How can I install Linux on a Ultra ATA/66 hard disk?

[giu73]

I have recently bought a new PC, with an IBM ultra ATA/66 13.5 Gb hard disk and I tried to install Red Hat Linux 6.0. The installation process, however, stops at the disk partitioning step, saying that no device can be found. I also tried all SCSI drivers suggested in the previous step, but none detects my hard disk. I don't really know what a Ultra ATA exactly is (is it IDE or SCSI?). Can anyone help me?

[Grimshaw]

It's not you, it the install proceedure that doesn't know what to do with UDMA.

I am drying to install linux (Red Hat 6.0) on a UDMA 66 drive (Maxtor 10.2 Gb DiamondMax plus) myself. The UDMA controller is onboard (ABIT BP6).

I've read a number of pages describing support for the Promise controller and some others ( http://siva.usc.edu/~brion/linux/Ultra-DMA.html ) but have yet to find out what I need for my onboard solution. They mention patching the kernel to support the drive, but it is awfully hard to patch a kernel if you can't load the bloddy OS first now isn't it?

So, in desperation, I hung the drive off the standard IDE controller. Linux does see the drive and hence I was able to install the OS on it. I have yet to find any patches that support my controller.

So, it is running on the standard IDE controller with an occasional "hdc: lost interrupt" message and lots of lag time. I suspect I am tempting fate with this unorthodox approach, but it IS working for the moment.

Be careful if following my example. Linux is very much aware of which controller it resides upon. Hence switching back to another controller requires the different controller info in lilo.conf and the fstab (otherwise it won't boot when you move it back to the UDMA controller).

I have moved on to a new idea as well. I'm downloading the latest red hat (6.1) onto a machine this evening and will do a new FTP install on my box in the next day or two to see if this release has support built in for UDMA. I hope so and I will advise you on my progress. Do me a favor and share anything you find with me as well (john at statesidedata dot com).

- John

[giu73]

I have found a very interesting Howto at
http://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~b6506063/hpt366/

the author of the howto owns a BP6 like you and me. Yes, we have to install a patch to the kernel, but the kernel version should be at least 2.2.10 (Red Hat 6.0 includes 2.2.5 only)

However, the author also explains a way to make the kernel recognize the HPT366 controller (that's what we need) without any patch or recompiling...

I haven't tried his solution yet, but I suggest you to go there and read yourself

Giuseppe