linux installation problem - linux can't find hard disc

hi K-Nikkel,

I have the almost the same problem with the dimension 8300 *special edition november* and suse linux professional 9.0. while booting from the cd yast find's the harddisc but tries to find hdb for at least a few minutes and then stop working...

I just posted this problem to suse but didn't get any answer up to now. i'll keep you informed if i get any answer. if you have a solution up to now please let me know.

 

yours

juergen 

hmm..
i think the problem is, that linux doesn't recognize the Serial ATA harddisc that is in the dimension 8300...

but i could'n find a solution on google nor on linux forms :/

There is a german Linux-CD-System called Knoppix  (http://www.knoppix.de). This Distribution boots without any problems from the CD and starts KDE. You can also access both partitions of the SATA-Harddisk from the Dell Dimension 8300 (strange, they where found as /dev/hde1 and /dev/hde2).

It is courious, that a almost unknown and small Distribution is able to access the SATA-Harddisc and the big SUSE-Copmany is not.

We will see what future brings...

yes, but the problem is, knoppix is very slow, because it only boots from cd, and i do not realy like the soundof m dvd-rom ;)

in other forms someone said, he installed suse linux by using the installation with acpi disabled, but with my computer it did not work :/

i hope suse will find a solution soon...

Hi,

has anyone of you tried kernel 2.6(1)? Does that solve the probloem?

Regards

 

 

i tried with the newest knoppix and it recognized my hdd!
i will try with mandrake distributions soon...

Hi again,

I works with Mandrake Linux 9.2, too - but with this distribution I couldn't use X11 with the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, even though the Setup recognized the card correctly. :-(

Tooooooo bad ...

Hi,

I do have the same problem. I'm trying to install Suse Linux Enterprise Server 8 on a Dell
Precision 650 having a PERC 320/DC Raid controller and 2 harddisks (Seagate, 73GB) connected.

Yast is not working in graphical mode, so I chossed text mode, and there, the HDD's are not
detected.
I also tried to add different raid driver (aacraid), but nothing works.

Also SuSE does not send any feedback to my request. Very poor support.

If somebody knows any solution, please let me know.

Regards,
haralds

Serial ATA HDDs are not supported by the Linux 2.4.x kernel. As far as I know you have to use the new 2.6.x kernel. SuSE Linux 9.0 uses the 2.4.21 kernel...

If installing in graphics mode does not work try to use the option "vga=normal" at startup of GRUB.

The Perc3/DC is a SCSI Raid controller, not a ATA.

Today, I received a message from SuSE stating out, that there are some new, updated (bugfixed)
ISOs available for the Enterpris Server 8.

Currently I am downloading those ISOs. No info about the used kernel (In the current version I tried to install, it was the 2.4.19-4GB which obviously had several problems as I read in the meantime).

I will post again when I was successful in installing Linux using the new ISOs.

hi harals,

as you could read in my former posting, the controler and graphics-card of the dimension 8300 ist no typical linux- and kernel 2.4.x-problem. the german cd-live-system knoppix works absolutly fine with the hardware. no problem at all. the only thing is, that this distribution only boots from cd and can't install it like a typical distribution on the pc. but for demonstration (even on laptops) it is very nice.

it's a bad thing, that a small company (?) like knoppix can make a linux-system that works an the big suse-company (now together with novell) cannot do so! and after 6 week i got no answer from there support. i am at last very disapointed from the support-team!

yours

juergen

 

p.s.: i will keep you informed what happens about this problem...

hi juergen,

as I mentioned before, SuSE has sent some informatin about new/updated ISOs.
I have downloaded them and installation worked perfectly (graphical mode, detection of Raid
controller and the connected hard disks).
Installation was easy as it should be.
They do have an updated kernel now, 2.4.21.138-smp for SLES8.
In case you do have an account at SuSE, I can forward the links to you - it is not possible
to have public access on that ISOs (what a shame: RedHat does give you everything for
free).

However, not everything is working perfectly. Now I do have several networking problems
(can ping other machines within my network, but not outside of my network, other machines
cannot ping this linux machine ;-( ).
Have to find another forum, maybe on SuSEs side - or wherever to solve the problem.

Regards,
Harald

p.s. what about your problem? already some solution?

hi  haralds,

I have a "special" solution for my probelm: I just used another pc as server with SUSE LINUX 9  and use the Dell Dimension only as client with Windows XP  :-)

But I the ISOs would be good. I have an account on the SUSE-Support-Portal, but I haven't found a Link the these ISOs yet. It would be nice if you could sent me the link. Thanks.

Yours Jürgen

Yes, the problem is the SATA hard disk. Linux kernels > 2.4.22 with the latest patches recognize SATA hard drives. The kernel on the installation CD is of a lower version.

Solution: You need another IDE hard drive. Doesn't cost much these days - maybe $30-40.

1. Make this your primary hard drive, install linux on this.

2. Download the latest kernel, read instructions about how to compile the kernel, configure it to have the SATA drivers installed hardcoded - not as a module. Compile the kernel.

3. Boot your machine from this kernel and see if you can see the SATA hard drive you have. fdisk the SATA hard drive, partition it.

4. Now tar your entire directory structure on the IDE hard drive - and untar it onto the SATA hard drive.

5. Reconfigure the /boot directory.

6. Now you should be done.

I have ommitted detailed instructions here because it will not fit in a small post. Ideally, if I get the time, I should setup a webpage which details a howto to do this. I compiled a kernel 2.4.22-bk32 for this purpose. I think any patch level higher than bk32 should work. I am not sure if the 2.6 kernels support SATA drives without patches. It took me at least two weeks to do this - because I was a novice to linux before that.

-Shouri