DiskOnChip 2000 TSOP bad blocks table

Al Cousson
2003-11-20T20:36:26Z

I received this x86 compatible SBC computer with a DiskOnChip 2000
TSOP for eval the other day.

I got the latest snapshot of the MTD source, compiled it with the
latest 2.4.22 kernel and it recognized the chip. It does produce a
few curious messages at bootup though:

INTFL: corrupt block 390 in chain 390, chain length 0, erase mark 0x0?
INTFL: formatting chain at block 390
INTFL: formatting block 390
Error erasing at 0x618000
INTFL: error while formatting block 390
INTFL: cannot calculate a geometry to match size of 0x3ea60.
INTFL: using C:1002 H:16 S:16 (== 0x3ea00 sects)

I fdisk'ed it, made an ext2 filesystem on it and copied my files onto
it. So far, so good. Then I attempted to install grub on it,
following the directions in the latest MTD source. Running
doc_loadbios totally hosed the DiskOnChip. The driver no longer
recognized any DiskOnChips at bootup.

The M-Systems dformat utility failed with "Error - Unreadable bad
blocks table." The M-Systems tech support told me to RMA it with my
vendor. I got a replacement DiskOnChip 2000 TSOP in.

During bootup, I get the same INTFL messages. Actually, the above
messages are from the second chip. The numbers may have been slightly
different for the first one. I haven't attempted the doc_loadbios on
it, fearing the corrupted bad blocks table thing. I never mounted or
even fdisk'ed this second chip.

But, the M-Systems utilities are again reporting "Unreadable bad
blocks table".

So, finally to my questions:

1. Is it possible that the INFTL driver is corrupting the bad blocks
table?

2. Does doc_loadbios need to be updated to work on the DiskOnChip
2000 TSOP?

3. Or, did I just get 2 bad DiskOnChips?

Thanks,
Al Cousson

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Al Cousson, Systems Engineer | Phone: (337) 261-0660
C & C Technologies, Inc. | Fax: (337) 261-0192
730 E. Kaliste Saloom Road | mail: avc@cctechnol.com
Lafayette, LA 70508 |
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