Slack 13 doesn't see hard drives
 

Hi,
I have been a Slackware user since v2.2, circa 1995. I was excited to install Slack 13 on my "main" Linux box last fall, but the installation kernel (huge.s) could only see one of my four hard drives, as indicated by 'fdisk -l'. I don't have that problem on this machine with Slack 12.2 and previous. So I decided to keep running 12.2, and put off figuring out the problem until sometime later. Well, now is later.

So is this a common problem? I haven't been able to find anyone else talking about it. I didn't want to bore you with all of my system details in this first post, but will if requested.

Thanks.

There is really nothing anyone can suggest without information about your hardware...so it is kind of important that you give as much detail as you can.

It is certainly not a common problem, and must be due to some specific combination of hardware on your machine.

Thanks, I was hoping for a quick fix, but if this is not a common problem, that's not likely. I just noticed the hugesmp.s kernel in the Slack13 tree (as opposed to the huge.s kernel which I tried to install with). If that doesn't solve my problem I will get back to you with the system details. Thanks.

OK, here is my system info:

Motherboard: ASUS A8V-X
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3800+
Hard Drives: Four total — All Hitachi Deskstar
1. HDT725032VLAT80 320GB ATA/IDE
2. HDS721616PLA380 164GB SATA
3. HDS725050KLA360 500GB SATA
4. Same as 3.
Optical Drive: TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223F
Video: PNY NVidia Geforce 6200
Floppy Drive: ?
Memory: 3GB

The Slack13 install kernel (huge.s) doesn't see any of my SATA drives, but does see the IDE drive.
During kernel startup, I get messages like the following:

...
ata1.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xec)
ata1.00: failed to IDENTIFY (I/O error, err_mask=0x4)
ata1.00:SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 Control 300)
...
get similar for ata2 & ata3


Recall that Slack 12.2 and earlier see all of the drives.

Maybe I missed it - did you try the hugesmp.s kernel? Googling your error (
failed to IDENTIFY (I/O error, err_mask=0x4) leads to some promising results.

Hi,

Which version X86_32 or x86_64?
How do you have the USB & SATA setup in the BIOS?

What about the 'hugesmp.s' kernel? You should use the generics for daily use. A 'initd' will need to be setup. Read the '/boot/README.initrd'.

:hattip:

To answer your questions:

1. I did not see how to run the hugesmp.s kernel for doing the INSTALLATION for Slack 13. I only see two choices: huge.s and speakup.s

2. I tried both X86_32 or x86_64 versions of Slack 13 install DVDs. Both give the same results; they can't see my SATA drives.

3. I am not sure what you mean when asking "How do you have the USB & SATA setup in the BIOS?" They work. Under Slack 12.2 I can plug in a USB device and it automatically gets detected and can be mounted. Also, my SATA drives are mounted and work normally under 12.2. So BIOS clearly "sees" these devices.

Does anyone know of boot parameters I can send the install kernel that might make things work? I remember AGES ago ('95?), I had to send the kernel a special parameter to get it to see my CD-ROM drive.

Note that I am not getting very far in the installation process for Slack 13. I boot off the DVD, choose the kernel, let all those messages scroll by the screen, log in as root, and run fdisk -l to setup my drives. Only my IDE drive shows up.

Thanks for your help.

Have you tried running any live CDs that use recent kernels? Does it happen with those as well?

You might want to try Slackware -current, as that has a newer kernel.

Hi,

The 'hugesmp.s' is the default install kernel.

I wasn't asking how the BIOS recognizes the drives but how it presents the configuration.

You could try setting the SATA mode in the BIOS to AHCI instead of SATA.
If the BIOS change doesn't work then try passing the 'noapic' & 'noapci' to the kernel of choice to see if the drives will be recognized. I would use the default install kernel.

:hattip:

FYI, for Slack 13, the default install kernel for 32-bit is hugesmp.s, and for 64-bit it is huge.s

I have tried them both; neither can see my SATA drives.

I tried acpi=off and noapic=TRUE on both of them; same result.

I suspect that the Slack12.2 kernel was compiled with a different set of options than for Slack13, and that's why the former can see my SATA drives and the later cannot. So the logical thing to do is to go through the settings for each and find the difference, and recompile my own kernel, but...

I am quickly losing my enthusiasm for this problem. I may be sticking with 12.2 a while longer....

OK, I haven't quite given up. I am downloading an iso of Slack current, and will give it a whirl.

ftp://ftp.slackware.no/pub/linux/ISO...b_2010-DVD.iso

I would give the Bios settings a look. On my Gigabyte board I have to make the change to ahci. It's a non issue on my MSI board.

I tried installing Slack -current, specifically:

slackware64-current-23_Feb_2010-DVD.iso

It could not see my SATA drives either.

Ah well...

My Oh My, I found the solution here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=837835

The trick is to pass the kernel the parameter pci=nomsi

Now Slack13 64-bit Install sees all my SATA drives. So simple, but so obscure.

This parameter must have changed between Slack12.2 and Slack13.

Note, I did not make any BIOS changes.

And to think, I very nearly gave up!

Thanks everyone for your help!

Postscript...

1. If you compare the config file for the Slack12.2 hugesmp.s kernel to the config files for the Slack13 huge.s and hugesmp.s kernels, you will find the following:

Slack12.2:
# CONFIG_PCI_MSI is not set

Slack13:
CONFIG_PCI_MSI=y

So this apparently is the change that made my SATA drives disappear in Slack13.

2. For curiosity, I changed my BIOS SATA controller from SATA to AHCI, and the Slack13 install kernel could no longer see my SATA drives, either with or without the pci=nomsi kernel parameter set.