I looked at the K8S-MX Manual.
There should be a selection for the "Onboard PCI S-ATA Controller" with the choices " "Disabled", "IDE by BIOS" or "RAID by Rom".
Make sure you have the option set to "IDE by BIOS". If you don't see that option, you may have to update the BIOS. WARNING! changing that option will cause any existing data on the S-ATA hard disk to be inaccessible. If you have something on the hard disk, back it up first.
After you change that setting you will need to partition the S-ATA hard disk and format the hard disk partitions.
If you try to use the "RAID by Rom" option, the "standard" drivers in Linux will not work.
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NO RAID
If you don't care about RAID at all, set the BIOS option to "IDE by BIOS".
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SOFTWARE RAID
To use software RAID, set the BIOS option to "IDE by BIOS". If you want RAID under Linux use the software RAID that is part of Linux. If you want RAID under Windows use the software RAID that is part of Windows. This is what I recommend, since it is easy to install Linux.
You can dual boot Windows and Linux, but the software RAID of the two is not compatible. Windows will not see Linux RAID partitions and Linux will not see Windows RAID partitions. You can still create non-RAID partitions that they can share if you want.
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HARDWARE RAID (fake hardware RAID)
Why is this called "fake hardware RAID"? The S-ATA RAID controllers, unlike SCSI, don't do all the work of RAID in hardware. A lot of the RAID functions are implemented in software. For booting, the RAID BIOS allows access to the RAID disks like any normal hard disk. Once the operating system is booted the RAID BIOS can't be used. The operating system has a proprietary (custom) driver that allows access to the hard disks. The driver makes the hard disks look like a hardware RAID controller. The formatting of the hard disks is proprietary, and can only be read by the driver from the manufacturer of the RAID chip.
To support RAID that is compatible between Windows and Linux, you will need the proprietary Linux driver for the SiS RAID controller chip. Look for a driver on the SiS web site. If you find a SiS RAID driver for Linux, set the option to "RAID by Rom". If you can't find a driver, you can't use hardware RAID ("RAID by Rom"). Since you will be using an equivalent SiS RAID driver for both Windows and Linux they will be compatible. Installing Linux on hardware RAID is very complicated, and you will have to figure out some of it as you go.
- Compile the proprietary driver (on another Linux system)
- Boot Linux installation CD
- Unload SATA driver for SiS controller (if it loads)
- Load the proprietary RAID driver for SiS
- Partition, format and install to RAID disks
- Make an "initrd" image to boot the system (read "man initrd")
- Test the system booting and correct any problems with "initrd"
You might not get a driver module that will load on the version of Linux you are using. In that case you will need the driver sources, and you will have to compile them on another Linux system. You can also temporarily set the system to ""IDE by BIOS" to compile the driver. If you do that, copy the driver module and anything else you need to a floppy or CD. You will have to erase and reformat the hard disk to switch to "RAID by Rom".
To install Linux, you have to boot the Linux installation CD. Then you have to load the special RAID driver. If there is a "standard" SiS S-ATA driver loaded, you may have to unload that driver module first. If you have the wrong driver, you may still see the hard disks, but they will look like separate disks, not a single RAID disk. Also, you will not be able to see any existing partitions on the disk. Once you have the correct driver loaded, you can format and install the Linux files in the normal way. However, there are additional steps you must perform before Linux can be booted.
Using hardware RAID there is sort of a catch-22. Linux needs the proprietary driver for the RAID controller to see the RAID disks, but Linux needs to read the RAID disks to load the proprietary driver. Linux has a solution for this problem. The LILO boot loader can load a special boot image called "initrd" that will load modules or drivers BEFORE Linux initializes. You need to build the "initrd" image, including the RAID driver module. Then configure the boot loader to use the "initrd" image.
If you make a mistake, the system won't boot Linux from the RAID disk. You will have to boot the Linux installation CD, reload the RAID driver, and then correct the problems. You may end up doing this a few times before you get everything right.
Since I did something similar on my system, here is a link to a more detailed description. This is for the Promise RAID controller, but the same steps would be necessary for SiS, with different file and driver names.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=362780
