I use the 2.4.x kernel in Slackware 10.x. I use older hardware. In my boxes I have only two IDE controllers, IDE0 and IDE1.

When booting the kernel reports:

ide2: ports already in use, skipping probe

The message is non fatal, but distracting. The IDE2 port cannot be in use because I don't have any.

Surfing the web helped me discover the boot option parameter of ide2=noprobe. I added that option in my boot loader configuration and dmesg no longer shows any messages about IDE2. Nice.

Seeing as this boot option suppresses the dmesg "error," when compiling a new kernel is there a way to configure for ignoring IDE2? I do not see any such option, but I will never claim to be a kernel expert. Possibly the option exists. Yes, I can live with the boot option parameter. I'm just wondering while I am tinkering with some kernel compiling.

Thanks.

I have a motherboard where IDE0 will not work with Slackware,
but it will work with Windows. I, also, would not claim to be
a kernel expert, but afaik there is nothing in the kernel to
single out one port on the IDE controller. Both IDE0 and IDE1
are on the same bus.

And btw -- I enjoy your Slackware Desktop Enhancement Guide.

Fascinating. But that explains the purpose of the noprobe boot parameter.

I pretty much guessed the same. I simply was curious that because there existed this specific boot parameter whether there also existed a kernel config option when compiling.

Hey you guys, so how did you fix "ide2 ports already in use, skipping probe" problem??
what seems to be the problem? is it my IDE drive, my Debian Linux is too old or?

I am new to Linux and I just try to install the Debian 3.0 Kernel 2.2.20....

Can any of you guide me through it?

As in Woodsman's first post here, there is no total 'fix' it seems, but there IS a way to suppress the error/warning message.
The line "ide2=noprobe" would be placed in your etc/lilo.conf file as an append, either near the start of the file, or in the image section of the image you boot.
It is not your drive, or the age of your Debian, but merely the fact that the limited number of ide busses is not specifically addressable in the compile options for the kernel.
Hope that clarifies it a little bit for you huangzen
SV
PS- as always after editing or working on LILO, run lilo in a command console when you are done to make sure it reconfigures itself with no errors.
NOTE: My instructions are for LILO bootloader, but surely there is a near identical method for if you use GRUB instead.