Laptop hangs on bootup with BT 2.0 final

[leinadD]

Hello,

I have just bought a new Toshiba A100-VA1 laptop and I'm trying to run backtrack off a USB stick (2.0 GB Sandisk mini cruzer U3). I've copied both the boot and bt folders from the ISO onto the flash drive. Backtrack seems to boot up fine until it gets into what I would call the "graphical" part of the command line and eventually just hangs up the laptop and I am forced to manually shut down the unit.

The laptop's specifications can be found here (Tried posting a link, but didn't work, more specs can be found on the Toshiba website)

Intel® Celeron M Processor 430 1.73GHz
1 GB Memory DDR2 533 MHz (2 x 512 MB)
80 GB S-ATA HD
Builtin DVD-RW Drive
ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M (Shared)
Integrated Speakers (Realtek ALC861)
Atheros Wireless LAN (802.11b/g)
10/100 integrated Ethernet LAN
4 USB ports
etc...


The last few lines before it freezes look like:
cs: IO port probe excluding: 0x00C1 0x... 0x... 0x... (bunch of hex addreses)
cs: IO port probe excluding:

As you can see at the last line it just stops "probing".

I've also tried booting off the actualy live CD and the results were the same. Which leads me to believe it isn't an actual problem with the stick.

Any insight into the matter would be greatly appreciated,

Thank you

[dino9832]

At the "boot: " prompt try typing "bt nodma". This has worked for me in the past. Another good one is "bt debug".

[ghaze]

cs: IO port probe excluding: 0x00C1 0x... 0x... 0x... (bunch of hex addreses)
cs: IO port probe excluding:

That's the card slot probing for memory addresses it can use. Try "bt nopcmcia".

[leinadD]

First of all, thank you for the help so far. I've tried booting up with both 'bt nodma' and 'bt nopcmcia' and both these commands didn't work.

I booted with 'bt debug' and once again my system froze at those very same lines here is the exact printout of the last lines, maybe this could help pinpointing it.

...(output omitted)
Yenta: ISA IRQ mask 0x00f8, PCI irq 11
Socket status: 30000006
pcmcia: parent PCI bridge I/O window: 0xa000 - 0xafff
cs: IO port probe 0xa000-0xafff: clean.
pcmcia: parent PCI bridge Memory window: 0xc0200000 - 0xc02fffff
pcmcia: parent PCI bridge Memory window: 0x40000000 - 0x43ffffff
shpchp: Standard Hot Plug PCI Controller Driver version: 0.4
cs: IO port probe 0xc00-0xcff: excluding 0xc00-0xc07 0xc10-0xc17 0xc50-0xc57 0xc68-0xc6f 0xcd0-0xcdf
cs: IO port probe 0x820-0x8ff: excluding 0x878-0x87f
cs: IO port probe 0x3e0-0x4ff:
(point where it hangs)

Thanks

[leinadD]

I forgot to mention this, but I have succeeded in booting in Run Level 3 using the 'bt nohotplug' option, however I've been told this kills udev which I am told prevents you from starting X all together.

[ghaze]

I just tried it on my laptop and you are right. The nopcmcia boot option doesn't work, anymore. Bummer.

Quite a few people have laptops that will lockup when probing cs addresses. nopcmcia used to work. Search for it, here (http://forums.remote-exploit.org/search.php).

Have you tried BT ver 1, or knoppix? You could try Insert (http://www.inside-security.de/insert_en.html), it's only a 60mb downoad. If the nopcmcia cheatcode works on one of these, at least you've narrowed down your problem.

I'm lucky, mine doesn't lockup until I insert a card. I can fix this by editing /etc/pcmcia/config.opts and excluding a couple of irq's.


Good Luck

[leinadD]

I successfully booted the Ubuntu Live CD with no problem, I guess this is just a problem with SLAX / Backtrack probing that memory range. I find it strange they removed the 'no pcmcia' cheat code however. Maybe this has just changed syntax?

Never the less, I think I'll be able to install it following the instructions you provided.

Thank you for all your help.

[Whimpster]

Hello
Has anyone had any luck with the bootup problem on live CD backtrack2 final?
I 'm still reading and tryng to figure out my problem...seems it's common among laptop owners.
this is the area I'm having my problems.
laptop gets this far and stops or freezes on boot up.

cs: IO port probe 0xc00-0xcff: excluding 0xc00-0xc07 0xc10-0xc17 0xc50-0xc57 0xc68-0xc6f 0xcd0-0xcdf
cs: IO port probe 0x820-0x8ff: excluding 0x878-0x87f
cs: IO port probe 0x3e0-0x4ff:

Any help or a push in the right direction would be great.
The strange part is the beta ver: Nov 06 Backtrack2 boots fine??


Thanks

[darkevil011]

Would love to hear if theres a solution for this as i have the exact same problem
on a Toshiba M45

[darkevil011]

anything? :-\

[freemymind]

Have you tried
boot: bt no hotplug acpi=off

and when you say
ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M (Shared) I am assuming you have side port turned off in bios?

Have an HP with that card and those two options are what gets it working for me.

[darkevil011]

the "bt nohotplug acpi=off" gets me to the console great but if i startx it drops back to console with this message

fatal IO error 104 (connection reset by peer) on x server ";0.0"
after 0 requests

if i then do xconf followed by startx it hangs at what looks similar to static on a tv with no signal.

I just noticed now it gave an error loading the ati module saying could not mount to memory/images/ati i will google that see if anyone else got that message

Cheers

[ghaze]

darkevil011,
I feel I've "cast pearls before swine". In one of your many posts, I described a possible work around to your problem:

Your other option would be to boot bt on another box and copy the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist file to a thumbdrive. Edit the file and blacklist your pcmcia modules. Mine are yenta_socket and rsrc_static. You'll then need to remaster the bt iso and create a bt/rootcopy/etc/modprobe.d/ directory and put your edited blacklist file in it. I haven't tried this but it should work. The rootcopy changes are copied much earlier than any modules are loaded. This should keep pcmcia services from locking you up. Once you get booted up, you can research your computer and try to figure out a way to get your cardslot working. This seemed to be easier before pccardctl.


After seeing your repeated posting on this subject, I tried my solution to see if it would actually work. It does. I also added /etc/rc.d/rc.pcmcia to the rootcopy directory, after chmod ugo-x to make it un-executable. I then remastered the iso and booted it. Guess what? Nopcmcia. No probing, nothing. You should be able to boot this remaster, without figuring out the nohotplug thing. Easy solution.

Here's how I did it, with linux. If you use windows, you're on your own. Borrow a working linux box. :D

mkdir bt
mkdir /mnt/iso
mount -o loop -t iso9660 /path/to/bt2final.iso /mnt/iso
cd bt
cp -a /mnt/iso/* .
cp -r ../etc BT/rootcopy
cd BT
./makeiso.sh ../../btnopcmcia.iso
cd
wodim dev=/dev/sr0 -v -dao btnopcmcia.iso

I've attached the altered files. Copy them to your rootcopy directory and enjoy.

Good Luck

[darkevil011]

hi ghaze your solution looked to complicated for me, but looks like you have posted some good instructions that i will give a go, how ever the whole reason im trying to install to hard drive (i was running in VMware perfect) is to get my pcmcia wireless card going. if i do your solution and get it to boot without my pcmcia card enabled how do i go about getting the card working. Total linux newb obviously. If i cant get the card working i will just stick to the VM

Cheers

[ghaze]

You boot up your remastered cd. You edit /etc/rc.d/pcmcia and comment out
PCIC=probe
And uncomment
# PCIC=yenta_socket

You then chmod u+x /etc/rc.d/rc.pcmcia

Edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist and comment out
blacklist yenta_socket

By comment out I mean add a # in front of.
Uncomment means remove the #

You then cross your fingers and "/etc/rc.d/rc.pcmcia start". If your box locks up, you've probably got irq problems. You need to read the two links I gave you in the other post, copy the script to start and stop pccardctl and start excluding irqs in /etc/pcmcia/config.opts. You will probably eventually come up with a combo that works.
"cat /proc/interrupts"
Boot "bt nohd" to not mount your hard drive. A good precaution if you know you might lockup.

If your box doesn't lock up, it was the probing, not the yenta_socket module that locked you up. Copy your newly edited rc.pcmcia and blacklist files to your rootcopy directory and reboot. Your cardslot should work, without locking you up.

There are many, many links on google describing work arounds for this problem, with various hardware and kernels. I had a compaq that would lock up when I inserted a card. I googled my way to an answer several years ago, but I'll admit it was a pita.

How bad do you want it?

Good Luck

[darkevil011]

Hi just figured out what i did wrong

[balding_parrot]

Hi just figured out what i did wrong

And...... what was it so others can learn from the mistake ?

[darkevil011]

darkevil011,
I feel I've "cast pearls before swine". In one of your many posts, I described a possible work around to your problem:



After seeing your repeated posting on this subject, I tried my solution to see if it would actually work. It does. I also added /etc/rc.d/rc.pcmcia to the rootcopy directory, after chmod ugo-x to make it un-executable. I then remastered the iso and booted it. Guess what? Nopcmcia. No probing, nothing. You should be able to boot this remaster, without figuring out the nohotplug thing. Easy solution.

Here's how I did it, with linux. If you use windows, you're on your own. Borrow a working linux box. :D

mkdir bt
mkdir /mnt/iso
mount -o loop -t iso9660 /path/to/bt2final.iso /mnt/iso
cd bt
cp -a /mnt/iso/* .
cp -r ../etc BT/rootcopy
cd BT
./makeiso.sh ../../btnopcmcia.iso
cd
wodim dev=/dev/sr0 -v -dao btnopcmcia.iso

I've attached the altered files. Copy them to your rootcopy directory and enjoy.

Good Luck

Ok first off i have done the above like ghaze said and it boots up and i can startx with no hangs!!! thanks heaps now im going to try the daul boot with xp tutorial.... my first mistake was on this line ..
"cp -r ../etc BT/rootcopy" i got an error so i went "cp -r ../../etc BT/rootcopy" which worked i burn't to cd and found it had copied the etc fodler from the root linux i was running opps. what this should be is the contents of the attached etc.zip file :-)

thanks again

[freemymind]

Have fun with the install, and good luck on the dual boot you should be fine with the loads of info on the forums.

[ghaze]

Glad you got it booted. Did your card slot work after editing the files I mentioned? If it still locks up I'll send you a /etc/pcmcia/config.opts with most irqs excluded. Comment them out one by until you get a lock up. You'll then know which one is giving you problems.

Glad I could help.

[darkevil011]

YAY a step closer I think.. did all this and mucked around with /etc/pcmcia/config.opts file and what i changed to stop it crashing was i changed this line
include port 0x100-0x3af, port 0x3e0-0x4ff, port 0x820-0x8ff, port 0xc00-0xcff

to ->

include port 0x100-0x3af

I'm not sure how this impacs its operation but it did allow me to start my PCMCIA service and my card shows up in ifconfig as..

this card is a (Dlink DWL-660)
eth1 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"" Nickname:"HERMES I"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.457 GHz Access Point: None
Bit Rate:2 Mb/s Sensitivity:1/3
Retry limit:4 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=0/92 Signal level=134/153 Noise level=134/153
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0




Cheers

You boot up your remastered cd. You edit /etc/rc.d/pcmcia and comment out
PCIC=probe
And uncomment
# PCIC=yenta_socket

You then chmod u+x /etc/rc.d/rc.pcmcia

Edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist and comment out
blacklist yenta_socket

By comment out I mean add a # in front of.
Uncomment means remove the #

You then cross your fingers and "/etc/rc.d/rc.pcmcia start". If your box locks up, you've probably got irq problems. You need to read the two links I gave you in the other post, copy the script to start and stop pccardctl and start excluding irqs in /etc/pcmcia/config.opts. You will probably eventually come up with a combo that works.
"cat /proc/interrupts"
Boot "bt nohd" to not mount your hard drive. A good precaution if you know you might lockup.

If your box doesn't lock up, it was the probing, not the yenta_socket module that locked you up. Copy your newly edited rc.pcmcia and blacklist files to your rootcopy directory and reboot. Your cardslot should work, without locking you up.

There are many, many links on google describing work arounds for this problem, with various hardware and kernels. I had a compaq that would lock up when I inserted a card. I googled my way to an answer several years ago, but I'll admit it was a pita.

How bad do you want it?

Good Luck

[d3vnu11]

ARGV one needs a non-automatic approval also to be able to download attachments ! Geez it's only 10:49PM EDT on a Friday ! Wha!? Other people have a lives !? lol :) Guess I just to get one too or wait haha
Regards
Kev
darkevil011,
I feel I've "cast pearls before swine". In one of your many posts, I described a possible work around to your problem:



After seeing your repeated posting on this subject, I tried my solution to see if it would actually work. It does. I also added /etc/rc.d/rc.pcmcia to the rootcopy directory, after chmod ugo-x to make it un-executable. I then remastered the iso and booted it. Guess what? Nopcmcia. No probing, nothing. You should be able to boot this remaster, without figuring out the nohotplug thing. Easy solution.

Here's how I did it, with linux. If you use windows, you're on your own. Borrow a working linux box. :D

mkdir bt
mkdir /mnt/iso
mount -o loop -t iso9660 /path/to/bt2final.iso /mnt/iso
cd bt
cp -a /mnt/iso/* .
cp -r ../etc BT/rootcopy
cd BT
./makeiso.sh ../../btnopcmcia.iso
cd
wodim dev=/dev/sr0 -v -dao btnopcmcia.iso

I've attached the altered files. Copy them to your rootcopy directory and enjoy.

Good Luck

[btrocks]

please pardon the "noobiness" of my post, but the etc.zip you had included in your post(07-25-2007) is inaccessible to new registrants. Is there another way to access it to complete the BT2 configuration as per your instructions?

Thanks for your help