FW: Ubuntu 9.10 desktop ia64 install fails on HP zx2000 Itanium-2 Workstation

[Jim McCarthy]

No response to this report posted to ubuntu-users on 15-Dec-2009, so would
I be asking too much for someone on this list to forward this report to 
the developers/maintainers of the ia64 distribution ?  (ia64 stakeholders
being primarily servers, hopefully I might find some sympathetic ears here
... or should I try "ubuntu-desktop" since that's the iso I attempted to
install on my Itanium-2 workstation ?).

Thank you.

    -- Jim McCarthy


-----Original Message-----
From: Jim McCarthy
Sent: Tuesday, 15 December, 2009 8:11 PM
To: ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
Subject:  Ubuntu 9.10 desktop ia64 install fails on HP zx2000 Itanium-2
          Workstation


Package: installation-reports

Boot method:
LiveCD iso burned onto DVD+R, booted from DVD-ROM drive

Image version:
ftp://cdimage.ubuntu.com/cdimage/ports/releases/karmic/release/
                                           ubuntu-9.10-desktop-ia64.iso

Date:
15-Dec-2009 16:00

Machine:    HP zx2000 workstation
Processor:  Itanium-2 1.4GHz
Memory:     4Gb
Partitions: 36Gb Ultra3 SCSI disk = install target

Output of lspci -knn (or lspci -nn):
00:00.0 - VGA Compatible controller [300]: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RW
          QV200
80:01.0 - VGA Compatible controller [300]: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RW
          QV200
a0:01.0 - USB Controller [0c03]: NEC Corporation USB [1033:0035] (rev 41)
a0:01.1 - USB Controller [0c03]: NEC Corporation USB [1033:0035] (rev 41)
a0:01.2 - USB Controller [0c03]: NEC Corporation USB 2 [1033:00e0] (rev 02)
a0:02.0 - IDE interface [0101]: Silicon Image Inc, SiI 0649 Ultra ATA/100
          PCI to ATA Host Controller [1095:0649] (rev 02)
a0:03.0 - Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation 82540EM Gigabit
          Ethernet Controller [8086:100e] (rev 02)
a0:04.0 - Multimedia Audio Controller [0401]: ForteMedia, Inc XWave QS3000A
          [FM801] [1319:0801] (rev b2)
a0:04.1 - Input device controller [0980]: ForteMedia, Inc XWave QS3000A
          [FM801 Game Port] [1319:0802] (rev b2)
c0:01.0 - SCSI storage controller [0100]: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic 53c1010
          66MHz Ultra3 SCSI Adapter [1000:0021] (rev 01)


Base System Installation Checklist:
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it

Initial boot:           [OK]
Detect network card:    [OK]
Configure network:      [  ]
Detect CD:             [ERROR] - Installation failed at this point
Load installer modules: [  ]
Detect hard drives:     [OK]
Partition hard drives:  [  ]
Install base system:    [  ]
Clock/timezone setup:   [  ]
User/password setup:    [  ]
Install tasks:          [  ]
Install boot loader:    [  ]
Overall install:        [  ]

Comments/Problems:
Ubuntu LiveCD (DVD) booted from DVD drive but later could not "detect"
the CD-ROM (same device on which LiveCD was running !)

DVD Drive in this machine is on IDE bus, and I believe the drive to be
a sufficiently generic/common unit. I've had no past problems with DVD
installs of RHEL Linux (Scientific Linux 4.1 for ia64, and more recently
Scientific Linux CERN 5.4), or HP-UX, or WinXP, or OpenVMS.   Have never
needed to provide any special drivers on floppy media (machine does not
have a floppy drive).

md5sum of ISO download checked OK.  Size exceeds capacity CD-ROM, so I
burned DVD+R -- boot from DVD was fine until it was unable to locate the
CD-ROM in order to load CD-ROM driver module for remainder of install.
Repeated attempts from within the LiveCD install script give same result.

I found:   https://
  help.ubuntu.com/9.10/installation-guide/ia64/boot-troubleshooting.html

but I see no /dev/hdc or similar device in /var/log/syslog nor in dmesg
output (indeed I see no "ide" listing under /proc ... hence no folder
/proc/ide/hdc nor anything similar (hda, hdb, hdc or similar).

The HP zx2000 is not an uncommon ia64 workstation, as ia64 workstations
go (as distinct from ia64 "servers") so I'm surprised that IDE DVD drive
not recognized as it should be.

However as I write this, I now recall there were two separate IDE cables
inside (one for "Optical Drives" [Secondary IDE Channel] and another one
for "Hard Disks" [Primary IDE Channel] ... and others on the 'net were
unsuccessful booting & installing VMS on dx2000 with DVD drive installed
on the "Optical Drives" IDE ribbon cable so recommendation was to connect
DVD instead of the "Hard Disks" IDE ribbon cable, which I did.

Just now I put the DVD drive back onto the "Optical Drives" cable (i.e.,
the Secondary IDE), but booting the Ubuntu LiveCD DVD+R, the behavior is
exactly the same as reported above, so this made no difference in terms
of the installer being able to identify the "CD-ROM" drive and load the
appropriate driver module.

Booting Windows XP 64-bit Edition Version 2003 (for Itanium) the specific
model information reported for the HP zx2000's DVD Drive is as follows:

HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR81608

- - -

Thanks in advance for any trouble-shooting information. Please reply back
to me at jkmccarthy at pacbell.net since I am not subscribed to any Ubuntu
user's forum (not yet being an Ubuntu user ...).

    -- Jim McCarthy