[f-nsp] Boot problem with PCMCIA flash card (NI800/NI4GMR/512MB)

[Gerald Krause]

Hi,

I have tried many different software versions (also newer ones like the 
B2P07801 or N2P09103) and different PCMCIA flash cards but without 
success - I can't boot this system from a PCMCIA flash card. The most 
mysterious thing is, that the system could not even boot from a 
*working* PCMCIA flash card from an other NI400/NI4GMR.

I can boot all the images that fits into the on-board flash but no one  
(regardless of version or size) from the PCMCIA flash card. Deleting 
and formating the PCMCIA flash card does not make any difference, I got 
always a "BOOT ERR: bad code image header" message :/. 

Success with on-board flash:
============================
NI800#copy tftp flash x.x.x.x N2P07505c.bin secondary
[...]
TFTP to Flash Done.
[...]
BOOT INFO: RESET ACTIVE
master arbitrate : become primary arbitrator.
BOOT INFO: Become active CPU module
M2 BI Boot Code Version 07.06.05
Enter 'b' to go to boot monitor ...
BOOT INFO: load from secondary copy
BOOT INFO: bootparam at 3fffffe0, mp_flash_size = 0034add2
BOOT INFO: code decompression completed
[...]


Failure with PCMCIA flash:
==========================
NI800#copy tftp slot1 x.x.x.x N2P07505c.bin
[...]
Write to slot1 \N2P07505c.bin succeeded
[...]
BOOT INFO: RESET ACTIVE
master arbitrate : become primary arbitrator.
BOOT INFO: Become active CPU module
M2 BI Boot Code Version 07.06.05
Enter 'b' to go to boot monitor ...
BOOT INFO: try to boot from slot1 \N2P07505C.BIN
BOOT INFO: init modules ...
BOOT ERR: bad code image header
[...]

The only known difference between the the working NI400/NI4GMR and this 
NI800/NI4GMR is that we have upgraded the latter one to a newer boot 
code (7.05.01 -> 7.06.05). Because we can now boot all the newer 
software versions it looks to me that this upgrade was successful. Are 
there any other impacts to consider during this upgrade process that I 
have overlooked?


-- 
Gerald    AX/TC