How to change BIOS SATA mode (on Dimension 8300) ?

You can't find the SATA compatibility option, because Dell didn't include it in the current BIOS version of the Dimension 8300. But your hardware is capable of running in SATA compatibility mode and it would be quite easy for Dell to add this option to the BIOS, because all the required functionality is already present and they would only have to add a menu entry for activating it. So perhaps they'll add this option in a future version of the 8300's BIOS.

In the meantime you could try another Linux distro like Knoppix (http://www.knopper.net/knoppix), which has no problems with recognizing the SATA disks in my 8300.

Hi littlewhoo,

Thanks for the reply :-) Yes, I already tried Knoppix, and very successfully if I may add. Yet Knoppix leaves alot to be desired. It is not a real Linux distro in that its main purpose is to serve as a CD bootable live Linux. Installing it on the HD is tedious and rather alot of components (packages) are missing. Another disadvantage (from my point of view) is that Knoppix is Debian based, and thus lacks many of the comfort features that come with SUSE (like sax and yast).

Regarding Knoppix : only 3.4 works with SATA and there is only a sortof 3.4 pre-release available right now. Namely the one that you get for free when buying the issue 4 of the German computer magazine c't. According to Mr Knopper himself it is inferior in several ways to the real 3.4 release that he is still working on and that will probably need another couple of weeks. I managed to install this "c't Knoppix 3.4" on my HD, despite a rather bad bug in the HD install routine that comes on the HD. I then proceeded to add lots of packages and drivers that are sadly missing on the CD. This is tedious to say the least. I think I'll be able to make do with Debian/Knoppix for the time being, but I am not happy with this system.

My actual goal and preferred solution is to get SUSE 9.0 installed on my Dimension 8300. Yet here we return to my original question and problem : without switching to "SATA Compatibility mode" I wont be able to install SUSE, as it comes with an older kernel that does not support the SATA controller. So : is there any hope for me ? Might someone from Dell be able to supply me with a solution ? This would be GREAT, yet I cant shake this sinking feeling that I am hoping for the impossible

Stephan

 

You can't change the SATA mode on your system, but have you considered installing to a parallel ATA drive, applying the fixes that you need to support SATA, then copying that drive to your SATA drive? Am I the only one who has a couple of ATA drives collecting dust?

Hi Duhhh,

> Am I the only one who has a couple of ATA drives collecting dust?

Short answer: Yes

Indeed I do not have any spare ATA drive available. I've read before that success could be achieved in that particular way, yet it simply is not an option for me. The only other drive I have is a 40 GB IDE drive, but my second computer feels rather attached to it and stubbornly refuses to boot without it

Ah well, as Dell is not wanting to help me I guess the only thing I can do is wait for SUSE to publish a new disitribution with a SATA supporting kernel. This certainly is the kind of problem that you do not have if you assemble your computer yourself .....

 

Hi Stephan,

I'm pretty sure, that Knoppix 3.3 supports SATA drives, too. I'm using a Knoppix 3.3 version from September or November 2003 and it's perfectly capable of recognizing and reading from the SATA disks in my Dimension 8300. I don't know about writing to the disks, as I have only NTFS partitions. The only HD related boot option of Knoppix I'm using, is the dma switch.

littlewhoo