From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Sven Mueller Subject: Re: ata_piix installation/device detection problems on Dell server Date: Tue, 05 Apr 2005 02:15:49 +0200 Message-ID: <4251D8B5.4090107@incase.de> References: <425188F0.60805@incase.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Received: from mx1.ciphirelabs.net ([217.72.114.64]:44226 "EHLO mx1.ciphirelabs.net") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S261464AbVDEAPy (ORCPT ); Mon, 4 Apr 2005 20:15:54 -0400 In-Reply-To: <425188F0.60805@incase.de> Sender: linux-ide-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org To: Debian-Boot Cc: jgarzik@pobox.com, linux-ide@vger.kernel.org Hi. > The problem I experienced is as follows: > > the ata_piix driver detects PATA and SATA in combined mode (which does > seem correct as far as I can tell). However, only the HD is > detected/registered in the kernel while the CD-ROM remains > undetected/unregistered. > > I was able to work around this issue by _not_ loading the ata_piix > module at first, but load the generic ide driver module instead. Of > course, that module doesn't detect the SATA part, so I would be able to > access the CD-ROM but not the HD. However, loading ata_piix _after_ the > generic IDE driver notes that the first port is busy (PATA, used by > ide_generic) and only initializes the SATA part. This makes it possible > to access both SATA (HD) and PATA (CD). I just found out that libata by default doesn't support PATA devices. This can be changed in include/linux/libata.h (or so) at compile time of the kernel by defining ATA_ENABLE_PATA (it's #undef'ed there by default). Since ata_piix blocks the PATA part of the chip(set), it would be good if either that default is changed to enable PATA in libata drivers or that ata_piix doesn't touch the PATA part when ATA_ENABLE_PATA isn't defined (or, preferably, both). Regarding debian-installer, I guess there are currently three ways to solve this: 1) Re-compile the kernel with ATA_ENABLE_PATA defined (which is currently only used in ata_piix.c anyway, so it shouldn't have ill side effects) 2) Document the problem and provide a description of the possible workaround. 3) Implement the workaround in debian-installer. (Loading the generic IDE driver (ide_generic?) before ata_piix) I would prefer to see (1), but I assume this will not happen pre-Sarge. PS: I created a bug report for debian-installer (#303135). > If anyone wants access to the machine in question, I guess I could > arrange both root and serial console access to it for a limited time. > Will have to check with my boss though. Tell me if you would need that. The offer still stands. Regards, Sven > PS: Please Cc me in answers unless you also send a copy to the > debian-boot mailinglist (which I read).