Problems installing RH 7.3 on a motherboard with HPT372
 

Hello,

I'm completely new at linux, and have encountered some roadblocks attempting to install Red Hat 7.3 onto my PC which uses an Abit KR7A-133R motherboard. This motherboard uses a High Point HPT372 IDE RAID controller. Although I am just using it as extra IDE channels with my primary (boot) hard drive connected to it. (no RAID setup)

After reading all the posts here regarding HPT37x controllers, I now know that RH7.3 does not natively support the HPT372 controller. So I went and got the RH 7.3 driver for the HPT372 from Highpoints web site. Unzipping the downloaded driver, I find that there is a nice pdf file in there detailing the installation instructions. Yipee! I had absolutely no problems during the install, until I got to step 13 in the High Point driver install instructions. (The unlucky step? *lol*) To save some time I will just copy step 13 directly from the pdf file and paste it below.

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

13)

(HPT370/372 only) If you are installing Red Hat Linux 7.1/7.2/7.3 onto hard disk(s) attached to HPT370 or HPT372, when “Installation Complete” dialog appears, an additional step must be taken to replace the installed kernel with our new kernel, which has HPT366 IDE support removed. On the driver disk, there is a setup script "postinstall" which will do this work for you. When the "Installation Complete " dialog appears, DO NOT press ENTER. Press Alt-F2 to activate the command shell and type in the following commands:

for Red Hat Linux 7.1/7.2/7.3
# chroot /mnt/sysimage
# mkdir /mnt/floppy

insert UP kernel diskette
# mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
# cp /mnt/floppy/vmlinuz.hpt37x2 /boot
# umount /mnt/floppy

insert SMP kernel diskette smp system only
# mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy smp system only
# cp /mnt/floppy/vmlinuz.hpt37x2smp /boot smp system only
# umount /mnt/floppy smp system only

insert driver diskette
# mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
# sh /mnt/floppy/postinstall
# umount /mnt/floppy

Then press Alt-F1 to return to the setup screen and press ENTER to finish setup.

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

Just to be clear, I did not follow the SMP line commands, as I do not have an SMP system.

My problem is that if I typed the line commands exactly as shown, being mindfull of spaces in the line, nothing would happen. No error message, it would just goto the next line down waiting for the next command. I know this can't be right as it never even accessed the floppy drive, and I know has to at two points.

So I started experimenting a bit, and found that the install would respond to the command line if I removed the # sign in front of the line. But then the very first command line,

# chroot /mnt/sysimage

would give me an error message. I'm sorry I forgot to write the error message down. But it was something to the extent of "there is no such directory". So, anyway, I moved on and was able to get the second and third command lines to appear to work.

# mkdir /mnt/floppy
# mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy

The second line offered no complaints. And the third line briefly accessed the floppy drive. So it looks like those two worked.

But these following two lines refused to work in any shape or form that I could think of.

# cp /mnt/floppy/vmlinuz.hpt37x2 /boot
# sh /mnt/floppy/postinstall

I know this because, the first line appears to be a copy command to take the kernal from the UP kernal diskette, and the second line appears to be a line to execute the postinstall setup script. And it never accessed the floppy drive at all. And it depending how I typed the line in would either do nothing, or give me an error.

So as you can see I'm quite lost at this point. I get the feeling that I am overlooking something really obvious, but I'm not sure as this is all new. I understand the syntax of the command line is very important, and tried extra hard to make sure the spaces were in the right spots, and everything was typed correctly.

So where have I gone wrong?

If necessary, I will go back and document the different error messages that I received from lines 1, 4, and 7. But I was hoping that this might be something stupidly obvious that I am overlooking.

Hope someone can help me out. Thanks. Take care. :o)

First, the # are representing your command line prompt, YOU DO NOT TYPE THESE!!

the 'mount' commands should access your floppy.

Also, make sure you renamed the kernel on the floppy to vmlinuz.hpt37x2. I had problems renaming it but finally got it done.

After you make sure your kernel is renamed on the floppy I would restart the install.

Just as a word to keep your hopes up, I tried this same procedure on my system and never got it to work yet. So if you have any luck post what you did here.

Thanks for your response RHrulz. :)

Thank you for the info on the # sign representing the command line prompt. I did not know that, but it makes sense now.

The "mount" command did access the floppy briefly.

I had already copied the kernal "vmlinuz-2.4.18-3-athlon" and renamed it to "vmlinuz.hpt37x2", as according to step 4. I had no difficulties doing so from within WinXP Pro.

Are you implying that the renaming of the kernal needs to be done from a linux system?

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one that has run into this issue. I will most definately post the solution here when it becomes available.


It appears then to me, that there are two command lines I am having difficulty with. And they are as follows:

# cp /mnt/floppy/vmlinuz.hpt37x2 /boot
# sh /mnt/floppy/postinstall

I believe that both of these command lines should access the floppy drive, the first line for the UP kernal diskette, and the second line for the driver diskette. But neither do. I guess in all fairness to the linux experts reading this post, I should try the install again and get the exact error message that happens when I try these two commands. I will try to do that tonight and post the results. Thanks. Take care.

I renamed the kernal in windows then when I was trying to copy the kernel I was having problems. Turned out that the file never got renamed. after you mount the kernel floppy, cd to /mnt/floppy, then do an ls to make sure that the kernel got renamed.

Hey RHrulz,

I checked the kernal name on the "UP Kernal diskette" on another RH 7.3 system, and found it to be correct. Thanks for the heads up though. :)


Guess what? I tried the install again this morning and got it to work!!!! Yeah! The only thing I can figure is that I had the syntax of the command lines wrong.

I will type out the exact lines I typed and place underscores (_) where spaces would normally be, as this is where I got messed up as it is difficult to tell where a space should be in many of the lines as shown in the pdf instruction file. Anything between parathesis will be comments, and are not to be typed.

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

chroot_/mnt/sysimage
mkdir_/mnt/floppy

(Insert UP kernal diskette)
mount_/dev/fd0_/mnt/floppy
cp_/mnt/floppy/vmlinuz.hpt37x2_/boot
umount_/mnt/floppy

(Insert driver diskette)
mount_/dev/fd0_/mnt/floppy
sh_/mnt/floppy/postinstall
umount_/mnt/floppy

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

Things to keep in mind. Keep an eye on the floppy diskette drive access light during the "cp" command, as the command prompt will not notify you when it is started or done. The "sh" command will let you know when it is done though.

The only downside to being finally able to finish the install, is that during the first re-boot, I received an error message. And RH 7.3 would not continue to boot at this point. Fortunately, I smartened up and wrote down the exact error message! *lol* It is posted below:

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

Booting 'Red Hat Linux (2.4.18-3)'

root (hd0,0)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernal /vmlinuz-2.4.18.3 ro root=/dev/sda2 hdc=ide-scsi

Error 15: File not found

Press any key to continue...

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

Pressing any key at this point brings me back to the GRUB boot loader screen where you choose what OS you want to boot from. And then the cycle repeats. Back to the same error message.

From the looks of it, I'd guess that it was unable to find the kernal, and so obviously could not continue to boot. Did something go wrong during the "cp" or "sh" command lines possibly?

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.

You are stuck at the same place I am.

I have emailed Highpoint support, but haven't gotten a reply

Hey RHrulz,

Bummer :( Well if Highpoint gives you a response, please post it here. Perhaps in the meantime we could brainstorm since no one else has given us a solution to try.

Keep in mind I know very little about Linux, so if my ideas sound retarded, please review the disclaimer in the begining part of this sentence. *lol*

What do you think about the possibility that the kernal on the "UP kernal diskette" needs to be written and renamed to a linux formatted diskette from within a linux system? And what about security settings on the file itself? Might that effect the RH installs' ability to load this new kernal from the diskette?

Feel free to add your thoughts/ideas.
Thanks.

I had the same problem with red hat 7.2, and 7.3.
I'm using the same Hot Point Card.
Here is how I did it so far:
1.
I copied the drivers for red hat 7.3 on a floppy
2.
I booted with the red hat 7.3 disk 1
3.
I typed: expert install
4.
the computer asked me for the drivers for the hot point raid card
5. and it worked.
I can email you the drivers.
my email is aliradu@yahoo.com

Thanks for posting jedimaster,

I will try your suggestion, and hope it works.

Thanks, but I already have the Red Hat 7.3 drivers for the HPT372 from HighPoint's website.
http://www.highpoint-tech.com

I will post my results as soon as I finish the install.......again. *lol*

Hey jedimaster,

I just tried your suggestion. It did not work. Just before it starts to install all packages/OS. It comes up with this error message:

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

The kernal was unable to re-read the partition table on /tmp/hdg (Device or resource busy). This means Linux knows nothing about any modifications you made. You should reboot your computer before doing anything with /tmp/hdg.

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

This makes sense, as the install instructions included with the drivers make it clear that the HPT370 & 372 require a special boot diskette that HighPoint provides with the drivers. Whenever I have done the install with this boot diskette, following HighPoint's instructions , I do not get this error message.


On a similar train of thought. I can install RH 7.3 right from the CD with no drivers or boot diskette for the HPT372. I do get the error message above, but if I ignore it, Linux will install. But all the hardware & settings will be incorrect as it is unable to use the settings I specified in the install, I assume because it is not able to read the hard drive.

So here's a thought...........What if I do the install as mentioned in the paragraph above, and then update/correct the HPT372 drivers after the install from within the OS? Anyone know if this would work? Assuming this would work, would it be difficult to correct all the other hardware drivers? (Remember, I'm new at Linux)

Also, there is a post in the hardware section here about someone wanting to install Suse 8.0 on a system with HPT372. A person posted their own website that has all the drivers, boot diskettes, and instructions to do it. Is it possible that some of the instructions and/or code can be salvaged to install RH 7.3 on a HPT372? Here is the link to that web site:

http://go.to/skrid


That's all I can think of for now.

I'm open to any and all suggestion and/or ideas.
Thanks :)