SATA detection

[Tony Alfrey]

Net Llama! wrote:
> On Thu, 8 Mar 2007, Tony Alfrey wrote:
>> OK, I'm trying to install blag linux, which has an installer that
>> searches for drives.  It does not find my SATA drive controller.  But
>> the bios sees the controller mounted on the PCI buss and announces the
>> two drives I installed.  When I set the bios up on this Gigabyte
>> motherboard to select boot order, it offers me a list of possible boot
>> devices.  It does not offer a "plug-in controller" like the bios on my
>> intel MB, but it does offer a SCSI option.  I assume that this must be
>> the same as a plug-in controller.
>>
>> So I cannot tell if this is a problem with the installer not knowing to
>> look for a SCSI controller or if this is a bios problem.
> 
> Is the SATA controller not being detected, or is the disk attached to it 
> not being detected?
> 

When the installer looks for hard drives, it cannot find those attached 
to the controller.  It does not separately talk about seeing a 
controller or disks, it just cannot find disks.

I see that this is a common SATA problem.  I have found a list of 
sort-of supported cards and drivers and I'm trying to piece things together.

For example, if I go into expert mode on a SuSE 9.1 disk, I see a list 
of many SCSI drivers and a few SATA drivers (blag linux is all on one CD 
so there is no room for an extensive list of driver modules).  There is 
a SATA driver for a card made by SIIG but it may not be for my card made 
by SIIG.  I see that there are a few such drivers and my 9.1 disk has 
only an older one.  There is the additional problem that this box does 
not have a floppy drive and it seems that this is the way one installs 
said driver if it is not actually on the CD.


I will look for a very recent distro that may have the necessary driver 
and then the installation can just go from the CD.  I thought I had 
actually bought a supported card, but I now see that there are several 
drivers for these cards and I may have a very new card for which they 
have changed the driver requirements.


-- 
Tony Alfrey
tonyalfrey at earthlink.net
"I'd Rather Be Sailing"