JMicron sata not recognized
 

I tried to install Slack 11 on a new computer with Asus P5VD2-MX motherboard. It has disk on JMicron sata controller (it should work with AHCI, AFAIgoogled). I tried to boot Slack with huge26.s and test26.s, but the sata drive is not recognized (these kernels HAVE AHCI enabled). It is recognized in knoppix 5.0.1 (also linux 2.6.17), though. What shall I do?

PM890 chipset should work with test26.2, also Intel 965 chipset install write-up
 

Kleb, why don't you attach your SATA drive to the PM890 chipset's SATA ports instead of the JMicron? There's no performance benefit to using the JMicron (show me real world applications where SATAII beats plain SATA) and linux doesn't support the software RAID that the controllers support on windows. On a site note...

OK here's the deal with the JMicron controller. I'd been meaning to do a proper write up detailing how to install Slackware 11 on a system with an Intel 965 motherboard chipset.

The default sata.i kernel is 2.4.x based and does not include support for Intel's ICH8 chipset and the JMicron IDE controller. Support for this chipset and controller did not appear until 2.6.18. Thankfully, 2.6.18 is supplied on the Slackware 11 install discs as test26.s.

When prompted to select a kernel, type in 'test26.s'. Proceed through the installation normally afterwards and create your partitions using fdisk/cfdisk. Once you get to the portion where you format your partitions, I had to select ext2 because I do not believe the test26.s kernel has ext3 module support (this may be incorrect, someone else please chime in).

After formatting your partitions as ext2, select your packages to install and proceed with that portion. Make sure you use the vmlinuz that you installed (test26.s) and not a different kernel because none of the others support the 965 chipset or JMicron controller. Once you reach the end do not select EXIT to finish the installer from the installation menu. If you do, the slackware install disc will be unmounted and ejected from the cdrom drive.

In the case of the using the DVD to install, this is fine, but if you installed using the CD's you'll have to figure out which disc contains the /testing directory. To unmount the cdrom currently in the drive, use the command 'umount /dev/hdX' where X is the device letter. To remount, use 'mount -t iso9660 /dev/hdX /mnt/cdrom'.

After you've mounted the disc that contains the /testing directory, go to another console using ALT + F2/F3/F4. Hit ENTER to log in and then browse to the path of the 2.6.18 modules (/mnt/cdrom/testing/packages/linux-2.6.18). Use installpkg with the '-root' switch to specify an alternate root path.

For example, the setup program will mount / (root) at /mnt/somedirectory. Verify this path and use it with installpkg.

installpkg -root /mnt/path_to_root/ kernel-modules-2.6.18-i486-1.tgz

You must install the kernel headers and source in order to compile a custom kernel. The packages are located in the same directory mentioned above.

After installation you'll also probably want to rerun lilo, though this may not be necessary. Simply 'chroot /mnt/path_to_root', then run 'lilo'.

You can then reboot. Again, I can't remember offhand if the test26.s kernel includes support for ext3 so it would be wise if you compiled a new 2.6.18 kernel with ext3 support built-in. Afterwards, run 'tune2fs -j /dev/sdX or /dev/hdx' to convert your ext2 filesystem(s) to ext3.

Hopefully this is helpful for folks out there with new core2duo systems. There have been other write-ups on this but they were overly convoluted and instructed the user to copy files to the hard drive prior to installation which is completely unecessary.

Oh, if there isn't a performance loss if using plain SATA, then I'll try the chipset's own SATA controller.

But, nevertheless, I already tried booting test26.s (in fact, it was the first thing I tried, and I even did not attempt sata.s, for the obvious reasons you mentioned :) ). The trouble is, that the drive *wasn't* detected! It was on knoppix, so I used knoppix to boot, chrooted into slackware's initrd, and installed slackware from there. I also installed grub on the disk (also from knoppix). Now I only need to compile a kernel that I can then put onto that disk and boot with grub.

I used 2.6.19.1, configured it as best as I know, but it doesn't recognize the drive... what drivers exactly do I need to compile into kernel to make this work? As I watch kernel messages rolling, it seems that kernel recognizes the SATA controllers, but not the disk... what could be the point??

Another clue to those who know:

I inspected the kernel dmesg output from slackware's huge26.s kernel (it's roughly the same kernel version as in knoppix - 2.6.17):

AHCI sata driver detects both controllers (chipset's own and JMicron), and while chipset's controller has no devices attached, JMicron reports:
.
.
.
scsi2 : ahci
ata2: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123)
ata2: qc timeout (cmd 0xec)
ata2:dev 0 failed to IDENTIFY (I/O error)
scsi3 : ahci
.
.
.

But the drive WORKS in knoppix!
Any more ideas?

Huh, is it the new year that has taken all the people offline ;) ?

Now, I've managed to install slack, due to following the advice and connected disk to the chipset's own controller. But, it still behaves strange:
1.) In order to recognize the drive, I hat to pass the 'irqpoll' boot parameter to the test26.s kernel
2.) In order to make knoppix recognize the drive, I now have to pass irqpoll AND all-generic-ide boot parameters (previously needed nothing)
3.) 2.6.19.1 custom compiled kernel now recognizes the drive "out-of-the-box" - no parameters (it doesn't do for JMicron, though).

I googled a bit on this topic and found that all this sata, scsi, raid ... related stuff is really messy, and I am confused. I have some indices that it could help to install dmraid program into initrd. If I understand correctly this program would then map the drive so that kernel can find it. I have no idea wether this would solve the problem or not. I even don't understand the problem good enough.

Does anyone know enough to explain thing to me? I would be very grateful.
The Slackware is installed, though :) ! Thanks for the tip, jeenam!

I'm running into troubles with the same chipset on an ASUS P5B-VM with a Pentium D 915 Duo core.
After repeating many of the same research steps mentioned hear already, I'm wondering if maybe I should just replace the motherboard with something a bit more compatable. The ICH7 southbridge doesn't seem to have these problems......??

You guys should try compiling the newest kernel you can find ... I've heard the "SATA mess" you are experiencing with the Core Duo and JMicron and all that has been resolved (at least that's what I heard).

No argument from me TeXMeX, I believe that would probably help at the very least.
I'm challenged at kernel compiling though.
So far my few efforts at even trying to upgrade a kernel and set up the Lilo intirid haven't worked out.
I've been reading up as much as I can on how to work with the kernel, It's still pretty murky to me at the moment though.
I've hesitated to ask up to this point because I'm really going to need the keystroke by keystroke kind of tutorial, and well, that is no doubt going to a bit tedious for whoever volunteers........so I'm off for a bit more of this :study:
But I'll listen to any specific direction offered.
Thanx for the reply however, a starting point is helpfull.

The slackbook (in my sig) has a decent tutorial on how to do this. Or Alien Bob's wiki tutorial. As for which things you gotta enable or disable ... that's harder.

Go through ""make menuconfig" Text based color menus, radiolists & dialogs.", it seems to be the easiest to understand (at least for me :))

You could also try these:

Or maybe this one ...

maybe you get lucky ? :D

These are from the README that comes with the kernel source, look there and the slackbook and alien bob's tutorial, that should be plenty.

I'll have another look through Slackbook, I know I downloaded it a while back....and then my eyesight went wonky whilst reading.........

I have a question ... why do they even have "make randconfig" in there ? It seem insane ! I mean to randomly assign values as to whether things are included in the kernel or not ... crazy !

Maybe you can have fun compiling kernels with random things included and see how they run ... or panic ! :D

I'm sure I'll have time to look into that, I can't answer at the moment.......
Slack is loading at the moment using the test26 kernel - which I heard might work...it does.
Man this Duo core is lightning........when it can find it's parts, a full install of Slack 11 is almost done loading in ten minutes :)

So test26.s works ? If so, great.

Either way, they seem to have much better support for the core duo and JMicron in the newest of kernels.

"Works" can be taken with a grain of salt :cry: I'm on the third install, and trying not botch it this time...........
What test26 does do that none of the other options did is at least find the hardware and proceed with a install.
I'm trying to use reiserfs (which may not be supported), and I thought I would have an option to use Grub instead of Lilo - no dice on that one.
There is no "go back" option if the default boot loader (Lilo) isn't selected during the initial install it seems, even though I do remember seeing Grub (as an option)after I installed from this same disk on another machine.
*sigh*
Maybe the third time is the charm.............
(edit)
And three minutes later the super sexy surplus Dell monitor is showing me KDE.
Ummmmmmm......cool.
Now to install kernel headers and stuff, no LAN or sound yet, but it boots. Yay.

Actually reiserfs is supported by test26.s. If it doesn't work, you'll probably have to compile a new kernel.