Re: IDE Problem with old Gateway laptop (1998 solo 2300)

Re: IDE Problem with old Gateway laptop (1998 solo 2300)

[Declan Moriarty]

On Thu, 2007-10-25 at 21:11 +0200, Bartlomiej Zolnierkiewicz wrote: 
> Hi,
> 
> On Thursday 25 October 2007, Declan Moriarty wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > You're down as the maintainer of the ide code, and I'm hoping for a
> > diagnosis. This mail is largely because I'm sure you're more familiar
> > with kernel boot messages than I am.
> > 
> > This laptop currently has
> > hda1 - windows 2000 2 Gigs
> > hda4 - linux system 1 Gig
> > 
> > The linux system uses kernel-2.6.22.6, uClibc-0.9.29 & gcc-4.1.2, and
> > was compiled on a box here with a uname hack, as  the laptop has a
> > pentium-233 only. Then it was copied on with a usb stick (which the bios
> > won't boot from, of course) I do have floppy, but no networking or
> > cdrom. Booting is currently from a grub floppy.
> > 
> > The kernel on hda4 boots, finds things and gets this far
> 
> If hda drive is found and configured correctly this is most likely
> not an IDE problem (user-space compiled for CPU newer than i586?
> configuration problem?) but can't tell for sure.

I did use a uname hack, so the last kernel tried was compiled for i486
with all chipset bugfix code. 
> 
> > kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds
> > EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode
> > VFS: mounted root (ext3 filesystem) readonly
> > Freeing unused kernel memory: <so much> freed
> 
> IDE kernel messages would be far more useful...
> 
> PS Please cc: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org mailing list on IDE problems so
>    the mail reaches more knowledgeable people who may be able to help.
> 
> Thanks,
> Bart
> 
> > But I never get to this
> > 
> > EXT3 FS on hda4, internal journal 
> > 
> > which is the next line on a good boot. Instead the kernel folds it's
> > arms, the disk goes quiet, no error shows, and everything sits back. USB
> > devices will register & deregister, but booting stops and even
> > init=/bin/bash won't happen
> > 
> > I have tried several kernels. The chipset, btw is the Intel 82371
> > Southbridge and Intel 82439 Northbridge. The hard disk is 6282/16/63 or
> > 721/128/63, but if I try the old driver with lba & large disk access, it
> > also reads and boots the kernel (Up above cylinder 4000), and then
> > complains (At the same point as the others) that it can only handle 16
> > heads, and we appear to have 128! Disable lba & large disk access for
> > the old driver, (There's real health warnings on that!) and the old
> > driver behaves in an identical fashion to the new.
> > This makes me think grub is handing over to the kernel driver, but I
> > just don't know.
> > We're on 'fast PIO 4' because any faster settings (3 weirdo dma options)
> > seem to barf

OK, IDE messages: (transcribed)

Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00alpha2
ide: Assuning 33Mhz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with
idebus=xx
PIIX4: IDE controller at PCU slot 0000:00:01linux-ide@vger.kernel.org
PIIX4: chipset revision 1
PIIX4: not 100% native, will probe irqs later 
ide0: BM-DMA at 0xfcd0-0xfcd7, BIOS settings: hda:pio, hda:pio
ide1: BM-DMA at 0xfcd8-0xfcdf, BIOS settings: hdc:pio, hdd:pio
hda: HITATCHI_DK226A-32, ATA DISK drive
ide0; at 0x1f0-1f7 on irq 14
hda: 6332256 sectors (3242MB) w/128KiB Cache CHS=6282/16/63 DMA
hda: hda1, hda4

It doesn't find the time source or the PS/2 mouse very easily, so if IDE
relies on that, that could be the issue. The ide messages all come in a
bundle. Ide1 has no devices.

Booting the same kernel on a newer box gives me these differences.
In place of the first two lines beginning 'PIIX4' I get similar lines
beginning 'VP_IDE'
Then comes
VP_IDE: VIA vt8235 (rev 00) IDE UDMA133 controller on pci0000:00:11.1
    ide0: BM-DMA at 0xdc00-0xdc07, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:pio
    ide1: BM-DMA at 0xdc08-0xdc0f, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:pio
Probing IDE interface ide0...
...
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
Probing IDE interface ide1...
hdc: TOSHIBA CD/DVDW SDR5372V, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
hda: max request size: 512KiB
hda: 156301488 sectors (80026 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=16383/255/63,
UDMA(100)
hda: cache flushes supported
 hda: hda1 hda2 hda3 hda4 < hda5 hda6 hda7 hda8 hda9 >
hdc: ATAPI 48X DVD-ROM DVD-R CD-R/RW drive, 2048kB Cache, UDMA(33)
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20


I suspect a 1024 cylinder limit problem. The kernel lies above cylinder
4000 and I have no way of finding out where. But grub finds it, loads
it, and boots it! The only other access is under tomsrtbt, which won't
chroot into the new system. Windows 2000 also boots from a grub boot
floppy, but I have to kill that (and my usb connection with it) to come
in under 1024 cylinders. Bios are the latest revision afaict.

Please cc me on this as I am not a programmer and am not on the list.
-- 
        With Best Regards,

        Declan Moriarty

Re: IDE Problem with old Gateway laptop (1998 solo 2300)

[Declan Moriarty]

On Fri, 2007-10-26 at 11:21 +0100, Declan Moriarty wrote:

> > > This laptop currently has
> > > hda1 - windows 2000 2 Gigs
> > > hda4 - linux system 1 Gig
> > > 
> > > The linux system uses kernel-2.6.22.6, uClibc-0.9.29 & gcc-4.1.2, and
> > > was compiled on a box here with a uname hack, as  the laptop has a
> > > pentium-233 only. Then it was copied on with a usb stick (which the bios
> > > won't boot from, of course) I do have floppy, but no networking or
> > > cdrom. Booting is currently from a grub floppy.
> > > 
> > > The kernel on hda4 boots, finds things and gets this far
> > 
> > If hda drive is found and configured correctly this is most likely
> > not an IDE problem (user-space compiled for CPU newer than i586?
> > configuration problem?) but can't tell for sure.
> 
> I did use a uname hack, so the last kernel tried was compiled for i486
> with all chipset bugfix code. 
> > 
> > > kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds
> > > EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode
> > > VFS: mounted root (ext3 filesystem) readonly
> > > Freeing unused kernel memory: <so much> freed
> > 
> > IDE kernel messages would be far more useful...
> > 
> > PS Please cc: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org mailing list on IDE problems so
> >    the mail reaches more knowledgeable people who may be able to help.

> > > But I never get to this
> > > 
> > > EXT3 FS on hda4, internal journal 
> > > 
> > > which is the next line on a good boot. Instead the kernel folds it's
> > > arms, the disk goes quiet, no error shows, and everything sits back. USB
> > > devices will register & deregister, but booting stops and even
> > > init=/bin/bash won't happen
> > > 
> > > I have tried several kernels. The chipset, btw is the Intel 82371
> > > Southbridge and Intel 82439 Northbridge. The hard disk is 6282/16/63 or
> > > 721/128/63, but if I try the old driver with lba & large disk access, it
> > > also reads and boots the kernel (Up above cylinder 4000), and then
> > > complains (At the same point as the others) that it can only handle 16
> > > heads, and we appear to have 128! Disable lba & large disk access for
> > > the old driver, (There's real health warnings on that!) and the old
> > > driver behaves in an identical fashion to the new.
> > > This makes me think grub is handing over to the kernel driver, but I
> > > just don't know.
> > > We're on 'fast PIO 4' because any faster settings (3 weirdo dma options)
> > > seem to barf
> 
> OK, IDE messages: (transcribed)
> 
> Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00alpha2
> ide: Assuning 33Mhz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with
> idebus=xx
> PIIX4: IDE controller at PCU slot 0000:00:01linux-ide@vger.kernel.org
> PIIX4: chipset revision 1
> PIIX4: not 100% native, will probe irqs later 
> ide0: BM-DMA at 0xfcd0-0xfcd7, BIOS settings: hda:pio, hda:pio
> ide1: BM-DMA at 0xfcd8-0xfcdf, BIOS settings: hdc:pio, hdd:pio
> hda: HITATCHI_DK226A-32, ATA DISK drive
> ide0; at 0x1f0-1f7 on irq 14
> hda: 6332256 sectors (3242MB) w/128KiB Cache CHS=6282/16/63 DMA
> hda: hda1, hda4

Let me give you a laugh on this, and you can tell me if anyone can solve
it quickly or slowly.

I got fed up with this, and dumped windows. I feared that the correct
cylinders value was getting through lba to nobble access above 1024
cylinders. So I repartitioned and got the entire thing below the most
pessimistic 1024 cylinders; It's all below the 504MB limit.

The same thing exactly happens, which would indicate that 1024 cylinder
problem was not the cause. I've also lost usb access, because my shiny
new system won't boot, and windows has been overwritten.

That leaves me curious as hell as to what's going on.
-- 
        With Best Regards,

        Declan Moriarty

Re: IDE Problem with old Gateway laptop (1998 solo 2300)

[Declan Moriarty]

On Sun, 2007-10-28 at 20:13 -0700, Vlad Codrea wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Have you tried compiling only libata in the kernel? Libata, being
> newer, might work on your laptop even if the old drivers/ide does not.

One of the kernels has that compiled in, along with drivers. It's a
one-size-fits-all kernel, tested on many machines.
I really doubt if libata alone would do much for me, as the disk and
bios doesn't really want to know about ata at all. We're 1998 here,
remember. ATA has to be disabled for this to read the disk at all.

I did chase for an old 2.4.18 kernel from my last laptop, and that halts
at the same place with a complaint about devices, (Can't open an initial
console) so I'm tarring the 2.4 /dev directory (7.5MB) bzipping it
(86k!!) and sending it over and I'll try that next. I'll probably go
down in flames later in the boot, but we'll see...

Nearly identical IDE messages - all the lines about PIIX4 as before,
then
hda: 6332256 sectors (3242MB) w/128Kib Cache, CHS=6282/16/63, DMA
Partition check:
 hda: [PIBL] [785/128/63] hda1 hda2 hda3 hda4 (That's right - there's
more of them now.)

Well, I got rid of the 'initial console' error. I still get to
EXT3-fs mounted root (ext3 filesystem) readonly
Freeing unused kernel memory: 220k freed
__WE HALT HERE__
No initial console error (it evidently was opened) and then ???
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/ref-guide/s1-boot-init-shutdown-process.html
end of section 1.2.3

Evidently some failure to launch init.
 
-- 
Declan Moriarty <declan.moriarty@iol.ie>

Re: IDE Problem with old Gateway laptop (1998 solo 2300)

[Alan Cox]

> I really doubt if libata alone would do much for me, as the disk and
> bios doesn't really want to know about ata at all. We're 1998 here,
> remember. ATA has to be disabled for this to read the disk at all.

1998 is well into the world of ATA (IDE is just a confusing othername)

>From your info there isn't enough to debug this. 

Boot the kernel with initcall_debug=1

and it will spew a list of each initializer as it calls it, you can then
see which is the last called and look it up in the symbol table

Re: IDE Problem with old Gateway laptop (1998 solo 2300)

[Declan Moriarty]

On Mon, 2007-10-29 at 11:20 +0000, Alan Cox wrote: 
> > I really doubt if libata alone would do much for me, as the disk and
> > bios doesn't really want to know about ata at all. We're 1998 here,
> > remember. ATA has to be disabled for this to read the disk at all.
> 
> 1998 is well into the world of ATA (IDE is just a confusing othername)
Yeah I read it as 'faster ide' but the board/disk won't do it. The disk
seems up to it, but something else is dodgy.
> 
> From your info there isn't enough to debug this. 
> 
> Boot the kernel with initcall_debug=1
> 
> and it will spew a list of each initializer as it calls it, you can then
> see which is the last called and look it up in the symbol table

That's the sort of thing a luser like me needs to know! 
/busies himself compiling a _working_ 2.6.22.6 kernel without gigabytes
of network stuff clogging buffers and with symbols in . . . split & load
by floppy, Reassemble.

Much later:
These initcalls all came in, ran for a 0-5 milliseconds, and returned
zero unless otherwise stated. There are more, but they're at the
beginning of the kernel, when it's setting itself up. I can copy the lot
if needed.

dma_bus_init
pci_legacy_init (ran for 6 msec)
	Probing PCI hardware
	PCI quirk; region 8000-803f claimed by PIIX4 ACPI
	PCI quirk: region 2180-218f claimed by PIIX4 SMB
	PIIX4 devres B PIO at 0398-0399
	PIIX4 devres C PIO at 0372-0373
	PIIX4 devres E PIO at 0370-0371
	PIIX4 devres G PIO at 0388-038f
pcibios_irq_init
	PCI: Discovered primary peer bus ff [IRQ]
	PCI: Using IRQ router PIIX/ICH [8086/7110] at 0000:00:01:0
	PCI: Found IRQ 10 for device 0000:00:0a:0
pcibios_init
..
procswaps_init
init_tmpfs
slab_sysfs
fasync_init
aio_setup
inotify_setup
inotify_user_setup
init_mbcache
dnotify_init
init_devpts_fs
init_ext3_fs
journal_init
init_ext2_fs
init_ramfs_fs
init_minix_fs
init_fat_fs
init_msdos_fs
init_vfat_fs
init_nls_cp437
init_nls_utf8
ipc_init
ipc_sysctl_init
crypto+algapi_init
cryptomgr_init
hmac_module_init
init+0x0/0x10
noop_init
as_init
	io scheduler <blah>
deadline_init
	io scheduler <blah>
deadline_init
	io scheduler <blah>
cfq_init
	io scheduler <blah>
bloct_trace_init
audit_classes_init
pci_init
	Limiting direct PCI/PCI transfers
pci_proc_init
fb_console_init
vesafb_init
rand_initialize
tty_init *** ran for 26 msec***
pty_init
rtc_init
	RTC <blah>
nvram_init
serial8250_init
serial9250_pci_init
isa_bus_init
floppy_init
	Floppy <blah>
***Ran for 15 msec***(asterisks mine)

loop_init
net_olddevs_init
loopback_init
videodev_init
	Linux video Capture <blah>
rz1000_ide_init
generic_ide_init
ide_init
	Uniform  Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision 7.00alpha2
	ide assuming 33 Mhz
ide_generic_init
	Hitatchi_DK226A-32 ATA disk drive
	ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7 on irq 14
*** ide_generic_init took 1446 msec to run***(asterisks mine)


idedisk_init
	hda: max request size:128KiB
	hda: 6332256 sectors (3242 MB) w/128 KiB Cache CHS=6282/16/63
	hda: hda1 hda2 hda3 hda4
*** Ran for 18 msec*** (asterisks mine)

mon_init
i8042_init
	PNP: No PS/2 controller found, probing ports directly
	serio i8042 KBD port at <blah>
	serio:i8042 AUX port at <blah>
i8042_init
serport_init
mousedev_init
	mouse PS/2 mouse <blah>
atkbd_init
psmouse_init
hid_init
	<USB blurb>
hid_init
flow_cache_init
xfrm_user_init
	Initialising XFRM Netlink Socket
af_unix_init
	NET: Registered protocol family 1
packet_init
	NET: Registered protocol family 17

***powernow_init***  Returned -19 (asterisks mine)

check_nmi_watchdog
apic_bug_finalize
print_ipi_mode
	Using IPI Shortcut mode
random32_reseed
pci_sysfs_init
seqgen_init
early_uart_console_switch
tcp_congestion_default
	input: PS2++ Logitech Touchpad 3 as class/input/input0
	input: AT keyboard as class/input/input1
	kjournald Commit interval 5 seconds
	EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode
	VFS: Mounted root (ext3 filesystem) readonly
	Freeing unused kernel memory: 176k freed

Looking right back to the beginning, it ran a thing it called the
Locking API Testsuite
The summary was "145 out of 218 testcases failed, as expected" 

Re: IDE Problem with old Gateway laptop (1998 solo 2300)

[Vlad Codrea]

--- Declan Moriarty <declan.moriarty@iol.ie> wrote:
> On Mon, 2007-10-29 at 11:20 +0000, Alan Cox wrote: 
> > 1998 is well into the world of ATA (IDE is just a confusing
> othername)
> Yeah I read it as 'faster ide' but the board/disk won't do it. The
> disk
> seems up to it, but something else is dodgy.
> > 
> > From your info there isn't enough to debug this. 
> > 
> > Boot the kernel with initcall_debug=1
> > 
> > and it will spew a list of each initializer as it calls it, you
> can then
> > see which is the last called and look it up in the symbol table
> ide_init
...
> 	Uniform  Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision 7.00alpha2
> 	ide assuming 33 Mhz
> ide_generic_init
> 	Hitatchi_DK226A-32 ATA disk drive
> 	ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7 on irq 14
> *** ide_generic_init took 1446 msec to run***(asterisks mine)
> 
> 
> idedisk_init
> 	hda: max request size:128KiB
> 	hda: 6332256 sectors (3242 MB) w/128 KiB Cache CHS=6282/16/63
> 	hda: hda1 hda2 hda3 hda4
> *** Ran for 18 msec*** (asterisks mine)

The above output seems to indicate that the kernel is still relying on
drivers/ide instead of libata. To change this, I'd suggest setting
"CONFIG_IDE=n" and "CONFIG_ATA=y" in your .config before compiling the
kernel. Also, make sure everything that starts with CONFIG_ATA,
CONFIG_PATA, CONFIG_SATA, and CONFIG_SCSI is set to "y".

Vlad

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Re: IDE Problem with old Gateway laptop (1998 solo 2300)

[Declan Moriarty]

> The above output seems to indicate that the kernel is still relying on
> drivers/ide instead of libata. To change this, I'd suggest setting
> "CONFIG_IDE=n" and "CONFIG_ATA=y" in your .config before compiling the
> kernel. Also, make sure everything that starts with CONFIG_ATA,
> CONFIG_PATA, CONFIG_SATA, and CONFIG_SCSI is set to "y".

OK, managed this at the second attempt.
Checked the .config with grep . I even thought of converting hda to sda
in fstab & grub. First time I failed to compile in ext3, so I got
'couldn't mount root' stuff. This time I'm using the system above the
1024 cylinder limit, so I'd expect that 'couldn't mount root' again if
it couldn't read it. Apparently the 1024 cylinder thing was a red
herring.

We wait at exactly the same place. Typing onscreen works. I'll spare you
all the initcalls, and just mention the relevant ones

pci_init returned this
	Limiting Direct PCI/PCI transfers

loopback_init
scsi_tgt_init
init_sd
init_sg
ahci_init
k2_sata_init
piix_init
	scsi0: ata_piix
	scsi1: ata_piix
	ata1: PATA max udma/33 cmd 0x000101f0 ctl 0x000103f6 bmdma 0x0001fcd0
irq 14
	ata2: PATA max udma/33 cmd 0x00010170 ctl 0x00010376 bmdma 0x0001fcd8
irq 15
	ATA1.00: ATA-3 HITATCHI_DK226A-32 00T0A0A0 max MWDMA2
	ATA1.00: 6332256 sectors multi 16: LBA
	ATA1.00: configured for MWDMA2
	scsi 0:0:0:0 Direct Access ATA Hitatchi_DK226A-3 00T0 PQ: 0 ANSI 5
	sd 0:0:0:0 [sda] 6332256 512-byte hardware sectors (3242MB)
	sd 0:0:0:0 [sda] Write Protect is off
	sd 0:0:0:0 [sda] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled doesn't
support DPO or FUA
	sda: sda1 sda2 sda3 ssda4
	sd 0:0:0:0 [sda] Attached scsi disk
	sd 0:0:0:0 [sda] Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
(piix_init returned 0 ran for 383 msec. The following ones ran for 0
msec)

pdc_ata_init
qs_ata_init
sil_init
sil24_init
svia_init
vsc_sata_init
sis_init
pdc_sata_init
nv_init
uli_init
mv_init
inic_init
adma_ata_init
ali_init
amd_init
artop_init
atiixp_init
cmd640_init
cs5520_init
cs5530_init
cs5535_init
cy82c693_init
efar_init
hpt36x_init
hpt37x_init
hpt3x2n_init
hpt3x3_init
it821x_init
it8213_init
jmicron_init
netcell_init
ns87410_init
opti_init
optidma_init
marvell_init
mpiix_init
piix_init
oldpiix_init 
pdc2027x_init
pdc202xx_init
qdi_init
radisys_init
rz1000_init
sc1200_init
serverworks_init
sil680_init
via_init
sl82c105_init
winbond_init
sis_init
triflex_init
ata_generic_init
legacy_init
mon_init
..
pcspeaker_init (ran for 375 msec)
io_apic_bug_finalize
pci_sysfs_init
scsi_complete_async_scans
tcp_congestion_default
	kjournald starting Commit interval 5 seconds
	VFS: Mounted root (ext3 filesystem) readonly
	Freeing unused kernel memory: 168k freed
(keyboard still echoed onscreen, disk parked)

Adding init=/bin/bash is no better.

Just to nail the possibility, I also did a chroot into the system I
built (here on an Athlon which is on that laptop) and ran the init
program. I got one very surprised and confused init, but it ran until I
killed it. 

I'm hoping just for a diagnosis - "X is wrong" I gather the ide stuff is
old, but ok
Please 'reply to all' as I'm not on the list.

Re: IDE Problem with old Gateway laptop (1998 solo 2300)

[Alan Cox]

> 	kjournald starting Commit interval 5 seconds
> 	VFS: Mounted root (ext3 filesystem) readonly
> 	Freeing unused kernel memory: 168k freed
> (keyboard still echoed onscreen, disk parked)
> 
> Adding init=/bin/bash is no better.

So its the user space which is broken. Make sure the user space has the
right /dev etc - and is for the right CPU - a 200MHz pentium means you
need i386 or i586 binaries. i686/athlon binaries would produce the effect
you report.

Alan

Re: IDE Problem with old Gateway laptop (1998 solo 2300)

[Vlad Codrea]

--- Declan Moriarty <declan.moriarty@iol.ie> wrote:
> piix_init
> 	scsi0: ata_piix
> 	scsi1: ata_piix
> 	ata1: PATA max udma/33 cmd 0x000101f0 ctl 0x000103f6 bmdma
> 0x0001fcd0
> irq 14
> 	ata2: PATA max udma/33 cmd 0x00010170 ctl 0x00010376 bmdma
> 0x0001fcd8
> irq 15
> 	ATA1.00: ATA-3 HITATCHI_DK226A-32 00T0A0A0 max MWDMA2
> 	ATA1.00: 6332256 sectors multi 16: LBA
> 	ATA1.00: configured for MWDMA2
> 	scsi 0:0:0:0 Direct Access ATA Hitatchi_DK226A-3 00T0 PQ: 0 ANSI 5
> 	sd 0:0:0:0 [sda] 6332256 512-byte hardware sectors (3242MB)
> 	sd 0:0:0:0 [sda] Write Protect is off
> 	sd 0:0:0:0 [sda] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled doesn't
> support DPO or FUA
> 	sda: sda1 sda2 sda3 ssda4
> 	sd 0:0:0:0 [sda] Attached scsi disk
> 	sd 0:0:0:0 [sda] Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
> (piix_init returned 0 ran for 383 msec. The following ones ran for 0
> msec)
> 
> I'm hoping just for a diagnosis - "X is wrong"

I agree that the problem is in userspace. I can think of two
diagnoses:

1) The userspace components of the distro you’re using are
mis-configured. To eliminate this possibility, boot the computer from
Debian installation floppies:
 
http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/unstable/main/installer-i386/current/images/floppy/

See installation instructions below:
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/apas02.html.en#howto-getting-images-floppy

At one point during the Debian installation, you’ll be able to press
“Alt-Ctrl-F2” and get a console. From here you can manually mount the
various partitions. If you can mount and read the partitions, then
everything is fine and you can go ahead and install Debian or another
distro. If any step fails, try to capture the output of the ‘dmesg’
command from the console and email it to the list.

2) If mounting fails, your drives might be formatted with a
proprietary Disk Drive Overlay (DDO). You would have to either a)
remove the DDO using the same proprietary software that installed it;
or b) reformat the disk.

Vlad

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