How do I add a third party SATA driver to KNOPPIX at boot

[pski49]

:shock:

Hello,

How do I add a third party SATA driver to KNOPPIX at boot
or after boot time. My issue is that knoppix does not have the
driver to read the hard drive and I need to install this driver to access
the hard drive.

[aay]

:shock:

Hello,

How do I add a third party SATA driver to KNOPPIX at boot
or after boot time. My issue is that knoppix does not have the
driver to read the hard drive and I need to install this driver to access
the hard drive.

Well I don't have any first hand experience with SATA yet, but I recall reading that an exprimental SATA driver was to be included in the 2.6 kernel so I'm sure you'd need pick the 2.6 and not the 2.4 kernel at boot time. Perhaps others can comment on what luck they've had with SATA drives in Knoppix.

[marat]

Seagate 80GB SATA drive works fine for me even without selecting different kernel at boot. It maps as /dev/sda, not /dev/hda. I have a very new motherboard however (VIA K8T800 based ABIT KV8), so I can even boot from SATA (in fact this is my only hard drive). If your harddrive is new, probably all you need is to create some partitions on it ("cfdisk /dev/sda" or whatever).

Cannot help with adding drivers, sorry.

[JPWhite]

I have a Dell 8400 with 2 SATA drives in a RAID1 array, the RAID array controller is an Intel controller (82801FR) built into the mobo. The 2.6 Kernel in Knoppix 3.7 is unable to read the partition info off the drives and stalls the boot process. 2.6 kernel in Knoppix 3.6 results in a Kernel panic during boot, so I supose it is slowly getting better but not yet functional. Knoppix with the 2.4 kernel boots happily but does not recognize the hard drive at all, partimage is unable to see the drive array either.

My previous post on this subject did not glean any more info. http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15313

JP

[yup]

I also just got a shiny new Dell 8400 , built on the Intel 925X chipset (i.e. Intel ICH6-R aka "Soft RAID" controller) but I ran into the same problem before when trying to boot Knoppix on a Dell Optiplex GX280 (live at a customer, nonetheless...;). Basically the only way to have Knoppix booting on that machine is to get into BIOS and put the controller into "compatibilty mode" (or whatever your BIOS calls the PATA, backward-compatible mode). Play with it / install it, download the relevant SATA driver (in my case it's the "ata_piix" driver IIRC, YMMV) compile it as a module, revert to SATA-native mode in BIOS and reboot.

See also this thread (also containing pointers to the webpage that summarizes the situation of SATA support in Linux kernel -- currently shoddy at best).

http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13273

Hope this helps....and that Google will index this page to help other poor souls out there :)

[rolflist]

Hello

My Dell 8400 (SATA disk WD 160GB) boots OK with Knoppix 3.7 (version 2.78-knoppix) with
1. in BIOS > drives > SATA operation changed to "combination" mode
2. knoppix 2.6 kernel with cheatcode acpi=off, thus boot: knoppix26 acpi=off

SATA disk recognized with 2 partitions (sda1 is a Dell Utility vfat partition for diagnosis, sda2 is Windows XP ntfs).
The drives can be mounted as root: mount /dev/sda1 & mount /dev/sda2, and appear accessible and
the content of /etc/fstab appears OK. I did not check writing to the SATA disk yet (XP backups beforehand advised !)

':D' This gives confidence !

A further suggestion, mentioned also at http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15998:
try to boot: knoppix26 noapic acpi=on


:!: Remarks:
1. System enters a single processor mode (knoppix 2.4 without acpi=off displays the dual processor mode).
2. With BIOS > drive > SATA as factory default (raid autodetect/ahci), knoppix26 stalls after "init:version
2.78-knoppix".
3. As explained at Dell's linux site ( http://linux.dell.com/storage.shtml ) the ata_piix module will not support
the AHCI interface yet. Installed windows XP will not boot when the drive is in 'combination'
(=SATA/PATA) mode. Thus a reinstall of windows would be necessary, as outlined here
http://www.sjmk.net/articles/2004/11/suse-92-and-dell-dimension-8400/
Probably it is better to avoid a combined SATA/PATA mode, when completely reinstalling, as outlined by
Dell and choose "Raid Autodetect/ATA".
4. Other reported installations are (backup's of Windows beforehand advised !):
Fedora FC2 (kernel 2.6.7): http://ieng9.ucsd.edu/~wmar/fedora.html
Suse 9.2: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/archive/31/2004/11/4/251145
5. Recent ata_piix modules (2.6.7 and above) do mention AHCI: http://kerneltrap.org/node/3432,
with a fix mentioned in the latest (2.6.10-rc3) http://lwn.net/Articles/110962 .
6. But in a recent post the ACHI issue seems not solved for the Dell 8400 (Fedora FC3, with
kernel-2.6.9-1.681): http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=269836
7. ACPI delivers information about the battery, AC adapter, temperature, fan, and system events like “close lid” or
“battery low”. So with 'acpi=off' this will not work (mainly important for notebooks), see
http://www.novell.com/documentation/suse91/suselinux-adminguide/html/ch09s03.html
8. ACPI should be supported in debian, so maybe it is a 'non-standard' BIOS on the Dell 8400. See the discussion at
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_linux&message.id=4142&query.id=335342#M4142
I remember: an installed Dell 8300 also only worked with 'noapic' under Suse 8.


:? Remaining issue:
Any suggestion for a debian/knoppix 2.6 compatible system, that can be installed on a SATA hard disk
running via the autoraid/AHCI interface ?
I would like to add a second SATA disk and make my system dual bootable (windows XP on disk1
and linux on a partition of disk2) with a lilo or grub setup to ease non-expert startup, without the BIOS
switching back (autoraid/AHCI for windows) and forward (ATA or combination for linux).


Overview of some links on the SATA /Dell(8400) issue:
http://www.linuxmafia.com/faq/Hardware/sata.html
http://seclists.org/lists/linux-kernel/2004/Mar/5500.html
http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/2004-June/038481.html
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_linux&message.id=5162
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_linux&message.id=5403
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_linux&message.id=5475
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_linux&message.id=5611
http://www.webservertalk.com/message288301.html
http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2004/08/msg01335.html
http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2004/11/msg00639.html
http://www.mail-archive.com/debian-boot@lists.debian.org/msg64586.html
http://www.linuxforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=105785
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/archive/31/2004/11/4/251145
http://kanotix.mipooh.net/viewtopic.php?t=4042&highlight=sata


:!: Current status of SATA can be found at:
http://linux.yyz.us/sata/
http://www.linuxmafia.com/faq/Hardware/sata.html
http://tienstra4.flatnet.tudelft.nl/~gerte/gen2dmraid/

[JPWhite]

Thanks rolfist.

On the Dell 8400 setting the Raid mode to combination and using the noapci cheat code works like a charm with either 2.4 or 2.6 kernels.

JP

[rolflist]

Thank you JPWhite for your input: nice that you tried noapic. I can confirm your observations, but it looks like we need only the BIOS 'combi' setting.

A few tested options tried for my DELL 8400, with 1 SATA disk.:
BIOS "bootsetting" initstatus, SATA disks/ remarks
autoraid/ahci "knoppix noapic", OK, not found
autoraid/ahci "knoppix26 noapic", stalls, ata_piix abnormal status port0x177
autoraid/ata " knoppix noapic", OK, not found, cpu0 & cpu1
autoraid/ata "knoppix26 noapic", stalls, SATA devices observed
combi "knoppix26 <none>", stalls, sda1 & sda2 observed
combi "knoppix26 noapic", stalls, sda1 & sda2 observed
combi "knoppix26 acpi=off", OK, found, partitions sda1 & sda2 mounted
combi "knoppix <none>", OK, found, partitions hda1 & hda2 mounted
combi "knoppix noapic", OK, found, partitions hda1 & hda2 mounted
combi "knoppix acpi=off", OK, found, partitions hda1 & hda2 mounted

8) The simplest setup seems: (1) BIOS "combination mode' & (2) boot: knoppix <none>.
Tested kernel: knoppix 3.7 (kernel 2.4.27 and 2.6.9)

Added remarks:
- with two SATA disks in a DELL8400, with BIOS ''combi" mode only the first disk will be found.
- set the drives in the BIOS to "RAID autodetect/ATA" and both disks will be detected.

[rolflist]

:? Remaining issue:
Any suggestion for a debian/knoppix 2.6 compatible system, that can be installed on a SATA hard disk running via the autoraid/AHCI interface ?
I would like to add a second SATA disk and make my system dual bootable (windows XP on disk1 and linux on a partition of disk2) with a lilo or grub setup to ease non-expert startup, without the BIOS switching back (autoraid/AHCI for windows) and forward (ATA or combination for linux).


:!: A recent post by jbetten at www.linuxquestions.org described a working dual boot DELL 8400 using the "RAID autodetect/AHCI", by rebuilding FC2 (temporarily switched to "RAID autodetect/ATA") with kernel 2.4.29+ or 2.6.10+.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?postid=1395336#post1395336

:!: And similarly, now using an intermediate "compatible", a kernel rebuild on kerneltrap.org:
kernel 2.4.28+patch 2.4.29-pre-1, or 2.6.9+patch 2.6.10rc3
Check all ref's in fstab and grub to the new settings (e.g. "hda" to "sda")
http://kerneltrap.org/node/4346

:!: And if your german is good enough, another succesful installation; debian net install of kernel 2.6.8:
http://www.mail-archive.com/debian-user-german@lists.debian.org/msg103896.html
Driver rtc.ko is removed from kernel.

I did not try this yet.

The solution reminds of Toshikazu Aiyama's debian install to a ICH5/R's SATA disk:
http://www.e-aiyama.com/~toshi/Computer/Linux/SATA.html
Other links into these issues can be found via the "Debian on Dell servers" site:
http://wiki.osuosl.org/display/LNX/Debian+on+Dell+Servers
http://linux.dell.com/distributions.shtml

[johnb]

How do I add a third party SATA driver to KNOPPIX at boot
or after boot time. My issue is that knoppix does not have the
driver to read the hard drive and I need to install this driver to access
the hard drive.

If you boot knoppix with expert cheatcode you are offered the option of loading other drivers from a floppy.

[rolflist]

:lol:
Bob Berwick ( http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2004/11/msg00639.html )
has reported a succesful installation of linux on a Dell 8400 right out of the box:

Bob Berwick wrote:
"Red Hat released Update 3 of their RH Enterprise System Version 3 linux.
This Update 3 patched the ata_piix driver so that it *does* handle ICH6.
It can boot and install RH linux successfully on my Dimension 8400, properly recognizing
the drive partitions as sd* (rather than hd*).
'doze even dual boots."

Thus it should be possible to get it running on knoppix, etc.. too.

Will first need a backup and then give it a try.

[rolflist]

:? Remaining issue:
Any suggestion for a debian/knoppix 2.6 compatible system, that can be installed on a SATA hard disk running via the autoraid/AHCI interface ?
...


Kanotix 2005-1 (vs. 2.78 ), a debian linux based on Knoppix, ( http://www.kanotix.org )
will recognize SATA disks in a Dell Dimension 8400 with BIOS set to "Raid autodetect/AHCI.
It also detected sound (ALSA) and the ADSL connectionat eth0 (DHCP).

Kanotix 2005-1 uses kernel 2.6.10-kanotix-8.

[rolflist]

Installing SuSE Linux 9.2 + kernel 2.6.11 on a Dell Dimension 8400



Bob Berwick ( http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2004/11/msg00639.html )
has reported a succesful installation of linux on a Dell 8400 right out of the box:


This confirms all notes above.

Based on notes that I took from http://www.homerengineeringcorp.net/mythtv/myth.html ,
I installed Suse 9.2+ kernel 2.6.11, but I am fairly confident that one can do the same with debian,
knoppix, redhat or fedora.
My system is a Dell Dimension 8400, BIOS A03, 2x SATA WD160GB, ATI X300.
There is on both disks a bootable Windows XP, both initially with 2 partitions:
partition 1 is a Dell Utility Fat16 file system, partition 2 is NTFS with Windows XP.

I added linux to disk 2. It boots from "Autoraid/AHCI". I can choose Grub to choose between XP and linux.
I have still the original Dell Windows XP installation.

The SATA part in .config (made with "make cloneconfig" and using the defaults suggested in "make xconfig") is
....
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA=y
# CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_AHCI is not set
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SVW=m
CONFIG_SCSI_ATA_PIIX=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_NV=m
....

Since it is not debian or knoppix, I will post the details of this installation at a different forum.
URL will follow here:
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_linux&message.id=5859

[rolflist]

:? Remaining issue:
Any suggestion for a debian/knoppix 2.6 compatible system, that can be installed on a SATA hard disk running via the autoraid/AHCI interface ?
...


Knoppix_V3.8_2005-02-28_CeBit_edition.iso (german) will boot on a Dell 8400 with "Autoraid/AHCI", and will
recognize the SATA disks. Knoppix V3.8 has kernel 2.6.11.

Like many 2.6.x kernels there is an issue to use Hyperthreading SMP on Intel P6's together with ACPI.
The boot will stall after 'Init:version 2.78-knoppix booting', but this can be bypassed by typeing at boot:
knoppix acpi=off
However, now only 1 of the 2 CPUs will be recognized.

If you prefer "english" and have a "US" keyboard, type at boot:
knoppix lang=us acpi=off
To get "=" you have to type "SHIFT 0", if you have a US keyboard and start knoppix (default german).