Linux will not install with SATA
 

I built the follwing rig:

Soltek QBIC EQ3401a(i865G)
2.8Ghz Pentium4 w/AVC Sunflower II
1GB Corsair XMS2700 Low-Latency
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
SB Audigy LS
Maxtor 160GB SATA-150 8mb cache
Maxtor 120GB Ultra133 8mb cache
Liteon 4x DVD+R/+RW
Liteon 16x DVDROM
Logitech MX500 mouse/Logitech Elite keyboard
Logitech Z560 400W THX sound system
Samsung 191T 19" flat panel

I can run Knoppix from the bootable CD, or at least I could untill I installed the HD's.

Now Knoppix will not load, nor will ANY of the latest Linux distros will even load, they all bomb during the hardware scan.

Cannot get a single distro(Suse 9, Fedora, Mandrake 9.2, Lycoris 3, Knoppix) to install, can't get past the first screen or two after booting up... get to the EULA and that's it.

Tried every BIOS setting, latest BIOS installed, can't figure it out. Knoppix runs fine with no HD installed in the system, once the HD's went in, no Linux.

The 120GB drive is the IDE drive and I use that for backups and storage. I boot off of the 160GB SATA drive, with 100GB partitioned for WinXP Pro, and the remaining 60GB for a network share or Linux or whatever... I use NTFS on all drives.

This problem is similar to when I had an i845G and an i845PE board and used either the onboard Highpoint RAID controller for extra IDE channels, or a Promise Ultra133 PCI controller card. Linux refused to install, would always hardlock during the hardware scan.

I had a similar problem when I first got an R9700 Pro... Linux would not install, I had to take the card out and load Linux with an older video card or use the i845G onboard video and then switch over once it was installed and running.

And it appears that I have a similar problem with this SATA controller.

The problem is that now it is not a 3rd party controller, it is part of my chipset, and I need it, and there is no floppy drive or even DOS or Linux drivers that I could put on a floppy even if that was an option...

I need to install Linux to the SATA drive, and if the SATA drive is in the machine, the system will not install Linux or even run a bootable ISO like Knoppix.

I was so happy with Knoppix, as when I built this new box, the HD's were not here yet, and so I wanted to test the system out and I put the Knoppix CD in and it booted right up, got me on the net and stuff, it was kickass.

Then I put the HD's in and now Linux $hits the bed... LOL

I mean, it is not like I have some obscure goofy hardware, I have an Intel chipset with native SATA support, and a pair of Maxtor HD's, one IDE and one SATA, and common peripherals.

Any idears? I have tried everything that my newbie- myself and some of my more Linux-knowing buddies have can think of, to no avail.

TIA!

Off the top of your head: Do you know
which kernel versions those are using?

Looks like support for i865G is available
for kernels >= 2.4.21 ...


Cheers,
Tink

No, unfortunately I don't, I just know that they are the latest ISO downloads of Suse, Mandrake, Fedora, Lycoris and of course Knoppix.

I say gave Red Hat Linux 9.0 a try. I used it and it did recognize my SATA correctly. I have Asus' A7N8X Deluxe version with Sillion Image Controller. What kind controller do you have for Serial ATA ?

Read his original post mate...

Intel i865G


Cheers,
Tink

I have a system with Serial ATA (SATA) from Seagate -120GB (Dell Precision system) and I could not install Linux in this box yet. I browsed through some of the mailing lists and tried few distributions.

I tried RH-9.0, but my hard disk was not detected for installation.

The driver seems to be included with kernel 2.4.22 onwards and Fodera distributions has the supported kernel. I tried Fodera, the hard disk was detected (but the installation was frozen when I chose graphical installation, so I used text installation) and I could partition the drive (80G for Windows and the last 40G for Linux). Towards the end of copying the image to hard disk I got this error "not enough disk space"!

I tried Ark distribution which also has the supported kernel, but got the error "not enough disk space"!

Jaya

So it seems to be a limitation of the current Linux kernel then?

Great, this happens every time... I upgrade every six months like clockwork, and it takes Linux like 8 months to catch up with the hardware support... LOL

Back to the drawing board, mates.... sigh...

I'll have your "old" board, then ;)

/me 's main workstation is a Athlon 600 :D

Cheers,
Tink

The good news is I could install Fedora in my Dell Precision system with SATA after some more effort :p

The problem that I faced previously was that the installation used to fail while transferring image to the hard disk. There is an FAQ related to this, http://fedora.artoo.net/faq/#IntelD845. I used the option 'allowcddma' and it worked.

Jaya

i'm using redhat 9 and booting from a WD Raptor (a SATA drive) the only way i know of to install linux (or atleast the way i did it) is to boot into what's called "Legacy Mode" where your BIOS simulates PATA on your SATA hard drive, and once you install linux, you must download and compile a new kernel (i'm using the 2.4.23)

a good site that i used to complie my own kerenel was

http://komnas.com/~ashamril/tips/vie....php?id_no=150

the only problems i have now are with the sound and USB mouse modules not loading, but i'm researching that.....

Hoped i helped

I have not try putting LINUX on another controller before but below is steps that I might use.

Boot into Windows and make a boot disk. Power down the computer. While the computer is off, disconnect the power and SATA cable from the drive. Also plug in a temp PATA hard drive. The temp hard drive will be use to transfer the files to the SATA hard drive, so plan how many partitions you want. Turn on your computer. Go into your BIOS and disable SATA controller. Insert your desire LINUX distribution and install it on the PATA hard drive. After installation is complete, test LINUX that it boots and reboots correctly. Download the SATA drivers and install them. Modify your modules.conf file to load up the SATA drivers and then reboot. Upon reboot go into your BIOS and enable your SATA. Yes, no hard drive is connected to the SATA controller yet. This is to see if LINUX boots up correctly with the SATA controller. If it does correctly boot into linux, power down your computer and connect your SATA hard drive. Power up your computer again and try mounting your NTFS partition as read-only of course. If you see your files then its working. Next its time to make a boot disk, partitioning the usused portion of your hard drive, and create a ramdisk image that includes your SATA driver assuming the kernel supports loop device. Make a boot disk and test it. Then partition your hard drive and format so it looks like your temp hard drive. Boot into single user mode and mount the SATA. Then use the cp command with perserve and staying within a file system arguments (aka options) to copy your files from your temp hard drive to the SATA hard drive. After copying is complete and have edited fstab, power down your computer and disconnect the temp hard drive. You may want to add another entry in your boot loader on the temp hard drive to boot to the LINUX drive just in case your boot disk does not work. Power up your computer and use the LINUX boot disk to go into LINUX. If the LINUX boot disk does not work use the temp hard drive to boot to your SATA hard drive.

I'm not liable if you have damage your files from the above steps. I suggest backing up your files before starting the steps that I gave you.