sata driver, driving me mad
 

Been having problems installing red hat 7.

I think I encountered a similar problem when I first tried to install windows xp a year ago, back then, the installation program couldn't find my hard drives, but I realised I needed to insert the floppy with the 3rd party sata drivers, problem solved... This time with red hat (got a book with version 7 from the library, however a couple of years out of date now) seems to work up until it's time to choose what type of installation.

The exact error is:

An error has occurred - no valid devices were found on which to create new filesystems. Please check your hardware for the cause of this problem.


The Cd which came with my motherboard, contain the appropriate drivers for a variety of windows os but that's it.

My 2 questions are, firstly am I barking up the right tree (it just doesn't recognise my raid configuration)? And secondly if that is the problem how do I fix it, I've already tried to download red hat sata driver, in a blind fashion, and put them on a floppy, during the first installation screen I type in the linux dd then press enter, the drivers are not recognised, so either they are the wrong ones or I am doing somethin (if not many things) wrong.


Any help sincerely appreciated.

You are definitely barking up the right tree. I've seen this problem before, especially with SATA RAID. I would *STRONGLY* encourage you to grab a newer distribution than RH7 and use it: it will have MANY drivers not in the RH7 installer.

Does it have to be RH7? There is a good chance that your hardware will be better supported by RH9 or Fedora Core 3. Does Red Hat still support version 7? If not, a recent distro will also be more secure.
Alan

Fedora core 3 will work fine.

Thanks for the responses.

I actually have had so many problems with my pc, that I am prepared for an initial bumpy ride with installing linux too.

I suppose I'm going to ask the same question I've seen posted elsewhere but hoping for different response (i.e. a consensus) :
'Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.' - Einstein

But which distro should I start with?

The advice I got from an online shop for linux Cds, suggested Mandrake,
Suse and Fedora Core.

Do I need all 3???

I had my pc custom made (i.e. just went to the shop with a wad of cash, not knowing my arse from my elbow) but ended up with a system that has many faults, I don't recomment the matrox g550 dual head graphics card, boy has that caused me problems. M-audio 2496 is a dream for the price, although I've not used it on linux so drivers may be an issue again.

Any comments, crits welcome and appreciated

Well, picking the right distribution is a lot like ancient warriers choosing a sword. You had to try many to find one that fits for you. However, I think "popular" distributions are good for those new to Linux, as it gives them a better basis for finding support.

I can give you a laundry list of distributions I think suit those new to Linux well, but it's pretty much the big ones: Debian, Mandrake, Suse, Gentoo, and Fedora (if I left someone out, sorry). I personally use Gentoo because it has the feel I want and the software I want.