Hardy install doesn't find hard disk

baskerville · 04-20-2008, 11:41 AM

I can't install Hardy Heron (Kubuntu RC-desktop version), because the dialog box for chosing the partition layout is empty, as if there were no hard-disks.
1. The same problem happens with Fedora 8 install DVD.
2. But I can boot with Feisty Fawn live CD and find the partitions, as I've managed to install Fedora 7 before.
3. CD md5sum is correct.
4. My daily work is on the installed Edgy Eft and everything runs ok.

Specs:
* MB: Asus A8V-MX
* Athlon64 3000+
* videocard: GeForce 6200
* HD: SATA
* RAM: Kingston 1Gb

I think that a boot parameter could solve the problem, but I don't know which.

fragos · 04-20-2008, 05:48 PM

Perhaps it's because all the partitions are mounted. You can't partition a mounted partition.

baskerville · 04-20-2008, 09:54 PM

Fragos, thanx for your reply, but I don't think that this is the cause. I'm running from the install CD, so the HD partitions aren't mounted yet. Besides, the HD isn't even listed in /dev/sd* It seems like a driver problem, since the device isn't recognized, but SATA recognition is a simple stuff, isn't it? But I have no idea about how to check and fix it.

baskerville · 04-21-2008, 07:27 AM

I booted again with the liveCD and found that the modules sata_via and libsata (loaded in the working installation) haven't been loaded on boot. Probably this prevents the HD to be detected. How do I change that on boot?? Is this a problem of a new kernel? Anyone?

fragos · 04-21-2008, 01:02 PM

Each sata chip set has it's own driver. My mobo has the VIA chipset and "lsmod |grep ata" shows its loaded as is libata. My laptop has an Intel chip set and "lsmod |grep ata" shows different drivers -- none with sata in the name. "lspci" will show which sata controller you have.

baskerville · 04-22-2008, 08:45 PM

Thanks again, fragos. I'm gonna post only what I think to be the relevant lines, because lspci output is huge. (The system I'm using for these commands is a Fedora 7, because I did a mkswap on the wrong partition and Edgy is gone forever...

[but relevant data was in another partition and I have backup...] but I still want Hardy and both the alternate CD and the desktop edition still refuse to find my HD..)
Well, these are the output from the following commands (filtered).

Code:

lspci|grep sata
00:0f.0 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8251 AHCI/SATA 4-Port Controller

There is also this line, that may be relevant:
00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 07)

Code:

lsmod|grep ata
pata_via               14724  0
ata_generic            11524  0
libata                105120  3 pata_via,ahci,ata_generic
scsi_mod              139756  6 sr_mod,sg,usb_storage,ahci,libata,sd_mod

In dmesg I found these informations about the initialization of the harddisk. Maybe useful.

Quote:

SCSI subsystem initialized
libata version 2.00 loaded.
ahci 0000:00:0f.0: version 2.0
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:0f.0[B] -> GSI 21 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
usb 1-1: device not accepting address 2, error -71
ahci 0000:00:0f.0: AHCI 0001.0000 32 slots 4 ports 3 Gbps 0xf impl IDE mode
ahci 0000:00:0f.0: flags: 64bit ncq pm led clo pmp pio slum part
ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xEE00ED00 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 18
ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xEE00ED80 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 18
ata3: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xEE00EE00 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 18
ata4: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xEE00EE80 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 18
scsi0 : ahci
ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
ata1.00: ATA-7, max UDMA/133, 390721968 sectors: LBA48 NCQ (depth 0/32)
ata1.00: ata1: dev 0 multi count 16
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
scsi1 : ahci
ata2: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
scsi2 : ahci
usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 4
usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 1-1:1.0: USB hub found
hub 1-1:1.0: 4 ports detected
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
scsi3 : ahci
usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 5
ata4: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access ATA WDC WD2000JS-98N 10.0 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
SCSI device sda: 390721968 512-byte hdwr sectors (200050 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
SCSI device sda: write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support
DPO or FUA
SCSI device sda: 390721968 512-byte hdwr sectors (200050 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
SCSI device sda: write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support
DPO or FUA
sda: sda1 < sda5 sda6 sda7 sda8 sda9 sda10 > sda2 sda3
sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi disk sda

Any hope?

fragos · 04-22-2008, 10:05 PM

From dmesg looks as if a 200GB SATA II drive is detected. I'm getting a little out of my relm. Pata_via is probably Parallel which implies IDE connected device. That my be for your DVD/CD drive. I have a Gigabyte mobo with VIA chip set. My hard disk is IDE so my SATA ports aren't used although there appears to be a driver loaded because the hardware is there. I'd heard that 8.04 uses hda instead id sda for sata drives but that is hearsay and may not be factual. My gut says this is a cockpit problem but I can't be sure. New releases can be confusing because of changes that have been made.

kernalsanders123 · 06-30-2008, 09:10 PM

Hello all, my first post here, so here goes:

My Hardy LiveCD doesn't recognize either of my SATA hard drives, I've tried the Ubuntu forums, but no luck so far: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=816500. So far I've tried a bunch of boot parameters, and a couple of other things, but no dice.

My comp is a custom machine, with an Abit KN9 mobo, Nforce 4 chipset, and 2 Western Digital SATA hard drives.

I'm thinking that it may be that the latest version of libata and/or sata_nv don't work. For example, here is the dmesg | grep ata output from my current 7.04 version already installed:

Quote:

[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 000000007fff3000 - 0000000080000000 (ACPI data)
[ 0.000000] PERCPU: Allocating 34696 bytes of per cpu data
[ 15.755474] Memory: 2056116k/2097088k available (2274k kernel code, 40584k reserved, 1185k data, 300k init)
[ 19.279552] libata version 2.21 loaded.
[ 21.149114] sata_nv 0000:00:07.0: version 3.4
[ 21.149503] sata_nv 0000:00:07.0: Using ADMA mode
[ 21.150183] scsi0 : sata_nv
[ 21.150396] scsi1 : sata_nv
[ 21.150581] ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xffffc20000aa8480 ctl 0xffffc20000aa84a0 bmdma 0x000000000001d400 irq 20
[ 21.150585] ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xffffc20000aa8580 ctl 0xffffc20000aa85a0 bmdma 0x000000000001d408 irq 20
[ 21.619976] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
[ 21.637831] ata1.00: ATA-7: WDC WD1600JS-62MHB5, 10.02E02, max UDMA/133
[ 21.637834] ata1.00: 312581808 sectors, multi 16: LBA48
[ 21.648126] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 22.115201] ata2: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
[ 22.138206] ata2.00: ATA-7: WDC WD1600JS-62MHB5, 10.02E02, max UDMA/133
[ 22.138209] ata2.00: 312581808 sectors, multi 16: LBA48
[ 22.147326] ata2.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 22.147420] ata1: bounce limit 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF, segment boundary 0xFFFFFFFF, hw segs 61
[ 22.147807] ata2: bounce limit 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF, segment boundary 0xFFFFFFFF, hw segs 61
[ 22.148434] sata_nv 0000:00:08.0: Using ADMA mode
[ 22.148669] scsi2 : sata_nv
[ 22.148925] scsi3 : sata_nv
[ 22.149102] ata3: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xffffc20000aaa480 ctl 0xffffc20000aaa4a0 bmdma 0x000000000001c000 irq 23
[ 22.149107] ata4: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xffffc20000aaa580 ctl 0xffffc20000aaa5a0 bmdma 0x000000000001c008 irq 23
[ 22.618415] ata3: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
[ 22.782231] ata3.00: ATAPI: SONY DVD RW AW-G170S, 1.72, max UDMA/66
[ 22.953962] ata3.00: configured for UDMA/66
[ 23.421159] ata4: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
[ 23.600952] ata4.00: ATAPI: LITE-ON COMBO SHC-52S7K, VK03, max UDMA/100
[ 23.788656] ata4.00: configured for UDMA/100
[ 23.789518] ata3: bounce limit 0xFFFFFFFF, segment boundary 0xFFFF, hw segs 127
[ 23.791081] ata4: bounce limit 0xFFFFFFFF, segment boundary 0xFFFF, hw segs 127
[ 24.183871] EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.

and here's the same output from my 8.04 LiveCD:

Quote:

[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 000000007fff3000 - 0000000080000000 (ACPI data)
[ 0.000000] PERCPU: Allocating 34656 bytes of per cpu data
[ 53.799238] Memory: 2054824k/2097088k available (2466k kernel code, 41876k reserved, 1309k data, 316k init)
[ 56.607949] libata version 3.00 loaded.
[ 57.424463] pata_amd 0000:00:06.0: version 0.3.10
[ 57.424622] scsi0 : pata_amd
[ 57.424666] scsi1 : pata_amd
[ 57.425137] ata1: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x1f0 ctl 0x3f6 bmdma 0xe800 irq 14
[ 57.425139] ata2: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x170 ctl 0x376 bmdma 0xe808 irq 15
[ 57.757787] sata_nv 0000:00:07.0: version 3.5
[ 57.757806] sata_nv 0000:00:07.0: Using ADMA mode
[ 57.758103] scsi2 : sata_nv
[ 57.758345] scsi3 : sata_nv
[ 57.758499] ata3: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x9f0 ctl 0xbf0 bmdma 0xd400 irq 22
[ 57.758502] ata4: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x970 ctl 0xb70 bmdma 0xd408 irq 22
[ 58.226075] ata: SEMB device ignored
[ 58.226084] ata3: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
[ 58.693323] ata: SEMB device ignored
[ 58.693326] ata4: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
[ 58.693456] sata_nv 0000:00:08.0: Using ADMA mode
[ 58.693735] scsi4 : sata_nv
[ 58.693982] scsi5 : sata_nv
[ 58.694136] ata5: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x9e0 ctl 0xbe0 bmdma 0xc000 irq 21
[ 58.694138] ata6: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x960 ctl 0xb60 bmdma 0xc008 irq 21
[ 59.160570] ata5: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
[ 59.324384] ata5.00: ATAPI: SONY DVD RW AW-G170S, 1.72, max UDMA/66
[ 59.496105] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/66
[ 59.963270] ata6: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
[ 60.143054] ata6.00: ATAPI: LITE-ON COMBO SHC-52S7K, VK03, max UDMA/100
[ 60.330751] ata6.00: configured for UDMA/100
[ 60.332432] ata5: bounce limit 0xFFFFFFFF, segment boundary 0xFFFF, hw segs 127[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 000000007fff3000 - 0000000080000000 (ACPI data)

The only differences are the versions of libata and sata_nv, and the "SEMB device ignored" message from the LiveCD. So, I'm wondering if it's possible to make a custom LiveCD using earlier versions of libata and/or sata_nv. (Of course, I consider myself a n00b in the ways of Linux, so I might be in a totally different ballpark, so if anyone has any other ideas, by all means I'm all ears.)

Thanks a lot!

jailbait · 06-30-2008, 09:50 PM

Last November I went through most of the main distributions looking for a new one to install as my main OS. I also ran into problems with kubuntu not distinguishing between SATA and IDE drive correctly. I solved the problem by installing Debian which installed fine the first try.

---------------
Steve Stites

kernalsanders123 · 07-02-2008, 07:14 PM

I tried a Debian LiveCD. Went fine up until it tried to start GNOME. It then went to a blue screen and gave me a message titled: "Failed to start the X server" Viewing the error report, the error is: "fatal server error: no screens found." I believe this might have to do with my video card, a GeForce 8800GT. I've tried several other distros, all having X server problems. I've also found several forums floating about with people having trouble with 8800GTs, so I'm guessing it doesn't like to play fair with linux very much. (partially why I want to try and get Hardy working, it's one of the few distros that will take my video card.)