[Bug 8602] Issues with IDE CDROM plus SATA HDD in Hoary RC 64-bit

[bugzilla-daemon at bugzilla.ubuntu.com]

Please do not reply to this email.  You can add comments at
http://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/show_bug.cgi?id=8602
Ubuntu | linux





------- Additional Comments From julian.sasse at gmail.com  2005-04-08 04:48 UTC -------
I tested practically every combination of SATA-related BIOS settings and
documented the resulting behavior that I see from the Hoary install CDs (I
tested both the RC and 2005-04-04 snapshots which behaved identical).  I very
much hope that this will help you to track down the issue:
These settings are all in the main system BIOS (Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG ;
motherboard is Supermicro P8SCT BIOS Rev 1.0A - which is the latest), under
Advanced -> Advanced Chipset Control -> *** On-Chip Serial ATA Setting ***:

SATA Mode: RAID
On-Chip Serial ATA: Enhanced Mode
=Hoary result: No CD, No Hard Drives detected; segfault (see above dmesg output)

SATA Mode: AHCI
On-Chip Serial ATA: Enhanced Mode
=Hoary result: No CD, No Hard Drives detected; segfault

SATA Mode: IDE
On-Chip Serial ATA: Enhanced Mode
=Hoary result: CD and All Hard Drives detected OK; segfault

SATA Mode: IDE
On-Chip Serial ATA: Auto
=Hoary result: CD and All Hard Drives detected OK; segfault

SATA Mode: IDE
On-Chip Serial ATA: Combined Mode
=Hoary result: CD and One Hard Drive detected*; NO segfault!

SATA Mode: IDE
On-Chip Serial ATA: SATA Only
=Hoary result: Cannot even boot from CD

SATA Mode: IDE
On-Chip Serial ATA: Disabled
=Hoary result: CD but No Hard Drives detected; segfault

*Note that in IDE-Combined Mode, there is a limit on the number of channels, so
a second hard drive is not detected because it is on a channel that is no longer
available to the BIOS in that mode -- this is not an Ubuntu issue (with that
setting the BIOS doesn't see the second HD either).
Why IDE-Combined Mode is the only mode that does not result in a kernel segfault
is beyond me.

Based on what I have read (concerning performance and such of BIOS-supported
software RAID vs Linux software RAID), I have decided to abandon trying the
RAID-Enhanced Mode anyway (incidentally that is the only setting in which the
integrated Intel ICH6R / LSI RAID BIOS is active).
I would however very much like to use the AHCI-Enhanced Mode setting (along with
Linux software RAID1) so that I can take advantage of the Native Command
Queueing and hotplug features (although that may require a newer 2.6 kernel -
http://linux.yyz.us/sata/sata-status.html ).

If you have any suggestions or need any test outputs then please let me know. 
Should it be possible to install the system in IDE-Enhanced Mode for now, and
then switch to AHCI-Enhanced Mode later once the issue is fixed (without having
to reinstall)?

-- 
Configure bugmail: http://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email
------- You are receiving this mail because: -------
You are the QA contact for the bug, or are watching the QA contact.