Sorry, I was away busy with other things for about a month, so I lost track of what's where. I can't find the link to the gzipped tar file. And I remember you mentioned that all this would only work for an AMD machine and I have an Intel on this box. So I would still need to compile, don't I?
Anyway, so basically my action plan should be (please confirm):
1. Unzip/untar the kenel file.
2. Move teh resulting file to /???/???
3. Run make?
4. At what point the HP driver comes into the picture?
5. At what point the compilation process is over?
Regards.

http://www.terra.es/personal2/capullator/
http://www.clockwatching.net/~fin/ra...at8_hpt372.tgz
(mirror provided by finegan :P)

1) Extract the files inside: install_redhat8_hpt372.tgz you will get a boot disk to install redhat. Check the readme file for further info,...
2) In your case you will need to change ALL the "post install" procedure :P, ... you must compile your own kernel instead of overwriting the original one,...
3) edit your /usr/src/linux/drivers/ide-pci.c and drop the lines:
copy the /boot/config-... to .config inside the kernel source dir.

make menuconfig -> disable de hpt support (inside ata)

compile and install the kernel,...
compile the highpoint driver with the gcc3 cheat,...
mount your initial ramdisk partition and copy your hpt37x2.o inside at /lib
add an "insmod" inside the linuxrc from the initial ramdisk,...
unmount your initial ramdisk,...

1. Boot from the boot disk you created. Do I really need to boot from it - I already have a RedHat 7.3 running on HighPoint 370 RAID 0 - can't I just boot from it and compile a new kernel with the new driver support, what do you think?
2. Say No to the prompt "Do you have a driver disk"
3. Open another terminal (Alt+F2)
4. Run /bin/insmod /modules/hpt37x2.o. I understand I should build my own driver - make KERNELDIR=/usr/src/linux-2.4.18-14 or can I use yours? Mine is an Intel machine.
5. Get back to the original terminal window?
6. Is this where I should supposedly start compiling the RH 8.0 kernel? It sounds like I should already have a compiled kernel at this point. The HighPoint readme says I should "install" (compile?) my new kernel first, then remove the necessary lines from /usr/src/drivers/ide/ide-pci.c, and then "rebuild" (recompile?) the kernel. Now this part is a bit confusing.
7. Also ,compiling the kernel involves the following:
- cd /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS
- rpm -i kernel-source-2.4.18-14.i386.rpm. Do I need any other files?
- cd /usr/src/linux
- make xconfig
- insmod - this is where I should take care of this driver?
- make dep
- make clean
What and at which point do I copy to the /boot?

Yep you can,...
The instaler kernel works in an i586, ... no problem here
Not needed, ... While you are doing the "/bin/insmod /modules/hpt37x2.o" the installer is detecting your monitor, hd drives, ... (so go as fast as you can), .... and then, ... the graphical mode will popup automatically.
You must compile / change the kernel at the last part of the installation, ... (when it ask for reboot)
(Yep, ... but you can do this inside the installer)
(Remember to modify ide-pci.c here)
No, ... copy your /boot/config-2.4.18-14?????' to /usr/src/linux/.config
- make menuconfig
(disable the hpt* support inside IDE and save the changes)
modify the Makefile (drop "custom" in the kernel version)
No, ... forget the insmod
- make

Here you have an "/usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage"
NOW Copy /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage to /boot/vmlinuz-2.4?????????

NOW compile the driver and copy htp37x2.o to /lib/modules/2.4????/kernel/drivers/scsi and run (depmod -a)

run
/sbin/mkinitrd -f --preload scsi_mod --preload sd_mod --preload ext3 --preload hpt37x2 --with=hptraid /boot/initrd-2.4????????.img 2.4????????

(note that ???? is not ???? exactly :P)

run lilo if you use lilo and reboot,...

hello,

I read the whole thread and I used some tricks you wrote.
now my RedHat 7.1 runs and allows me to mount my HDD's which are attached to the hpt-controller.

the only problem is that I have to connect my linux-HDD to the mainboards primary (or secondary) ide-interface to boot linux.

I used the manual given by RedHat to compile a new kernel (it's now about 900k)...I hope I did it right (it showed no erros during the compilation) but it didn't work.

my linux partition is the second one on the HDD, the first one is a windows-partition with about 18gig...so Linux gets the last 2.1gig of the HDD.
that's why I have to use Loadlin to boot up Linux or I use a boot-disc.
but I prefer to boot with Loadlin.

so my question is: can I load the needed hpt-module with Loadlin so that Linux boots from the proper recognized HDD attached to the hpt-controller ?

hope anyone can help me out...cause I hate it to plug and unplug the HDD everytime I want to use Linux.

Thanks,
Mercenary

You can use lilo installed in the mbr to load windows or linux without any problem.

Well, ... i think that is really easy (but had never work with loadlin), ...

boot with your loadlin ( LOL ) and go to /boot
copy your vmlinuz and initrd files (compiled to support the hpt driver and with hpt37x2.o inside the initrd as the highpoint manual says ) to your loadlin directory overwriting the old initrd and vmlinuz files.

ok...thanks for writing something back...

the problem is I can't use LILO 'cause the Linux-partition is behind some size that LILO can't access...I don't know if a newer version of LILO can...
in the other way I don't want to use LILO.

well...the second problem I have is that I don't have any initrd.img file in my /boot directory...I think it's due to I don't installed LILO...but I don't know exactly...

when I use the kernel I made with help of the RedHat manual, the system halts with "booting linux...uncompressin kernel..." (something in that way).

the commands I used with loadlin is:
"Loadlin vmlinu~1.hpt root=/dev/sda2 ro init=initrd.img"

vmlinu~1.hpt is the new 924k big kernel file I created, /dev/sda2 is the ext2 partition of my linux...

I guess the main problem is that the kernel isn't the correct one, I think it doesn't load the needed hpt37x2.o module.

the manual says I have to insmod something into the initrd oder linuxrc or something like that...but i haven't any file or directory called linuxrc or initrd (maybe due to I don't have installed LILO).

maybe you can describe it a bit more exact for a dummy like me...


Thanks,
Mercenary

Copy your new hpt37x2.o to /lib/modules/<your kernel version here>/kernel/drivers/scsi

You can create a new initrd with this command:

/sbin/mkinitrd -f --preload scsi_mod --preload sd_mod --preload ext3 --with=hpt37x2 --fstab=/etc/fstab.new /boot/initrd-<your kernel version here>.img <your kernel version here>
"<your kernel version here>"="2.4.19" (sample :P)

(The changes of the linuxrc inside the initrd are ok if you do this)


Probably because you don't have an initrd.

initrd.img exist in your DOS drive?

The initrd is a ext2 partition inside a file. (and then compressed with gzip)
This partition contains the 1st script and modules loaded in the startup.
As you say:"Loadlin vmlinu~1.hpt root=/dev/sda2 ro init=initrd.img" probably "initrd.img" probably the file initrd.img is not in /dev/sda2, ... i think that this file is exactly in the same directory that loadlin.

Once you load linux you can see what is iniside initrd.img if you do this:

mkdir temp
cd temp
zcat ../initrd.img > init
mkdir mountdir
mount init mountdir -o loop
cd mount
/*** here you can do what you need with initrd. ***/
/*** linuxrc is HERE!. ***/
/*** the modules loaded inside linuxrc goes in ./lib ***/
cd ..
umount mountdir
gzip init
mv init ../initrd.img
/*** now you can drop temp if you want. ***/

Hello sharky,
I am considering installing RH8 on my KG7-RAID mb w/HPT370. I have read all the discussions here - quite a lot of reading! You mentioned that there may be support for HPT370/372 start with kernel version 2.4.21. I have been looking at kernel.org but it doesn't seem that there is support even then or even 2.5.8. I still only see HPT344 and HPT366 but nothing like HPT37x. Do you know if they are still planning to incorporate support in the kernel for HPT37x? I would like to have support in kernel so I could update my machine with RPM later.

The HPT370 is supported with stock kernels back to 2.4.10, the hpt372 is still only in modules from Highpoint.

The 370 is just really an extension off of the 366 chipset.

Cheers,

Finegan

Thanks for your reply. If I am reading all these posts correctly it is true that HPT370 support is there but only as ATA100-IDE and not ATA100-RAID. So you can use your drives attached to the HPT370 as regular IDE drives but cannot set them up as RAID drives under the HPT370 controller. I also must have the RAID functionality as I also have W2K on this machine and I would like the HPT370 to handle all RAID functionality for both W2K and RH8 Linux. That is what I was hoping was buiilt into the newer kernels so that it would be upgradeable in the future via a regular RPM. Otherwise you will always have to compile your own kernel.

Regards,
Gerry Reno

Additional thoughts:
From what I can see regarding the HighPoint 'opensource' driver (that has BINARIES in it), unless HighPoint truly releases the source code so that things like the magic key and the RAID structure and signature are made available, we will probably never see support for the RAID functionality of HPT3xx drivers built into the kernels. This would mean that every HPT3xx owner would be forced to compile their own kernel all the time with every Linux release to have full support for their RAID controller. This would be too bad and would ultimately work against HighPoint and their HPT3xx controllers in the Linux market.

Regards,
Gerry Reno

yep, ... lots of companies do this.

But i think that this situation (hpt 370 and 372 raid) is near to end,... if the 2.4.19-ac4 have a raid working driver the oficial kernel will support us soon.

Now another question: ( if this is too far off-topic then please move this to its own topic - thanks)

In Linux the IDE drives are assigned device names as hda,hdb,hdc,hdd. With the HPT controllers being added to the mb's IDE controllers will this mean that there are more device names assigned like hde,hdf,hdg,hdh?

What happens if your RAID-1 array breaks mirror? Does this reallocate the device naming assignments? In other words if I have four drives setup in two arrays that appear to the system as hda and hdb when the mirrors breaks I would then have hda,hdb and hdc and hdd. Would this make the system not run properly from just a HPT mirror break?

In Windows I would always leave certain drive letters unassigned by specifically assigning the drive letters to each drive. That way if I put drives C: and D: into an array and drives E: and F: into an array it would not end up showing as drive C: and drive D: when mirrored but rather drive C: and drive E: (drive letter D: was skipped) so if the mirrors would break and the system was rebooted the drive letters for the running system would still be correct. Is this type of thing possible with RH8? Can I force device name assignments? This would be essential to prevent broken HPT mirrors from crippling the system. Otherwise the mount point assignments may be of incorrect capacity and fail.

Thoughts?

hda,hdb,hdc,hdd -> normal ide

hde,hdf,hdg,hdh -> raid ide

You must boot from /dev/hdXX instead of /dev/ataraid/dXpX

And change /etc/fstab once you boot if you mount more fs from your raid.


Probably it isn't automatic but, ... thats not a problem.