Fatal Parity Errors on SCO UNIX 3.2v2 & 3.2v4

A number of customers have reported a serious problem on machines with more than 16MB of memory and the following error occurring:-

PANIC: Fatal Parity Error on I/O channel check........

Apricot and SCO have investigated the problem and we now have evidence that mapping out the top part of the first 16MB of memory (when the memory above 16MB is via a bus memory card) removes the problem. The problem does not appear to occur on FT//s, FT//e or XEN-LS II machines where all the memory is installed on the main board (please remember MCA bus memory from Hypertec or anyone else is NOT supported in FT//s or FT//e).

The solution is to edit the file /etc/default/boot and change the line:-

DEFBOOTSTR=hd(40)unix
to
DEFBOOTSTR=hd(40)unix mem=1m-15872k,16m-64m/s/n

(the only space on the line above is between unix and mem)

The line can also be typed in at boot time but it is recommended that /etc/default/boot is altered to permanently change customers' machines.

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