Debian Sarge on Dell Sata Drive

kishoyian · 11-23-2005, 12:09 PM

Hi Forum,
Iam new to linux and iam tring to install debian sarge on a new Dell PowerEdge SC430 which has SATA hardrive. Unfortunately the installation CD cannot find the SATA hard drive.Does any one have any help or step by step guide on how i can successfully install Debian on my Dell server.Thanks.

Wells · 11-23-2005, 12:44 PM

When you are installing and you get to the point where it says that it cannot detect a harddrive on the system, switch to a different console and try the following:

$ modprobe ata_piix

Then switch back to the install console and retry the drive detection.

kishoyian · 11-23-2005, 12:52 PM

Thanks Wells for the reply.What do you mean by switching to a different console??Sorry if this question sounds stupid!

Wells · 11-23-2005, 02:40 PM

Pressing Alt-F1, Alt-F2, etc. will switch you to a different console.

BillyGalbreath · 11-23-2005, 03:12 PM

I always thought it was Ctrl+Alt+F# ... hrmm...

Wells · 11-23-2005, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BillyGalbreath
I always thought it was Ctrl+Alt+F# ... hrmm...

Yes and no. It depends on whether or not you are in console mode to begin with. If you are in just the text console mode, you only need Alt-F#. If you are initially in X, then you need to add in that Ctrl key.

BillyGalbreath · 11-23-2005, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Wells
Yes and no. It depends on whether or not you are in console mode to begin with. If you are in just the text console mode, you only need Alt-F#. If you are initially in X, then you need to add in that Ctrl key.

Learn somethin everyday!

Sry for thread stealing... hehe

kishoyian · 11-23-2005, 04:55 PM

Thanks alot wells. Will try and let you know.

kishoyian · 11-23-2005, 07:54 PM

Wells or anybody else:

When i switch console and type $ modprobe ata_piix i get the following message.

BusyBox v1.00-pre-10 (Debian 20040623-1) Built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built in commands.
~#

when i switch console back to the installation it is still not detecting my Sata hard drive. Any suggestion will be appreciated.

Wells · 11-23-2005, 09:57 PM

You didn't include the "$" in the command, did you? That was just a placemarker that is commonly used here to indicate it is the beginning of the command line, and should not actually be typed. At the command prompt, just type "modprobe ata_piix". Also, are you getting any other errors when you type that?

kishoyian · 11-24-2005, 01:23 PM

Hi Well thanks alot for the reply.Yes i did include the $ sorry iam still learning linux. I will try without it later and let you know how it goes. I am not getting any other errors so far.Thanks.

kishoyian · 11-25-2005, 05:09 PM

Hi Wells or somebody else;
The Debian installer still can't find my SATA drive even after i tried to switch console and did modprobe ata_piix. Any further help will be appreciated. Again i have a new Dell PowerEdge SC430 which has SATA hardrive.Thanks.

Wells · 11-25-2005, 05:45 PM

I just triple checked my notes for the Dell Optiplex SX260 that I installed linux on, and that is what I had to do in order to get it to work. I know it isn't a Precision machine, but I was hoping that the SATA controller would at least be similar. Oh well...

Now, as to how to fix your particular problem, I really don't know now.

kishoyian · 11-25-2005, 08:08 PM

Wells,
Thanks alot. At least you tried what you could to help. I especially like your promp replies to my posts.Thanks alot.

viniosity · 11-27-2005, 09:24 AM

Not sure if this will help you, but which kernel did you boot with? I had the same problem with my sata drive on my x41 when using the 2.6 kernel but it worked with the default 2.4 kernel. In newbie speak, when you boot the cd, just hit enter.. don't type linux26 first.

The bad news is that after my full install, upgrading my kernel to 2.6.14 gave me a syncing error (which is all over the forums too) and I don't know if that will be resolved in a newer version or not..

Good luck!