Slackware 12.2 on PATA SSD

Hangdog42 · 01-31-2009, 12:22 PM

I'm trying to put Slackware 12.2 on my Dell Mini9, which uses a 15GB SSD instead of a regular hard drive. In the BIOS settings this is identified as a PATA drive. What is driving me nuts is that I can't get the Slackware install system to recognize it as a SATA drive (which Ubuntu did when I had that installed), it always comes up as an IDE drive. Booting with "hugesmp.s hda=noprobe" isn't doing anything. After booting the drive is being identified as hda, not sda. I suppose I can live with the performance hit, but if there is a different way to identify this as a SATA drive for installation, that would be fantastic.

H_TeXMeX_H · 01-31-2009, 01:29 PM

Go into the BIOS and put the SATA controller in AHCI mode, it may just recognize it then.

guanx · 01-31-2009, 01:48 PM

I guess in Ubuntu it's just the device name which looks like SATA. The drive was also working in IDE mode. Switching to AHCI will let both distributions recognize the SATA controller.

Hangdog42 · 01-31-2009, 02:32 PM

Thanks for the suggestions, but it looks like it is just plain IDE access only. The BIOS doesn't even have a way to change the controller mode. Oh well, the performance probably won't be that noticeable anyway given that the machine is pretty limited to begin with.

H_TeXMeX_H · 01-31-2009, 02:49 PM

If there is no way to change the controller mode, then try finding out what controller you have. Post the output of '/sbin/lspci', if you can.

Hangdog42 · 02-02-2009, 07:41 AM

Here is the lspci output:

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
02:00.0 System peripheral: JMicron Technologies, Inc. SD/MMC Host Controller
02:00.2 SD Host controller: JMicron Technologies, Inc. Standard SD Host Controller
02:00.3 System peripheral: JMicron Technologies, Inc. MS Host Controller
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g (rev 01)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)

I'm guessing it is the second JMicron SD Controller as the computer does have a SDHC card reader.

H_TeXMeX_H · 02-02-2009, 08:20 AM

I think this is the controller:

Code:

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)

The JMicron ones are for either SD card or MS (memory stick). But, maybe I'm wrong, I've never really worked with SSDs, and don't know how they interface.

So, how where did you get this output, from Ubuntu or Slackware ? Either way try '/sbin/lspci -vv' and look at the driver it is using, so post the IDE interface part of the output.

guanx · 02-02-2009, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hangdog42

Here is the lspci output:

Code:

... (snip)

I don't see SATA controller there. If there is one, it will look like this:

Code:

gx@blackden:~$ /sbin/lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (r
ev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev
03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller
03:03.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Agere Systems FW323 (rev 70)
03:04.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5212/AR5213 Multiprotocol MAC/baseband processor (rev 01)

Hangdog42 · 02-02-2009, 12:07 PM

I think you're both right, there isn't a SATA controller there. Apparently Dell is using an IDE controller. Nothing in the lspic -vv even mentions SATA or PATA. The performance is actually OK, so this probably isn't a big deal, just surprising to me. Oh, and by the wayk, both this and the previous lspci are from Slackware since I ripped Ubuntu off the machine. I just couldn't take it anymore.

Code:

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
	Subsystem: Dell Unknown device 02b0
	Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
	Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 19
	Region 0: I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
	Region 1: I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1]
	Region 2: I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
	Region 3: I/O ports at 0374 [size=1]
	Region 4: I/O ports at 1810 [size=16]
	Kernel driver in use: PIIX_IDE

guanx · 02-02-2009, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hangdog42

Oh, and by the wayk, both this and the previous lspci are from Slackware since I ripped Ubuntu off the machine. I just couldn't take it anymore.

In Ubuntu it's just the device name which looks like SATA. That's because the default PATA driver is libata there. The libata driver has coaxed a lot of people into misunderstanding their hardware. Really cunning.

H_TeXMeX_H · 02-02-2009, 02:30 PM

I think guanx is right, it doesn't matter what it say as long as it works. So far these are the only two drivers I see that potentially match that controller:

Code:

  │ Symbol: PATA_MPIIX [=n]                                                 │  
  │ Prompt: Intel PATA MPIIX support                                        │  
  │   Defined at drivers/ata/Kconfig:437                                    │  
  │   Depends on: ATA && PCI                                                │  
  │   Location:                                                             │  
  │     -> Device Drivers                                                   │  
  │       -> Serial ATA (prod) and Parallel ATA (experimental) drivers (ATA │  
  │                                                                         │  
  │                                                                         │  
  │ Symbol: ATA_PIIX [=n]                                                   │  
  │ Prompt: Intel ESB, ICH, PIIX3, PIIX4 PATA/SATA support                  │  
  │   Defined at drivers/ata/Kconfig:60                                     │  
  │   Depends on: ATA && PCI                                                │  
  │   Location:                                                             │  
  │     -> Device Drivers                                                   │  
  │       -> Serial ATA (prod) and Parallel ATA (experimental) drivers (ATA │

Drakeo · 02-02-2009, 02:42 PM

unless it is a true scsi device the kernel vanila will use those drivers.
The only physical difference between a SATA drive and a PATA drive is the power and data cable connections.

PATA has a 40 pin IDE connection. SATA has 7 pin connector. PATA has a 4 pin molex power connector. SATA has a 15 pin power cable.

IDE refers to the type of interface for the drive. ATA either serial or parallel, refers to the method of transferring data along the cable.

There is no master/slave configuration on SATA drives.

PATA/SATA comparison.