Apparent Video Corruption Issues When Installing SCO UNIX Openserver 5.0.x on 960/980 Series Servers

Affected Products: Servers
Affected Operating Systems: UNIX®

ISSUE: When installing SCO Openserver 5.0.x on a 960 or 980 series motherboard shortly after the boot time loadable drivers (BTLD) prompt, you may experience the following behaviors:

  • A blinking cursor in the center of the screen
  • Random patterns of blue square ASCII characters on the screen
  • Pressing the ENTER key may appear to change the pattern of the ASCII characters that are visible

RESOLUTION: Change the Device Type for the CD-ROM drive in the IDE settings to Automatic. This is done in the BIOS Setup Utility, under Advanced, IDE Configuration. For the respective IDE controller on which the CD-ROM is installed, change the type field to Automatic instead of CDROM.

If the issue is not resolved by using the preceding steps, the following steps have also resolved this issue:

  1. Remove all IDE cables from the motherboard.

  2. Clear the CMOS, using the jumpers on the motherboard.

  3. Reattach the CD-ROM drive to the Primary IDE controller.