RH73 Promise ATA/133 Install Problems

Randy Broman
2003-01-04T18:41:22Z

I have a Gigabyte GA-7VRXP motherboard which has an on-board Promise 20276
ATA133/RAID controller. I want to install RH73, on the two ATA133 drives
connected
to the Promise controller. I've set up the motherboard BIOS with the
Promise 20276
interfaces as ATA (not RAID), and I want to install on the two drives in
a software
RAID configuration.

If I start the standard RH73 install it does not identify the two drives
connected
to the Promise interfaces. I tried installing with the RedHat "Supplemental
Drivers" disk/floppy, but it doesn't seem to have a driver for the
Promise. I
tried installing with the Promise ATA/RAID drivers downloaded from their
site, but their drivers seem to support only the "hardware" RAID
configuration,
not plain drives on which I would set up software RAID.

Anyone know of a solution? In general I believe there are Promise and/or
ATA133 drivers included in the kernel, and I could set up a custom drivers
disk with those to use in the install, but I don't know how to do that (if
that's the solution, instructions or pointers to a howto would be
appreciated).
Or, there may be an easier way. Advice appreciated.

(BTW I've had enough problems with Promise "hardware" RAID in the past
that I prefer to avoid this. Subsequent to the initial install I will do
a custom
kernel to support some other PCI hardware I want to use in the box, and I've
found that upgrading after installing on Promise hardware RAID can be
problematical. Given use of software RAID, I am interested in knowing
what's the best kernel version or patch to use for stability and
performance).

Pls cc me direct as I'm not a list subscriber - Thanx, Randy