Slackware install DVD/LiveCDs can't see SATA hard drives
 

[EDIT]The more I search on this problem, the more lost I am. Does anyone here know (or think they do) whether this is an issue of kernel support, needing a module, needing a driver, or what?

Whatever it is, I am still stuck with the issue of having a stock Slackware 12 install DVD with kernel 2.6.21. Though I can set my BIOS for Slack to detect the SATA hard disk, I still get an error during the setup at the point when I actually attempt install (see details below). If I should just use a different kernel available on the DVD, please let me know, because there is no option to list them all (it only gives a couple examples).

Will I be relegated to a network install? I'm trying to figure out what I should install before I even go that route. (That's assuming the install DVD will recognize my on-board Gigabit Ethernet, which Windows did not.)

Again, if there is some way I can download some driver and/or module to my laptop, then copy the ISO off my current DVD and somehow combine the whole thing to get a new, special DVD for my desktop, what is it?

Details on my problem below. Sorry so long. I'm off to school in a few minutes (will have to do my homework in class). Thanks for your patience.[/EDIT]

Hello. I did searches on this topic the day before yesterday, and the potential suggestions to solve this problem were all over the place and not very definite.

I have a Slackware 12 DVD (iso) with the 2.6.21 kernel and some LiveCDs with, I'm guessing, 2.4.x (Knoppix, another Knoppix put out with an O'Reilly "Knoppix Hacks" book, etc.), plus a Sabayon LiveCD (based off Gentoo).

I am trying to install Slackware 12 on a brand-new computer I built. This is my hardware:

• Motherboard: Gigabyte MA74GM-S2H with AM2/AM2+ socket, RTL on-board audio, ATI on-board video, 1 IDE interface, 6 SATA ports, RAID controller
• CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 2.7 GHz dual-core
• SATA DRIVE (master): Seagate 300 Barracuda (320GB, 7200rmp, NCQ)
• SATA DRIVE (slave): Seagate 300 Barracuda (500GB, 7200rmp, NCQ)
• IDE DVD DRIVE (master): Sony DVD R/RW Double Layer/Dual Layer 48x
• PSU: PC Power & Cooling S 610 PS 610W
• BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PC (Energy-star compliant)

All drives are correctly configured for master/slave and show up correctly in the BIOS. I installed one drive, wrote down the identifying number from the BIOS, then installed the other one, so I know which was which (they are similar models of similar capacities, so the numbers were very similar).

Slackware would not detect my SATA drives until I changed "OnChip SATA Type" to "AHCI" and "OnChip SATA Port 4/5 Type" to "As SATA Type". I am not using RAID. (The defaults are "Native IDE" (and "IDE" unchangeable).) Then Slackware correctly detected each drive and its size and I was able to partition both drives with fdisk.

However, while Slackware 12 setup detected my partitions correctly, as soon as I started the actual install, it said it couldn't read off the source disk, and that the files may be corrupt! But I know they are fine. I have installed several times on many computers with them (this laptop I am on included), and I actually have a 2nd DVD also...both get the source file error!

I would think that Slackware was getting the SATA and IDE confused, except that it so obviously can read off the DVD when it is booting!

So I tried using the WindowsXP CD (I have to install Windows for school, and also for now to access my compressed backups which I haven't seen for months). Maybe Slack will be less confused if it can see a partition and some OSs (long shot, but worth a try). Windows, however, does not recognize the SATA drive unless the settings for the SATA are at their defaults (Native IDE and IDE).

Without a bootable CD or DVD inserted, the AHCI/RAID controller seems to load before hardware detection is complete, or at least loads so fast that it interrupts the list of drives being output to the screen. To even enter BIOS setup I have to keep hitting "<del>" over and over so my keystroke gets detected at the right time, after the AHCI prints stuff to the screen and before BIOS gives me error message...whereas I have more time when AHCI controller is not activated.

So for Windows install, I changed them back. Windows recognized only the first 137GB of each drive (have to have SP1+ to see more, my CD is not). Created a 30GB partition, installed, patched, then was able to see the correct capacities and partitioned with windows (left the partitions for Linux unformatted).

Slack DVD still won't see the drives unless I change BIOS settings back again (AHCI and As SATA Type). OK. I look at the partitions in fdisk, which are correct, but get a warning that the partitions do not end on cylinders or something like that. Nevertheless, setup goes fine again until I actually start the install. So neither approach got me any further, but I don't want the partition/cylinder error, so I repeat the process, except I only use Windows to create the Windows partitions, and fdisk in Slackware to create the others. Of course I still get the source file error when I attempt to install Slackware.

As for bootable CDs, they have the same problems seeing hard drives as Slack. Both fdisk and cfdisk have this problem. I also have an MS-DOS (Win 98) floppy disk...DOS can see the disk and detects it as "large", of course. In fact, I was testing with DOS when I still had the original partitions created with Slack, and it had no problem seeing them all. That's not gonna help me install Slackware, though!

So, a couple of problems to sum up:

• Windows CD only boots if settings are "Native IDE" and "IDE".
• Slackware DVD only boots if settings are "AHCI" and "As SATA Type".
• The installed Windows OS only boots if settings are "Native IDE" and "IDE", or else I get an error.
• When Slackware DVD is able to boot, the setup program says it can't read the source files during the install and that the media may be corrupt, even though both DVDs are known good and work everywhere else.

Now, I did a search and everyone suggested entirely different approaches, and it may have been kernel-revision- or hardware-dependent. I cannot copy "lspci" since I can't install Slack, and anyway, when I am able to get Slack to see the hard disk, it cannot copy the source files from the DVD for the install.

I have kernel 2.6.21 and I think the kernel is up to 2.6.4 or 2.6.5 now. It looks like a new Slack is not yet released with this kernel.

I see a lot of questions and problems posted here, but no flurry of people saying, "I have the 2.6.5 kernel, no problems with SATA drives like earlier kernels!"

I am wondering if I should build a new kernel? If so, how do I make an install DVD with old Slackware DVD and new kernel? (I would have to make a DVD on my laptop and then create the DVD to use on my desktop.) Or is there some module I need to install? Something else I need to do?

Is the corrupted source file error during Slackware install a related issue? I can boot from it and perform other setup tasks up to that point, including series/package selection.

I don't want to enable RAID, just get my SATA drives working.



[EDIT] I only have 1 network connection right now, because my router is downstairs (where the lights don't work right now) and I have Powerline Ethernet upstairs, so I can connect my laptop or the new system, but not both at the same time.

If it will be necessary to have network support to fix any of this, however, I can dig out my old router and call the manufacturer to get them to do a factory reset and get rid of a forgotten password on it, and plug that into the Powerline Ethernet upstairs...then I can have my laptop and new desktop connected at the same time.

So if I need to do something like burn a couple CDs or put a different kernel on a CD, or get the kernel off the network, maybe that will work.

A note of warning, though: I have Gigabit Ethernet directly on the motherboard, not an Ethernet card. Windows XP wouldn't see a local connection until I installed the drivers off a CD that came with the motherboard.

I don't know if networking would even come into play here. But if I need to paste any output in this thread for any reason, I will. That's why I didn't post any lspci info here...if you still need it at all...again, it depends, do newer kernels resolve the SATA issue? (Newer than 2.6.21?)[/EDIT]

(bump)
I will check back in about 5 hours, when I get home from school.

Is RAID on the motherboard hardware or software RAID? (+ more questions)
 

I was only able to find the most basic information on raid, even from official sites (I discovered that raid is an Intel spec).

This is extremely confusing, because even from a site for one of the many drivers out there, I don't know what direction I should be going here. Here is one paragraph I found on http://linux-ata.org/features.html:

Note that the link there, which is just an FAQ on the same site, is referring to SATA cards. My SATA controller came with the motherboard, though now I am confused as to whether that is considered software or hardware raid. (In otherwords, does that use a ROM chip or is it built into the circuitry?) Also, elsewhere, I read AHCI and SATA can be the same controller/drive or separate controllers/drivers.

In any case, it's not going to help me get the install DVD working properly.

And is it really the ACHI/SATA controller causing the problem with the DVD drive, which is attached to the IDE interface? I have no way to test this for real, since I can't view the hard drives from the Slackware 12 DVD when the BIOS is set to Native IDE/IDE.

So, does anyone even have a clue what causes this?
Any way my Win 98 MS-DOS boot disk can help me?
Or even a Win 98 CD, or other Windows CD?

I haven't checked out the Win 98 CD yet, nor have I tested MS-DOS with any of the alternate BIOS settings. I will test those things, as well as network connectivity via the on-board Gigabit Ethernet and report back.

Then, I think I desperately need to go to bed, because I am horribly dizzy.

MS-DOS and LiveCD tests:
 

MS-DOS and BIOS settings for SATA/RAID

The FDISK tool in DOS can detect both hard drives with these settings enabled in the BIOS:

• OnChip SATA Type = Native IDE, OnChip SATA Port 4/5 Type = IDE (the only option with Native IDE)
• OnChip SATA Type = RAID, OnChip SATA Port 4/5 Type = RAID
• OnChip SATA Type = RAID, OnChip SATA Port 4/5 Type = As SATA Type

Using OnChip SATA Type = AHCI, with either "IDE" or "As SATA Type", DOS totally freezes after I answer the prompt to enable large disk support (and it doesn't matter if I answer "Y" or "N"). It becomes totally unresonsive to Ctrl+Alt+Del, and I have to use the reset button on the case.

To sum up, can't use the controller in AHCI mode. Can use it in RAID mode, or can not use it at all.

Networking with LivedCDs

Some prerequisite info...I cannot boot Sabayon live at all, because it freezes when it attempts to go into GUI mode. Text is only an option for the installing. As stated before, every one of my LiveCDs, plus the Slackware install DVD, will only recognize hard disks on AHCI/As SATA Type.

The live CDs only detect one interface...lo. Even with "ifconfig -a", lo is the only interface returned.

Also, when attempting the Slackware install, I tried passing pci=nomsi at boot (though that was intended just for RAID cards, I think), after seeing that on Intel's website. I also tried enabling RAID (without creating any RAID sets) to attempt to work around the (apparent) SATA/IDE conflict (same note as pci=nomsi). Nothing. RAID is described there as using some PCI-type commands, which is bizarre since RAID is not neccessarily using a PCI card, which is why I tried this 2 things.

What can I do?

I am thinking that whatever I need to do, I need to do on my laptop, which doesn't have a ton of room, and get onto a bootable DVD somehow. I have a 10G "/root" directory, which doesn't have documents because I used a custom "/etc/skel" with a link to a separate partition for this, and created this link in the /root partition also.

But I don't have a clue what it is I need. (Kernel, module, driver, whatever).

Does no one really know what causes this issue?

If anyone has had this problem and solved it, please try to explain.

What is the best authoring/burner utility for this (merge bootable OS w/new files to make new bootable OS)? I haven't used multimedia at all on Linux before...I always needed Windows for school, and since it was there, i already had a good (and free) burner that I downloaded. I've only really used Linux for documents.

Hi,

I recently built a ASUS M2N AM2+ with a AMD AtlonX2. I've installed both Slamd64 and Slackware® -current with no trouble. The SATA HDD was recognized along with the DVDs on the separate IDE channel.

If I have time tomorrow I'll load Slackware® 12.0 to see if that's a problem. I'll get back if there is a problem and how I solve it. To date I haven't had a problem with SATA and Slackware® 12.0 but most of those weren't smp.

BTW, did you look at your 'dmesg' output? You could try the Knoppix 5.3 to see if that will recognize your equipment. You can then see what is loading.

Hi onebuck,

Thanks for all those links. Some I already have, but some look new to me, I will check them out when I have time. More importantly, see if I can do "dmesg" from an install DVD.

Thanks, I would be interested to see what 12.0 does for you. I know "current" is experimental and that's why I haven't tried it. If I actually knew what it was specifically that my system needed (kernel, module, driver, etc.), I would feel more comfortable just making the needed change.

I will try the newer Knoppix, also, and see what happens with that. The Sabayon I tried was new, but that doesn't necessarily mean it uses the latest and greatest kernel, etc.

I am leaving the house now to do lab work at school, which means I probably won't post again until tonight or maybe tomorrow.

"dmesg" from Slackware 12.0 with "AHCI" and "As SATA Type"
 

Here is output of "dmesg" from the Slackware 12.0 install DVD,
with "AHCI" and "As SATA Type":

Keep in mind, since I have no Gigabit Ethernet from the DVD, and with no Linux installed, I wrote down by hand what seemed to be "relevant"...which I don't know except to say that anything concerning RAID, SATA, and IDE is relevant. I don't have SCSI devices, so I didn't know lines regarding SCSI *may or may not* be relevant...there are parts where it reports "sda" and "sdb" (my SATA drives) as "scsi device"! (Is this normal?) I saw SCSI drivers loaded far earlier and didn't write them down because I didn't think they were relevant, except to note that SCSI subsystem was used, in case that causes a conflict with something.

Remember, my major problem here seems to be that even when I can get the BIOS settings so that the Slackware DVD recognizes my SATA drives and can use "fdisk" on them, it can't install Slackware off the DVD because it reports files there as corrupt even though they are known good (used to install other systems, and this is true for 2 copies of the DVD).

Again, I have:

• 1 floppy drive (didn't write down anything about floppy)
• 1 IDE CD/DVD drive
• 2 SATA hard drives, 1 320GB, 1 500GB, both Seagate w/NCQ

Only other IRQs reported in "dmesg" at all did not conflict with these (14+16)...for example, I remember seeing 12, 18, 19, 20 (USB stuff, mostly).

Hi,

How do you have the dvd configured on the ide channel, master(single) or CS? I know the init recognizes the ide first /only device. Just curious about the setting.

I will try to load 12 on the AM2 boxen. I've been busy outside, possible rain Thursday so that will be my shop/lab work day.

BTW, do you have a flash that you can pipe the files/errors too?
I noticed you have a floppy, pipe the errors/files to that so you can provide all the information.

Slackware 13.0 and 13.1 since released
 

Hi Gary,

Sorry I never replied. I meant to get back to this when I had time (finals, etc), but just got too busy and just continued using WinXP on the homebuilt. Really forgot about posting here.

This past winter my motherboard died. I have to replace it but have had too much going on...like needing a new car...to bother. Which is too bad, because my other computers (12+ years old) are just fine, but I want a modern box for editing video. So my homebuilt is just waiting for me to replace that motherboard!

Since then, Slackware 13.0 and 13.1 have been released, so I see no sense in pursuing this. Whenever I get my box up and running again, I'll see what happens with those.