Hi,

A quick scan of the mailbases and websites on linux suggests that it is possible to install SuSE 9.1 on a SATA based system.

I am stuck - I am using the boot.iso for the 64 bit version of SuSE 9.1, and when I look at which kernel modules are loaded I see sis_sata. So something must be recognising the hardware.....?

However, when I get to the YAST install page, it tells me that no hard disks were detected. Is this a problem that can be solved, by loading a different sata module? Or are there some initial configuration steps that I am missing?

Hope you can help.....SuSE 9.2 is not an option (yet).

Cheers,

Jon.

I had similar problems installing suse linux 9.1 on a dell dimension 8300 with an sata drive.

Upgrading the bios did the trick.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Thanks - it was a BIOS trick, but not an update that fixed it.....On the BIOS there was an option for the SATA controller to either be in IDE or RAID mode. Now since I only have one disk, one would assume that it should be in IDE mode n'est pas? Well apparently not. The SATA controller _must_ be set to RAID, though obviously there is no RAID set (only 1 disk installed), for the YAST installation to recognise that there is a disk installed. weird....?

It's still installing, so we'll see how I get on when I try to reboot the system

Cheers,

Jon.

Update - the SuSE 9.1 install went fine, now I'd like to upgrade to
SuSE 9.2, but.......

I've got an AMD64 3000+ machine with SuSE 9.1 x86_64 installed
and running nicely. The mobo is a Winfast (?foxconn) with a SiS760/960
chipset. The hard disk is a SATA drive connected to the first SATA channel.
There are a DVD writer and DVD-ROM attached the secondary
channel, master and slave, respectively. The partitions
on the disk are devices /dev/sdaX - i.e. the disk is recognised
as SCSI.

I would like to upgrade to SuSE 9.2 x86_64 so downloaded the boot.iso
burned the disk and rebooted. I cannot get the installer to
recognise that there are is SATA or any form of hard disk installed on this
machine. So what's different? Nothing has changed about the hardware
on which I installed the currently running SuSE 9.1 and the failing
SuSE 9.2 install.

What can possibly be wrong!!!???

Cheers, Jon

Hi Jon,
This may sound stupid so I will apologize in advance but perhaps you should set the bios setting of the SATA drive back to IDE mode.

Hope that works

Hi Duliano,

Not stupid at all Yes I could switch the BIOS setting back to IDE, but even with this setting the drive was not detected. Actually I think I need to leave it in RAID mode, as the device drivers for the hard disk are currently using SCSI modules /dev/sdaX - and if I want to keep the old /home partition I would imagine, that I shouldn't mess about too much with this (?)

Actually I saw a suggestion on another mailbase, suggesting that it is important to load the low level SCSI driver module - but I've not managed to do this

I think I'll try an online update and see if that fixes it.

Cheers,
Jon

I have the same problem, I am using ASUS A8N-SLI motherboard with SATA hard disk and AMD athlon 64 3200+ (socket 939), and while I try to install Suse Linux 9.1 using installation DVD it can't detect the hard disk ... and it is really frustrating because I can't find any solution anywhere on internet.

Hope someone can post a solution here.


Thanks!

Salman

Yeah it's a weird one. You could try a couple of things:
1.) Switch the drive support in the BIOS from IDE -> RAID
2.) Use the manual install option for SuSE, and load the appropriate SATA kernel module for your hardware - e.g. sata_sis .....

Of course, you might also have more luck with SuSE 9.2.

Good luck, Jon.

Finally my problem is solved !

Well in my case I am using ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe motherboard and it has 4 SATA ports and 4 SATA ports for RAID configuration. My harddisk was earlier connected on SATA port 1, and in this configuration Suse 9.1 Professional would not detect the hard disk, whereas Windows XP could be installed .... confirming me that my hardware was ok.

When I saw in this forum suggestions about changing in BIOS harddisk from IDE to RAID configuration, then I was confused because I couldn't find any such option in my BIOS, so I looked inside the ASUS motherboard and tried chaging disk connection from SATA port 1 to SATA RAID port 1, and then in the BIOS I established a RAID with single disk ... and bingo ! Suse 9.1 installation thereon was without a glitch !!! Now I am enjoying 64 bit computing :-)

Note: Interesting Win XP also had no problem with this changed hard disk configuration ... so I am really happy that my desktop can work the way I wanted.

skunkcabbage ... thanks for the hint you gave me, which solved my problems.

Salman

It's weird - it must be something to do with the fact that the installer recognises that you have a hardware RAID chip on the motherboard, thus loads the kernel module for it. When it doesn't find a configured RAID device it then thinks - 'okay so there's no disk installed' - crunch. I think there needs to be a rethink about the way SuSE's installer detects disks. Since the conventional (correct?) way to get these things to work would be do leave the disk in IDE mode (after all you only have one disk, and no RAID).....

I hope someone from SuSE or the kernel development team has a look into this.

Cheers, Jon.

Hi to all,

I read this thread, I think this is a place where my problem belongs.

We have to install to a client a server, on which will run a database. Untill now we used SCSI HDD's but now we thing that SATA is also an option. We want to install Suse 9.1 on a RAID1 controller.

I looked for some configurations, but I didn't find nowhere that Suse 9.1 will work with that controllers. A lot of mainboards have the raid built in...

like
www.intel.com/design/servers/boards/se7320sp2/index.htm
or
http://www.intel.com/design/servers/...K1-E/index.htm

Both belong in some Fujistu Siemens servers.

Did anyone succeded to install Suse 9.1 on these controllers? Will it be a problem? If we buy the system and it does not work, we're in trouble.

Waiting sugestions.
Best regards.
Andy