Linux Enterprise WS v3.0 not installing on AMD64 FX-51, ASUS SK8V Mother Board

Hello all,

I am having hard time installing RedHat Enterprise Linux WS v3.0.

At the end of the email you can find the specifications of the 64-bit AMD computer specifications.

I have installed IA-32 RedHat Enterprise Linux WS v3.0 and RedHat 9.0, and both work like a charm on an IDE Hard Disk, but they do not recognize the Ethernet Adapter, nor they find the SATA drives.

After speaking with RedHat Tech-Support, I was told I was using the wrong version of Linux, and I was to be downloading the RedHat Enterprise Linux WS v3.0 for AMD64 (x86_64).

Of course followed the suggestions, however the "correct version" does not recognize the Ethernet, nor the Graphics card nor any of the two SATA hard disks, so I can't even install it? (I am not even trying to install it on IDE, because I am focusing on SATAs.) I had exact problems with Fedora (which was the reason I purchased an educational licence.)

Am I using the wrong SATA controler? Are any of the hardware components too new for Linux, hense no drivers available? Any suggestions on how to install this darn thing? I have never had such problems with Linux before.

Thank you in advance,
-- Aleksandar

System specs:
---------------------------------------------
Asus SK8V Motherboard
- VIA K8T800
- 3COM GbLAN (3C940)
- Dual SATA RAID (Promise 20378 RAID & VT8237 RAID)

AMD Athlon 64 FX51
1GB RAM Dual Channel (2x 512MB)
2x 250Gb SATA

ASUS V9980 Ultra FX 5950 Ultra 256MB Video RAM

Suggestions for installing? Sure.

Take Redhat CD's. Take 1 gallon gasoline. Go outside. Pour gas all over cd's. Find match. Burn cd's using gas an match and roast some marshmellows on the whole darned thing.
After doing this. Use different, working computer, to actually read a little bit of these forums and learn why redhat is absolute crap for hardware support.

Second stage of instructions.
Use the handy dandy "SEARCH" feature, to look up the terms, SATA, and, GIGABIT LAN. After finding several dozen screens full of the same questions over and over, you should fully understand why the question of installing with these hardware items is getting rather sickening.

Well, your message just cracked me up! And I got your point, however...

After extensive search, I didn't find any information about the exacty system that I have, or I found conflicting information. That is why I decided to post with a plea that someone might have identical system and will have already found out how to make it work.

Cheers! )

K8V SE Deluxe, AMD64, 3200, 2x 1G DDR400, 2x WD 200 SATA, DVD-ROM
Used each drive connected separate one to VT8237 the other to Promise 20378 (RAID 0, RAID0+1). Had to search for drivers but managed to install both XP32 (boot from Promise 378) & Win AMD64 (boot from VIA) and see both drives.
The VIA controller had ~15-20% faster results in some applications but not sure if it was because of the 64b OS or just the controller... Didn't have time for extensive tests.
Also I managed to install Linux 8 but only using the Promise FT 378. Couldn't find VIA driver... Also compiled & integrate the Marvell Gigabit NIC driver. Some stuff works OK on Linux 8 but I couldn't install Oracle 9i (got that stupid 'jre was not found..' sh..)
I couldn't install Linux 9 or Linux WS V3 AMD64 !!! I opened cases with both ASUS & Linux but no answer so far.
This MB / chips have a very good price/ performance ratio. It's a pity MS / Linux are not fully supporting it.

I'm building an almost identical computer to the OP, but w/ an Opteron 144 and 2 36gig Raptors. I'm curious if you've resolved the issues you have had, and if so what fixes you used. I haven't got to the OS install yet (parts are still coming in), but would love to save myself as much hassle as possible.

Also, the client I was building for has the x86 version of Redhat Enterprise Linux WS. Will that work w/ this setup, or is it necessary to go to the AMD64 version?

If you install the i386 versions of Linux Enterprise the computer will work as a regular 32bit system. You won't get to use any of the 64bit advantages. I recommend getting the AMD64 version of Linux if you are to use the 64bit architecture.

I got my system to work partially. I still can't get the SATA drives to work. I switched to IDEs with hope that one day the SATA drivers for Linux will come out and I can migrate the system easily.

For most of the integrated parts of the ASUS board, I went to the ASUS website and downloaded all of the Linux drivers, Compiled/Installed them. Some of the drivers had to be tweaked to install, i.e. had to add -mcmodel=kernel in the Makefile and other x86_64 options.

Note that in order to get Linux to install at all, I had to turn off USB Legacy support off from the BIOS. For some reason before I switched it off, after installation the system would hang.

Now the system works fine except the SATA drivers.

I'm assuming you've tried the SATA drivers for the promise controller from http://www.asus.com/support/download...ux.zip~zaqwedc

They are listed as being for RH 9 though.

I did try them, but they didn't work. It seems that the driver is made for Intel P4 CPUs. I am using AMD64 CPU.


The readme.txt file enclosed in the Zip states:
---------------------------------------------------------
1. The RHSMPV1.00.0.xx driver is needed using Intel P4 CPU with Hyper-Threading functtion and
enable this function in the BIOS setup screen.

2. The RHUPV1.00.0 driver is needed using Intel P4 CPU without Hyper-Threading function.

-------------------------------------------------------

Have you tried using the VIA raid instead of the Promise?

The marvel chipset for 3com on this board is sk98lin driver.

modprobe sk98lin

I just spent all weekend with this board and 3200+ 64 chip. After a lot of frustration I figured out that the BIOS needed updating.

I was having serious stability issues with the SATA drive, but this turned out to be a BIOS fix.

The Kernel needs to be built with libata support under Drivers > SCSI > SCSI Low Level Drivers > SATA > Promise and/or VIA. Also, I enabled VIA82xxx support in the ATA device driver section. BTW, use the SATA in ATA mode and not RAID.

I am writing this from work so I cannot tell you all the exact details. If you need help just post back and I will try to get back to you.

I compiled this in the kernel and NOT AS MODULES.

My distribution of choice was Gentoo AMD64 2004.1. The livecd autoconfigs everything except LAN. However, those of you familiar with Gentoo know that you normally configure a custom kernel during install, so it was no biggy.