Sorry, but no-thats not the problem. It shouldn't be. Actually cfdisk will partition the drive, and later during setup (after you have made (hopefully) a swap and a root partition, setup will format the partitions before you start installing from the CD.

As a matter of fact you could try:

cfdisk /dev/sda

but I think your problem is that the kernel just didn't detect the drive. But as I mentioned in the msg above let me know what it is detecting by using your SHIFT-PAGEUP keys... it should look like this (if you haven't formatted or partitioned:

sda: sda1

(Sata drivers make use of the scsi subsystem for registering the hard drive types....hence the 's') If you were using an IDE hard drive install, you would see 'hda'(1-x) hdb hdc (your cd should actually be hda in this case if you have no other IDE devices attached....)
So to simplify (hopefully scsi drives(including sata) are 'sda' 'sdb' etc etc ---- ide drives are: hda hdb hdc (etc) (including your ide attached cdrom device / dvd drive etc---Hard drives (not cdroms) will have a number after them if they are partitioned.

Since you haven't formatted or partitioned yet you can do the cfdisk command above 'cfdisk /dev/sda'


If you have partitioned:

sda: sda1 sda2 <sda5 sda6 sda7 (etc)> (minus the (etc) of course)


Hopefully I made some sort of sense here... good luck and let me know what you see during boot up!


bc

ps:
I see your still browsing this forum so I should get a response right away right? HA

OK I did the SHIFT+... command and I did'nt found any sda drives but it detects a drive named hde1 (i formated my sata drive by the way using another method) and that drive has 200gb like my sata drive. (the sata drive is the only hardisk on my comp right now). I think this is starnge.

I have the via controller on an asus p4v800x motherboard

It worked to install with the hde drive and it didn't complain about anything but now after a restart I get a kernel panic that says "unable to mount root fs on 21:01" and it also says "please append a correct "root=" boot option"
I tried to write "root=/dev/hde/" and also tried "root=/dev/fd0" using the root disks but nothing works. Could the problem be caused by the fact that I use reiserfs or whats wrong?


Thanks

One question:
Why would you even try to install when you know that is incorrect? And if you installed to: /dev/hde1 why would you try and mount /dev/hde ? (That isn't a partition....) (I am just trying to get you to see the logic here....) ... Okay so it was 2 questions... Anyway:

To troubleshoot your condition I did exactly like you:
I d/loaded the image from where you got... wrote the images with rawrite... and booted up.

This worked just fine for me. I got the sda drive detected etc... The only problem is I don't have access to that via system I tested on before. But I tend to think it would have worked if it worked on mine, here, since it worked before with this same kernel (on the VIA chipset). I dunno what the problem is with yours. I am very familar with the motherboard you have, also.
I tend to think it is something to do with the way the sata drivers are init'ing the scsi system, It sounds like it assigned your drive as an ide device (hard drive) ...
I have written you mail on here, but you haven't responded. As I mentioned the only other thing I could do is compile a kernel for solely VIA. If I do that though, I would like to get a copy of your 'dmesg' to see if I can root out what went wrong with this vers..(That is assuming the via vers works for you..!) Let me know... and I am in the process of 'fattening' the kernel to as big as I can get it and still have it be able to fit on a 1.44 disk. I will let you know.. If anyone else has a problem let me know...!


-bc

I just wanted to say that I sent you an email bonecrusher and I just wanted to check and see if you got it.

2bonecrasher:

Intel server board with PDC20319 chipset, created SATA RAID 1...
installed slack 9,1 using your satabare.i
successfully created and formated partitions
installation passed...

it's my first linux installation so i filled kernel panic =)

[update]
on load i recieved "WARNING: updating module dependencies fo L2.6.6-3" and when "FATAL: Couldn't load /lib/modules/2.6.6-3/modules.dep" no such file...

and "/proc/net" is empty...

as result no network... and i don't know what to do...

See where it says: 2.6.6-3 up there? That is the problem....

Ok, well i am happy to hear that it worked for you, what the kernel is probably trying to do is load the particular module for your net card. It can't find the module because they simply aren't compiled. (The dependency for the module is there and it looks like the kernel is 'discovering' your card, but since it can't load the module it needs (The driver sort of..) it is giving off an error (Basically not found error).

So you need to get the 2.6.6 kernel or one that supports sata and compile in your chipset, and ALSO compile in your particular netdriver module or permanent kernel driver, now that you have a 'functioning' slack install. You may find this somewhat difficult since your net card isn't working.. again back to the chicken and egg story! But you will have to fig something out...You may just want to compile the kernel that is installed on your system.. can't remeber if 9.1 install kernel has sata support or not. I don't think it does. So basically you could just try compiling the kernel that is installed with 9.1 (and mainly the modules ... see a kernel HOWTO ... 'make modules_install') and hope for the best that the modules that are compiled work with the 2.6.6 kernel you are booting up with...? If you try it this way you will either have to 'cp' the lib modules directory from the current opne to '2.6.6-3' or think of a way (like i said) to (d/load) get a kernel that supports sata and compile it (This would be the prefered way)!

Let me know what happens...and if you have a question about compiling for those modules let me know.

-bc

PS: I will reiterate that I only compiled this kernel to help ppl get installed for sata. Once you have installed it is up to you to get everything else working and if you noticed my 'DISCLAIMER' on the boot disk it says to immediately get a new kernel and compile it once you are installed.

I am making a boot kernel for the 2.4 kernel which will support sata and that way new users who are installing should find that it will load your modules. Be watching for a msg or something.

** Hmm aren't we near the million mark on posts? and i think my date for the contest is right around now? hmmmmm

bonecrusher, glad to see you are working on a 2.4 kernel. could you compile in umsdos support please?

will do.. i will let you know by email.
-bc

Hi there,

Still having problem with satavia.i
I have an Abit KV7 (KT600 Chipset) mobo with a S-ATA Maxtor Diamond 80Gb (don't remember the model).
this is the problem:

first i create the floppyes and all works fine
-satabare.i (first)
-install.1
-install.2
The kernel found the HDD and Slack was successfully installed. Trouble with LILO, can't install it due to strange Error (no particular messages).
The HDD was seen as hde not sda (is it right or not?)

I thoght the problems with LILO was because of the kernel version, so i tried the second time with the -satavia.i image, but still see the HD as hde and always having problem with LILO.

Is it possible that the problem is caused by another IDE HD I had in my system?

Thank you all.

PS: sorry for my little english, italian here ^^

I see ppl having these come up as HDx devices but I am not sure why. On the other hand many have had no problems and it came up correctly as the SDx device. And yes. It should come up as a SCSI device. (sda sdb etc) not hde. Not sure how you ended up installing or what drive it went to. After doing some looking it would seem the drive can come up as an IDE device(on the via8237 chipsets), but you will have nothing but trouble afterwards. (At least in most cases...)
You have supplied to little info on it. I looked and found out the chipset (VIA8237 ugg!). I need the partitioning info and what letter it showed up as when you partitioned. You need to tell me a little more I guess is the bottom line here.

I have searched (googled) for sata via 8237 and it is looking grim. No one can seem to get it to work. Some posts mention disabling 'APIC' in the kernel others 'ACPI' I dunno. It isn't looking good for you VIA8237 folks, though. I found a link on linux .iso that may help someone?
http://www.linuxiso.org/forums/viewt...+sata&start=45
Look at the last post or so. There is my post of my 'satabare' kernel boot, and then one posting an .iso image. I don't have the room to d/load it right now and test it, but I am giving props where they are due. If that doesn't work, I am not sure what to tell you guys with VIA82's. I do know that my system is working perfectly. (It sees a IDE drive and my boot drive which is a Intel ICH5 Sata chipset. (Asus). The sata drive comes up as a scsi device. (sda6 as a matter of fact...) (sda1 is winxp) ... I do remember my drive being recognized as hdg when I orginally tried to boot with the slackware 9.1 ISO boot disk, but then it would lock up. (bare.i) ... The guy who posted the .iso mentioned above said he got his ich5 working simply by booting the scsi kernel on the Slackware CD. I dunno about all that but....Well I will continue some research into this and let you know. But if I were someone doing research into what sata chipset to get for a linux install I would definitely buy the Intel flavor. (ICH5) It works!

-bc

Here it is...

Unfortunately it's a dual boot system with Windows XP intalled (of course i needed SATA drivers to install it).

I guess you need the SATA HDD infos.
In order:
Primary partition (C NTFS 15Gb
Extended partition
(Windows System)
--D: FAT32 4Gb
--E: NTFS 20Gb
--F: NTFS 4Gb
(GNU/Linux System)
--/boot Ext3 100 Mb
--Swap LinuxSwap 512 Mb
--/ Ext3 34 Gb

Don't know the number of the partition Linux gives.
It sees (when installing) root part as hde9 (if i'm not wrong). By the way I'll take a while to check it out whith GNU/Linux's fdisk util.
I'm back in a hurry

Ty bonecrusher

i simply downloaded 2.6.7, compiled...
sata supported, my onboard ethernet supported
seems all going be ok

special thanks for your satabare.i - the only way i found to install slackware on my sataraid...

Good news! Glad to hear it and glad I could help you. Of course you have an Intel chipset like me, as mentioned above in the post before. Now if you had a VIA8237 I would be really impressed

-bc

It should probably see your root drive (Linux that is) as sda9 ( Drive c:= sda1 d:= (ext part.) (sda6) e:=sda7 f:=sda8 and of course your root as the next one at sda9. Your boot should be sda10 (or in hex sdaa) and /swap as sdab or sda11... When you can get it to show up as these drive letters.. (I may be wrong on a couple of counts, but overall this is how it should look)- you will probably have it working right. I know (as I mentioned above) that some ppl have been getting the via booted up as an HD device, but I am pretty sure this isn'/t right. (if you look at the libata patch on www.kernel.org that is the foundation of the sata drivers, you will see that he is trying to get any sata drives to come up as a scsi device...) -or so it would appear to me and I amnot a ansi C pro by any means... But then again he has Via 8237 written into the code and it isn't working like it should. So I dunno. BTW the libata files can be found HERE. These drivers are by Jeff Garzik. I know that Slackware v10.0 is about to be coming out soon. (Maybe about a month hopefully) and I am sure he is probably waiting for a stable sata release as well as the X11 stuff to calm down. I have read that Patrick usaually releases every 6 months or so, so we are definitely due for another one. When v10 does come out hopefully all these subjects will be addressed? We will see. I can only tell you that via8237 has problems right now. You can try searching the Internet for something workable, but I dunno why it won't work for you guys. I originally tested my boot disk on a friends computer which supposedly had Via chipset, and it worked, but he is gone now and I have no way of examining what really happened?
Well good luck and I wish I could tell you where to go/what to try next, but not sure-don't give up though!

-bc