help identifying My Velociraptor, 10GB issue newbie !

[kane-kane]

Hi all, I just bough a used but working Cobalt Axent Velociraptor (Blue unit) from ebay after having found I can install ipcop on it to replace my overheating linksys Rv016 Router. I received the Velo yesterday, but I'm having some difficulty finding wich model (RAq4, 3, Velo 500 or 700) it's. No model or part number are printed anywhere.

It have 128MB of ram, the dual intel Express AUX1 and 2 card and a single 10GB hard drive inside. My guess is it's a 500.

Secondly as I was unsure of the model I couldn't find the proper flash update. Nor I was able to find the version once booting the RAS it only say version 1.1 So I tryed the Boot+S trick to see if I could change to HDA4 and yes ! So I went away and took a Seagate 20 GB drive I had laying around and using winimage 8.1 I transfered the latest RAQ COP image as the guide say. I switched the Raptor to HDA4 and put the 20GB in, But my Raptor fail to boot, it's always booting without any error message...

Any hints ?

Thanks in advance

[Davesworld]

Yes, if you have the original flashrom you won't get this running. It doesn't matter which exact model since all 3000 series are the same hardware except the Qube which still uses the same hardware in a different package and different Nic chips. All the 3000 series (Generation III) Raqs use the same flashrom and only differ by clock speed and cpu by way of solder jumpers for multiplier and voltage. You have to flash the rom to run anything newer than the original OS. The original rom is 2.2 kernel based and does not support the EXT3 filesystem nor will it boot a kernel in the /boot directory. The 500, 700, and 1000 were announced later after Symantec's acquisition of Axent but are still the same 3000 series hardware without the SCSI chip soldered on and without the usb jack but the usb port can be easily added with good soldering skills.

We have a rom flashing guide as well as necessary files on the main site. Did the original os boot? You'll need to boot it on something it can run to flash the rom easily and I use the easily word loosely. Some have flashed via serial console using a nullmodem cable but it is not easy, just possible.

[kane-kane]

Hi Dave, thanks for the fast and complete reply, Yes the original RAS software on the 10GB drive was booting perfectly up to the setup screen. Oh a 3000 unit. Not sure about the SCSI chip but a big 1 inch one is not soldered, Also missing is the rear SCSI 68 pins or so port and the usb is absent too... So maybe a 500 Raq ?

Ok so I simply need to reput the original 10gb drive, configure some ip, mask and connect via ftp to puload the firmware update and flasher before reading the instructions to start the update...

After that I'll be able to put back the now non-booting 20GB seagate drive winimaged with the latest raq-cop os...

compared to doing tftp on cisco equipments it a bidder challenge ! Yeah I have opretty good electronics and soldering skils, any benefit to solder a female A jack ?

Also about my dual Intel Express 10100 AUX1 and AUX2 card, I read that they are overheating cards, should I put heatsinks on it or simply remove it and buy something else from ebay when I'll be doing WAN load balancing a day ?

I'm also considering adding a second stick of 128MB of PC100 non ecc memory or better 2 256MB of pc100 non ecc, any benefit when using RAQCOP ?

Last questions, I have a defective Sunon 35mm fan on the CPU, and a noisy one on the PSU. I found some brand new from ebay at 12$ each, but do you have better repalcement idea like dell gx-260/ catalyst 3548XL hamster cages fans or Delta 40mm fans ?

I'l try to find the guides you are talking about for the update, it's nice to learn that the firmware update is standard for most RAQ platforms including mine. 

Regards, Kane

[kane-kane]

Any news, I'm unsure how to procede with the firmware update, I have it downloaded but don't know where to put it on the Raq and what commands to type to start the update process...

Lets me know

Kane

[Davesworld]

Have you read our flash tutorial by chance? It really does not matter where you put the firmware file and flash program as long as they are in the same directory. Just make it an easy to find place. On most of my units with the original os in them, I pulled the drive, used a usb to ide adapter, plugged into my Linux box since Windows does not have ext2 or ext3 filesystem support natively and dropped the flash tool and rom image in the / directory, unmounted, put back in that raq, booted up, reset password, used a nullmodem cable, logged in as root and flashed. On my raq3 (a basic version) I got free with a 550, I reset the password on the front panel, logged in via the web gui and set the admin password so I could log in via ftp as admin and uploaded it. Only trouble is that it ended up buried in the /home directory so I had to make note of the path. I then logged in via serial console via the nullmodem cable as root and flashed that way.

One thing to make note of is that our lcd program as of yet has no button functions except in rom mode. It does output text as it boots and in 1.4.22 it will also output text while shutting down and will tell you when it's ok to power down if halting, if rebooting, it tells you it will reboot instead. When up and running, it shows a nice bandwidth meter for up and down and this is totally configurable for interface and maximum speed in up and download so the bars show relative.

I know flashing a Raq/VR is not something recommended for newbies but it sounds like you are only new to Linux.