sorry again,

i mispelled the question.
I konw i can do eveything, even attach HD to hda, install..etc.
I would like to avoid that because i am bored.
They said the HPT372 worked with the MDK91, kernel but it was false.

well, the only think i would like to understand is why the installation
continues to say "this is not an ext2 floppy" when i try to pre-load the module in the "expert mode" even the floppy is formatted with EXT2 filesystem.

it never worked. Even with mdk8.2 or mkd9.0.

if you kwon where i am mistaking please help me.

thank you for your time.

Patton

>You can use the text mode console to mount the floppy and "insmod" >hpt37x2.o manually

>But,... if the system hangs up in the X configuration ... y think that's not an >array problem.

>Some debug about this?

well yes there is debug information( i will post as soon as pobbile)
but it is aboute the fact that HDE does not respond.

but i will post (i just need to get the debug file at home).

thanks

Humm,... thats true

Habe you any other linux rescue disk to try that?

This will work well:

http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/...86-1.4_rc3.iso

(~40 MB)

You can boot this and run the lspci.

I where testing the 1st CD of Mandrake 9.1 a few days ago. The kernel from the worked well,... but the installer droped some data at /dev/hde and/or /dev/hdg and my array broke.

About Mandrake 9.0 i made a boot disk some time ago,... with hpt37x2.o in the modules directory.

( http://www.terra.es/personal2/capullator/ )

(I had a similiar problem with the drivers disk, but don't remember)

With that disk the users must insmod manually:

# cd /modules
# modprobe sd_mod
# insmod_ hpt37x2.o

note the "_".

So try this ,...

In other way,... if you do this look if the installer goes slow. If you have this problem you will need to rebuild the install kernel. You can obtain the original information in the "BOOT" kernel rpm.

I don't rembember about Mandrake but in RedHat you must change the version of the kernel in the Makefile (redhat adds "custom" and you need to add "BOOT" at the kernel name's string).

Humm,... dma is bussy?

Well,... so you are true,... the only way will be the (sucking) scsi emulation driver from hpt (shit).

yes, DMA i busy
(GRRRRR i hate to loose time in this way.)

anyway, thnk a lot you for help.
Now i know that i must work hard on that in order to install the new DIST.

but another thing,

if i had a 2 disks RAID array i would never be able to install MDK91.
what do you think about that ?

somewhere there should be a solution.

Patton.

As I say you can build the kernel (from the rpm inside the mandrake 9.1 CD with the ".config" from the kernel-BOOT package from the same CD set) without hpt support + the highpoint cosed source driver.

Then put the "hpt37x2.o" inside a floopy,... mount it manually and insmod it manually.

Thats posible you will also need the "insmod" binary.

I'm sure that this way will work. (Is the way i use with MDK 9.0).

By now i have important data that can't be lost as 15 days ago

Sharky,

Thanks for posting your beta RH9 HPT boot fix. I tried it out this evening and I got the same problem as Tarkie - I only get a USB mass storage driver and that's it; after that my disk isn't recognized :-(

I have and adaptec 1200A with a HPT370 chipset with the latest adaptec drivers (I tried the HPT but they only worked so so for me)
Anybody else give these drivers a try with an add-on card?


D.D.

Read the #post 26

Sharky,

Thanks for all your help but I am having a little trouble with the last step.

I Ctrl-Alt-F2 to console and chroot /mnt/sysimage

but you wrote:

/sbin/mkinitrd -f --preload ataraid --preload ext3 --with=hptraid /boot/initrd-2.4.20-8athlon.img 2.4.20-8athlon

then you go to explain about the /boot/athlon statement, but in my /boot I have nothing that resembles initrd-2.4.20-8athlon, so I'm not sure what to replace it wit

Here is the contents of /boot:

System.map
System.map-2.4.20-8
boot.b
chain.b
config-2.4.20-8
grub (dir)
kernel.h
lost & found
message
message.ja
module-info
module-info-2.4.20-8
os2_d.b
vmlinux-2.4.20-8
vmlinuz (link)
vmlinuz-2.4.20-8

I am so close, it saw the 2 20GB drives as 1, I have them RAID 0 (stripe) on a HPT370 onboard controller.

Sharky,

Ok finaly got to do those commands and follow the flow through.

Mine points too:

0x1103 0x0005

whereas, yours points to:

0x1103 0x0004

What difference does that make?

hi all,

did you know that it is almost impossible to make a boot-floppy
from MDK9.1?
Well, the kernel is ~1250k and the initrd.img will be ~250k (after loading the hpt37x2.o module).
So they force you to recompile the kernel from scratch.

Really disappointing.



Patton

I've follows Sharkyr0lz's diagnostics, and have found the following differences:

Mine points too:

0x1103 0x0005

whereas, Sharkyr0lz's points to:

0x1103 0x0004

Should this matter? If it does matter whats the fix to get Redhat 9 to discover the RocketRAID 303 (HTP372A) card?

Redhat 9 - Installation on ataraid Part II (keeping M$ boot loader)

First, thanks to Sharky who compiled for us the hpt37x2.o driver.

My How-To in ten steps:

1 - boot from 1st floppy and specify at boot:

linux dd

Note:if your Raid Controller is external (not on the mb)
you might need to pass the
append="ide=reverse" parameter to the kernel so try

linux dd ide=reverse

2 - insert the 2nd floppy when asked (don't write-protect the floppy or it will not mount !) and install as usual.

3 - If you have a multi-boot M$ system do NOT install lilo to the MBR. Instead, install it in the boot partition (/dev/sda8 in my case).

3.1 - Ignore the warnings and click "continue".
3.2 - When asked to create a rescue boot floppy say NO

4 - at install end, when the CD is ejected, enter the shell with CTRL+ALT+F2 and type at prompt:

chroot /mnt/sysimage
su

5 - edit /etc/modules.conf and delete the first line referring to
hpt37x2

6 - Now you can create your initrd typing:

/sbin/mkinitrd -f --preload ataraid --with=hptraid /boot/initrd-2.4.20-8.img 2.4.20-8

7 - Open an editor and change the entries in /etc/fstab pointing
to /dev/sda e.g if you have /dev/sda8 you must change it to
/dev/ataraid/d0p8

8 - edit /etc/lilo.conf

8a - change the entries pointing to /dev/sda:
e.g. root=/dev/ataraid/d0p8

8b - If you have a multi-boot system and have NOT installed lilo on the MBR I suggest you to boot from the floppy for the first times so change the boot line as follows:

boot=/dev/fd0

8c - insert the line for initrd:
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.20-8.img

8d - change from linear to lba32

9 - insert a third floppy (label it "lilo boot floppy") and type

/sbin/lilo

10 - Reboot a couple of times...


Addendum:
^^^^^^^
The lilo shipped with Redhat 9 is old!

At reboot /sbin/lilo doesn't run anymore and you can only boot from the floppy created in the step 9 (or from the MBR if you installed it there, but I never tested it).

Do NOT upgrade your kernel to 2.4.20-9 with up2date before installing a new lilo. Remember: /sbin/lilo doesn't work!

So, find on the web the file lilo-22.5.1.tar.gz and overwrite your lilo installation (very simple, just "make" and "make install", do NOT run the script ./QuickInst).

Then insert your lilo boot floppy and type:

/sbin/lilo

Now reboot.
If all is ok you can finally change the boot= line in your lilo.conf and create with DD an image of the bootsector to be handled by the M$ bootloader:

having X your boot partition it should be

dd if=/dev/ataraid/d0pX of=/tmp/bootsec.lnx bs=512 count=1

Copy the file in the C:\ directory of your M$ system, open the file boot.ini and append the line

C:\bootsec.lnx="Redhat Linux 9"

That's all, I think !

Well,... i'm here again ( I were in a LAN Party this weekend ).

As i see that the floopies work for antvr (and he found some doc errors).

So,... i actually don't know why external hpt controlers doesn't work with this driver (i suggest ask about compatibility to the manufacturer).

I have 1 think on my mind: If you REALLY have an Highpoint 370 / 372 I.C., probably you can solve this upgrading your raid controler flash bios. (older bios does not support linux).

I will be ocuped for 2 days,... i will made some doc changes and upload the file again.

No,... i think that this is not the problem. Try upgrading your RocketRAID bios.

you might need to pass the
append="ide=reverse" parameter to the kernel for external cards.