Installing drivers for a HD controller
 

I need to install a hard drive controller on Suse 10.1. (Highpoint rocketraid 2220) The mfr. link provides modules, source and instructions.

When I try to insmod the provided suse module I get a "-1 invalid module" error. I assume this means they are no good with my setup and I have to use the source. Yast is worthless as it only shows me the generic sata_mv module which doesn't work.

So from what I can tell, I can use the source to patch the kernel or make a module. I don't care which as long as it works. When I try to make the module, it needs to know where config, version.h, and autoconf.h are. The readme suggests I look in /boot, but they ain't there. When I try to patch the kernal, it also wants a "full kernel source tree" whatever that means.

I am new to linux (aside from the hours I've spent trying to understand this situation) and my patience is running thin with this super-easy operating system. If I can't get this working then my new array will be NTFS. Please help me out here.


Some information:
# uname -r
2.6.16.13-4-default


# /sbin/lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133] (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133 AGP]
00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super South] (rev 40)
00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:07.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 1a)
00:07.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 1a)
00:07.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super ACPI] (rev 40)
00:07.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
00:09.0 Ethernet controller: Linksys NC100 Network Everywhere Fast Ethernet 10/100 (rev 11)
00:0a.0 Mass storage controller: Silicon Image, Inc. SiI 3112 [SATALink/SATARaid] Serial ATA Controller (rev 02)
00:0c.0 SCSI storage controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. MV88SX6081 8-port SATA II PCI-X Controller (rev 07)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] (rev a1)

Notice how the SATAII controller is not identified correctly.

Nearly all modules have to be built for a specfic kernel. So unless you are using the same version as the one the module was built with it won't work.

They are in the boot folder in the source that the kernel was built with.

This is as it says the source that the kernel was built from. This method would patch whichever compatible kernel source with the correct information for the hardware.

I would suggest that you read this to understand how to build a custom kernel http://www.digitalhermit.com/linux/K...ild-HOWTO.html

:)

Each distribution either comes with the kernel source installed by default, or provides a way of installing it later. I believe SuSE does the latter. Look for a package in your package utility (whatever that may be) called kernel-source (or something similar). If multiple versions of the kernel are available, you want the one closest to and with the same version number as the output from uname.

SuSE probably provides instructions describing how to do this.

Once the kernel source is installed, your module will compile cleanly and easily.

I'd recommend compiling the module as opposed to patching the kernel. It is possible that their patch will not apply cleanly, since they produced it for a different kernel version. Compiling the module, on the other hand, will work with any 2.6.X kernel.

Well, zhangmaike's advice was on the money. After installing 200+ MB of source I was able to compile and install the driver. But it still wasnt working, getting all kinds of timeouts and errors on booting. Plus my drive cage alarm was screaming its head off. So I ghosted back my windows and had the thing installed and working in a few minutes. I'll say nothing more but it should be clear where my loyalties lie at this point.