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Old 10-20-2004, 02:17 PM   #1
abunn
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Registered: Apr 2001
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FastTrak Raid causing Buffer I/O Error on fresh FC2 install on a separate IDE drive


After much consultation, I installed FC2 onto a separate IDE drive in a Dell Precision 450 with a Promise FastTrak SATA150 TX2 RAID on it. The RAID has two SCSI drives and boots up XP SP2 just fine.

The install went fine (at least, it appeared to go fine). To boot to Fedora I entered setup and changed the Hard Drive Sequence so that the BIOS defaults to “System BIOS Boot Devices” instead of the RAID which is labeled as “FT S150 TX” in the menu.

But then when Fedora is booting it pauses for some time (30 seconds) after
“Enabling Swap Space [OK]”
and proceeds to spew a screen-load of bad stuff
“Buffer I/O error in dev sda2, logical block blah blah”

I imagine, in my noob way, that this is Fedora crapping itself when it hits the RAID. Correct? What can I do about this? Is there a way to disable the FastTrak BIOS in setup? I don’t need Fedora to know anything about those disks.

Perhaps more importantly, CAN FEDORA HURT THE RAID DISKS?

Thanks for any insight.

-Andy

PS – Go Sox!
 
Old 10-20-2004, 11:14 PM   #2
finegan
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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Distribution: Slackware
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It would be easier if I knew what module FC2 is loading to try and support the FT S150 TX. After FC2 has booted, check:

/sbin/lsmod

To see what modules are loaded and post back with the whole list. My guess is sata_promise.ko, but that's a guess. You can then either remove that module entirely... and this is hoping that it is a module, or recompile the kernel around it even having support for the FastTrak in the first place.

Most likely, since FC isn't mounting the disks at all, just trying to queue them, no, its not doing any damage, but the kernel maintainers pretty much gave up on these pseudo-hardware RAID cards, especially if we're talking Raid1 or Raid0, where software raid is safer, more reliable, and yes... faster. If its Raid1, it might deparrallelize the array and require a rebuild, annoying enough without XP's quirkiness to add into the mix.

Cheers,

Finegan

P.S. - Go Yankees
 
Old 10-21-2004, 07:54 AM   #3
abunn
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Registered: Apr 2001
Posts: 7

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I've never given FC2 time to boot...

After the Buffer Error the machine hangs for a pretty good spell. I've never let it continue to spin and see if FC2 shows up. I suppose I could boot from the rescue disk and get check it out that way.

What about this?

Disconnecting the RAID drives from the card and remove the drivers when Kudzu runs on bootup. Then I can power down, reconnect the RAID, reboot to linux and tell kudzu to ignore the new drives. Should that work?

Thanks, Andy

PS - What a series, huh?
 
Old 10-21-2004, 12:22 PM   #4
abunn
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Registered: Apr 2001
Posts: 7

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That worked (solved)

That worked on a fresh install. Thanks for your time.

-Andy
 
  


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