[ixp1200] Booting intel ixp boards from tftp

[Gregory Prier]

Our lab has two intel IXP 1200 evaluation boards.  These fit in a standard PC
(they have pci slots) and have serial access like an evaluation board.  The
boards are made by RadiSys and have the part number ENP2505.  I have been trying
for a few weeks to get them to boot linux via tftp and I haven't had any luck.

When the board starts it immediately boots into Cygmon.  When HOST mode is
enabled Cygmon then counts down and starts automatically booting linux.  At this
point I get this error message:

Failed to initialize TFTP transfer, check network connection and IP addr.

When I am in FTP mode I immediately get this message:

Press space bar to abort host download mode....
Press space bar to abort host download mode....

If I don't push space then this will continue forever.

The bootoptions are set as follows:

cygmon> bo  
[BootOptions]:
  1 BOOTP/Manual (manual)
  2 Local IP (131.179.187.21)
  3 Remote IP (131.179.187.20)
  4 Linux kernel file name (zImage)
  5 Linux ramdisk file name (ramdisk_img.gz)
  6 Linux kernel load offset (C4008000)
  7 Linux boot command line string ()
  8 Countdown to auto-boot linux (60)
  9 Starting SDRAM offset for host PCI access (0 MB)
 10 SDRAM window size for host PCI access (256 MB)
 11 Linux download mode [1] 0=FTP 1=HOST
 Enter option number (1 to 11), "q" to quit, "s" to save: 

131.179.187.20 is a machine on the same ethernet segment as the ixp card.  It
is running a tftp server that has been tested and seems to work fine.
Furthermore, I can run tcpdump on 131.179.187.20 and the ixp card never tries
to get anything from the tftp server.  It doesn't send any traffic onto the
network, not even arp.

I tried using the System Monitor mode on the board but this just hung when the
board tried to boot.  I also can't get to the boot manager because Cygmon seems
to immediately start up instead.  I can't find a way to make sure that the
ethernet interfaces are up and that I have configured everything correctly
before declaring the ROM bad and reflashing it.

Specifically, my questions are:

- What exactly is the "on-board 82559 (or 82559ER) Ethernet Interface"
mentioned in the manuals?  Does this refer to all of the 4 RJ-45 jacks on the
board or some jack that I don't have or don't see?  Since the board supposedly
uses this for the tftp transfer I want to make sure that I am plugging the
cables into the right jacks on the card.  Is there a specific jack that I am
supposed to use?  I have tried all four and haven't had any luck yet.

- Any idea why I can't get to the boot manager or the system monitor when 
booting the board?  Were these removes to make room for Cygmon?

- Does any one know of a way to hard reboot the card from inside cygmon?  It
would be a big help for testing.

- Any idea why the board won't boot from the tftp server?

- Has anyone seen better documentation on setting up the boards and what to do
when they don't work?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Greg Prier

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Prier                              Previously:      A Mudder
3564 Boelter Hall                       Currently:       A Bruin working
UCLA CA 90095                                            towards a PhD
(310) 825-8899                          After that:      No idea

"Hell, there are no rules here.  We're trying to accomplish something."
                                                        Thomas Edison