Member Avatar for spikes

Hi All,
has anyone managed install fedora on a scsi drive useing the adaptec aha-2940uw card?

i have tryed booting with noprobe an dd but it will just hang on the aic7xxx driver or fail to find any disks.

any ideas

spikes

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Short summary and practical options (two paths) based on the troubleshooting already underway by and the follow-up from . If the installer is locking on the aic7xxx path, the usual choices are: (A) get a working aic7xxx module into the installer (driver-disk or rebuilt module matched to the installer kernel), or (B) avoid the installer entirely and build a bootable Fedora root from Knoppix using a chroot. Below are concrete, low-risk steps for both approaches.

Driver-disk / module route (what to check)

  • Confirm the installer kernel version and compare the module vermagic. In the installer and on Knoppix:
    uname -r
modinfo aic7xxx | grep vermagic
  • A driver disk will only work if the module was built for that exact kernel. If you have a Knoppix module that matches, build a proper driver-disk image (the module must be for the installer's kernel) or rebuild the aic7xxx against the installer kernel source. If you want to try the installer with a custom driver, make sure the module filename and vermagic match the installer kernel.

Knoppix-as-installer (chroot + rpm/yum) — reliable fallback

  1. Partition and format the disk, mount the target:
    fdisk /dev/sdX
mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdX1
mkswap /dev/sdX2
mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt/fedora
  2. Mount the Fedora media (CD/DVD/ISO) and install packages. If Knoppix has yum:
    mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
yum --installroot=/mnt/fedora --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo=file:///media/cdrom install bash coreutils rpm grub kernel

    If yum isn't available, use rpm --root=/mnt/fedora -Uvh /media/cdrom/Packages/*.rpm — be careful with dependencies and install the basic system first.

  3. Prepare chroot and finish:
    mount -o bind /dev /mnt/fedora/dev
mount -t proc none /mnt/fedora/proc
chroot /mnt/fedora /bin/bash
/sbin/mkinitrd /boot/initrd-<kernel>.img <kernel-version>
/sbin/grub-install /dev/sdX
exit

    Important cautions

  • The installed kernel must have the SCSI driver available (built-in or in the initrd) or the system won't boot. Update /etc/fstab to use the correct device names. If going the driver-disk route, make sure the module is compiled against the exact installer kernel; mismatches are the most common failure.

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Member Avatar for alc6379

I've got one of those cards.

It's worked fine under slackware 9 and Debian Woody, I think both use 2.4.18, I think. I wasn't trying to install to the disk, but the kernel recognized it, and spun up the disks just fine.

I was running on an old PIIX4 chipset at the time. What motherboard are you using?

Member Avatar for spikes

Hi,
I'm using an old intel nightshade board 'n440bx' with two pII 400's. the card and disks are found at boot, but then it just hangs on the aic7xxx driver at install time. i have tried using RH7.3 and the same thing happens. when i have tried using win 2000 server, the card works fine so i am guessing that its deffenatly the linux driver.

spikes

Member Avatar for spikes

Hey,
I have been having a look at the adaptec scsi driver problem again to day. i am now sure that is the adaptec driver for fedora and redhat that is not working. i have managed to boot knoppix just fine it has found and can use the drives through the scsi interface, using the adaptec driver it has in its system.

so my next question, does anyone know if the aic7xxx driver will be fixed in the fedora core 2 reliese?

and next is there a way i could now install fedora to the hard disks using knoppix as some form of go-between?

cheers

spikes

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