need help with a RAID setup
 

Ok, I have done allot unfruitful research on this subject to no avail. I need some help here. I have a machine with 2 hardrives set up in a RAID 0 striped configuration on an onboard IDE ATA Promise Fastrak 100 controller. It has W2K and I want to install Linux on it and dual boot. I have tried Mandrake-- it gets confused and say it cannot read my partition tables, corruption, etc etc.... Knoppix does not recognize the arrary.... SuSe hangs...

I need a very easy to understand guide to install Linux on this machine. I don't want to move these drives off the controller and loose my current windoze install. It is finally somewhat stable and I just don't want to axe it until I am comfy enough to go Linux all the way.

So, could someone please help me here. I am not against using a different distro if it will allow me to use this controller as it is.

Thanks for any help!

ChrisK

I am using the promise tx2000 fasttrak raid controller on redhat 9. This works on redhat 8 as well. Only redhat is officially supported by Promise but that does not mean others wont work.

Goto

http://www.promise.com/support/downl...ry=driver&os=3

and download driver.

Then follow these instuctions which you can get from the same website:

PROMISE FastTrak Series Linux Driver
For Red Hat Linux 8.0/9
Version 1.03.0.1 [05/30/2003]

[INTRODUCTION]

1.1 Foreword

This procedure applies to all Promise FastTrak Series adapters and
onboard chipsets running under the RedHat Linux operating systems.
Do NOT use this procedure for other versions of Linux.

1.2 Support List

PDC20270 FastTrak 100 TX2
PDC20271 FastTrak TX2000
PDC20276 MBFastTrak133 Lite
PDC20277 SBFastTrak133 Lite
with
Red Hat 8.0 (kernel 2.4.18-14)
Red Hat 9 (kernel 2.4.20-8)

1.3 Prepare a Driver Diskette

You will use a diskette to load the new Linux driver onto your PC.

1) Obtain a new, formatted diskette and label it "FastTrak Driver Disk."
Insert it into your PC's floppy drive.

2) Extract the contents of the driver file you downloaded from the
Promise website onto your floppy disk. Use either WinZIP in Windows or
Unzip in Linux to extract the files.


[INSTALLATION]

2.1 To install the FastTrak Series Linux Driver into an EXISTING SYSTEM:

1.) Boot linux system and login as root.

2.) Insert FastTrak Driver Disk for install FastTrak Driver by issuing
commands :
# mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
# cd /mnt/floppy
# sh install (Answer Yes/No when inquire setup configuration)

You can answer Yes to bind FastTrak driver into linux booting.

# cd ..
# umount /dev/fd0

NOTE: Due to the Linux kernel misidentifying the FastTrak card, all IDE
channels except onboard IDE are disabled. To enable the other IDE channels,
remove the line "ide2=0 ide3=0 ide4=0 ide5=0 ide6=0 ide7=0 ide8=0 ide9=0"
in /etc/lilo.conf or /boot/grub/grub.conf.

3.) Reboot Red Hat linux system.


2.2 To install the FastTrak Series Linux Driver into a NEW SYSTEM

1.) Start the Red Hat Linux Installation with CD-ROM booting.

2.) At the "Welcome to Red Hat Linux ..." installation screen, a prompt
labeled "boot:" will appear at the bottom of the screen.

3.) Please append parameters (see Note 1 below) at the "boot:" prompt,
then press the Enter key.

4.) At the "Devices" dialog box, insert the FastTrak Driver Disk in the
floppy drive and then select "OK" or "Yes" to continue install.

5.) Enable "Configure advanced boot loader options" box at Boot Loader
Configuration menu, and type kernel parameters (see NOTE 2 below)
in the General kernel parameters field.

6.) Continue with the installation as normal.

7.) If the installer occur warning message about "The kernel was unable
to re-read the partition table on /dev/sd(x), (Device or resource
busy)...", Please do not click skip, just click Ignore bottom to
continue the install.

8.) Press Ctrl-Alt-F2 when installation at the "Congratulations" menu.

9.) Insert the FastTrak Driver Disk floppy, Issue commands to load FastTrak
driver.
# umount /tmp/fd0 (Just in case if RedHat forgot this)

# chroot /mnt/sysimage
# mount /dev/fd0 /mnt
(If USB Floppy, Please choose USB floppy device such as /dev/sdb)
# cd /mnt
# sh setup-ft

10.) Choose your selection here, after FastTrak driver setup successful.
# cd /
# umount /mnt
# exit

11.) Please press Ctrl-Alt-F7 and click "Exit" button to finish installation.


[NOTE]

Linux Kernels 2.4.x misidentiy Promise ATA-RAID controllers as simple
IDE controllers. This results in the built-in Linux IDE driver trying to
handle the controller and can prevent the proper FastTrak ATA RAID driver
from loading.
Follow the installation instructions AND the parameter commands referred
to below section. This status we called "IDE issue".

1.) "linux ide0=0x1f0,0x3f6,14 ide1=0x170,0x376,15 ide2=0 ide3=0 ide4=0
ide5=0 ide6=0 ide7=0 ide8=0 ide9=0 expert"

2.) "ide0=0x1f0,0x3f6,14 ide1=0x170,0x376,15 ide2=0 ide3=0 ide4=0 ide5=0
ide6=0 ide7=0 ide8=0 ide9=0"

3.) Occasionally, during bootup, you may see Unresolved Symbols, followed
by an OK or a FAILED. In either case, this is a cosmetic error and
does not affect RedHat Linux 7.3 or the FastTrak RAID Controller card.

4.) Rarely, during bootup, you may see a HUSH (humble shell) message. This
is also a cosmetic error and does not affect RedHat Linux 7.3 or the
FastTrak RAID Controller card.

5.) To see information on your array(s) and the Driver version number:

a. Launch your terminal emulation program.

b. Type "cat /proc/scsi/FastTrak/(x)" then press Enter, x is a SCSI
register number in your system.