without explicitly being forced. > > > > Thanks for your messages, and please let us know what you find out. > > Also let us know if there are any questions you have which we may be > > able to answer to help you fix this unfortunate situtation. > > > > > > Phil > > > > > > On Tue, Jul 30, 2002 at 02:20:17PM -0700, Minesh Khatri wrote: > > > yes, i can boot from cd, just not from hard disk. it was definately an > > lm-sensors > > > problem, because while i was running it, the thing crashed and never came > > back up > > > again. (before i ran lm-sensors, everything was working perfectly). i did not > > > have a whole lot of useful data on my hard drive that i had not already > > backed > > > up, so i thought it was worth just re-installing the operating system. > > > > > > i guess i could have given the 'esc' idea a shot, but it's too late now :-). > > i > > > had heard that lm-sensors in thinkpads can cause you to have to replace the > > board > > > because it wipes out the eeprom, so i just wanted to make sure my situation > > was > > > not that dire. although after my experience, you may want to append the > > warning > > > to include IBM Intellistations as well. has anyone come up with an idea as to > > a > > > probable cause for this kind of behavior? > > > > > > thanks, > > > minesh > > > > > > --- phil at netroedge.com wrote: > > > > > > > > OK, well this is beginning to sound different than the Thinkpad > > > > issue... How can you re-install w/o being able to boot? Can you boot > > > > to CD but not HD or something? > > > > > > > > On Thinkpads, it's been reported that you can hit 'ESC' to break out > > > > of the hanging error screen when booting, you could try that. On > > > > Thinkpads, the ESC gets out of the error condition and the error > > > > message goes away after you shutdown and restart again (so I've > > > > heard). > > > > > > > > Do you know that it was lm-sensors which did this, or was it just one > > > > of the things you've done lately which may be suspect? > > > > > > > > If you can boot to CD and your CD can see the harddrive, then it's > > > > likely that it is a boot loader problem. Hard to say how lm-sensors > > > > could effect your boot loader? > > > > > > > > > > > > Phil > > > > > > > > On Tue, Jul 30, 2002 at 02:07:04PM -0700, Minesh Khatri wrote: > > > > > nothing happens after the IBM logo comes up. i can still go to the BIOS > > > > setup, > > > > > but that's about it. after the logo, there is just a cursor in the top > > right > > > > > corner and the system is hosed. i am reinstalling linux right now and > > > > hopefully > > > > > it will reboot correctly. do you know what the problem might be? > > > > > > > > > > thanks, > > > > > minesh > > > > > > > > > > --- phil at netroedge.com wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > Hi, what happens when you try to boot? Do you get a CRC error or > > > > > > something like that? It's possible that you are experiencing the > > > > > > 'Thinkpad' problem, although I don't want to jump to conclusions at > > > > > > this point. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Phil > > > > > > > > > > > > On Tue, Jul 30, 2002 at 10:40:35AM -0700, Minesh Khatri wrote: > > > > > > > Hi, > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I ran your program, sensors-detect, on Red Hat 7.3, and now it has > > > > screwed up > > > > > > my > > > > > > > computer (IBM Intellistation). Linux will no longer boot. I was > > wondering > > > > if > > > > > > you > > > > > > > had any solutions or reasons as to why this is happening? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > > > > Minesh > > > > > > > > > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > > > > > > > Do You Yahoo!? > > > > > > > Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better > > > > > > > http://health.yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > > Philip Edelbrock -- IS Manager -- Edge Design, Corvallis, OR > > > > > > phil at netroedge.com -- http://www.netroedge.com/~phil > > > > > > PGP F16: 01 D2 FD 01 B5 46 F4 F0 3A 8B 9D 7E 14 7F FB 7A > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > > > > > Do You Yahoo!? > > > > > Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better > > > > > http://health.yahoo.com > > > > > > > > -- > > > > Philip Edelbrock -- IS Manager -- Edge Design, Corvallis, OR > > > > phil at netroedge.com -- http://www.netroedge.com/~phil > > > > PGP F16: 01 D2 FD 01 B5 46 F4 F0 3A 8B 9D 7E 14 7F FB 7A > > > > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > > > Do You Yahoo!? > > > Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better > > > http://health.yahoo.com > > > > -- > > Philip Edelbrock -- IS Manager -- Edge Design, Corvallis, OR > > phil at netroedge.com -- http://www.netroedge.com/~phil > > PGP F16: 01 D2 FD 01 B5 46 F4 F0 3A 8B 9D 7E 14 7F FB 7A > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better > http://health.yahoo.com -- Philip Edelbrock -- IS Manager -- Edge Design, Corvallis, OR phil at netroedge.com -- http://www.netroedge.com/~phil PGP F16: 01 D2 FD 01 B5 46 F4 F0 3A 8B 9D 7E 14 7F FB 7A
