[plug] re installind linux

[Eric S]

Gavin Chester wrote:
>    >Subject: [plug] re installind linux
>    >
>    >
>    >to Tomas G.
>    >It is a SATA hard drive.
>    >The disc cant be faulty as I have tried @ sets
>    >chris from albany
> 
> Chris,
> 
> I've read your occasional postings and felt your anguish and heavily
> contained frustration at your problems, and I've admired your
> determination
> to keep giving it a go :-)  It shouldn't be that hard, however for this
> respondent I think I just saw a glimmer of why it is.  In a word: SATA.
> 
> I will probably be shot down because I haven't researched this matter that
> much, but recently I had my first experience with a SATA drive in my son's
> PC and it was a mixed bag.  SuSE installed with no problems and knoppix
> runs
> well off DVD, too.  However, he wanted Fedora on that drive and that's
> where
> we struck trouble.  Sometimes it wouldn't install, sometimes it would
> appear
> to install but then rebooting caused kernel panic.  We (ignorantly) tried
> passing various parameters to the kernel (like ide=nodma, acpi=off and so
> on).  Again, sometimes it wouldn't install, sometimes it would appear to
> install but fail after reboot.
> 
> I did a VERY quick bit of googling and found reports that SATA support is
> inconsistent and dependant on the type of drive controller you have on
> your
> motherboard or your type of plug-in controller card.  If you can't find a
> distribution that supports your SATA directly you may find drivers
> somewhere.  But, I think I remember reading that you were having your
> first crack at Linux, so that is probably too complex to try (it would be
> for this near-newbie).
> 
> Other than what I said above, the ultimate solution seems one of two
> options:
> 1/  see if your BIOS allows support for legacy ATA drives.  It may be
> worded differently, but look for something that allows older drives or
> older operating systems to function with your SATA drive; or
> 2/ failing that (1) working for you (it didn't for my son) the last option
> is to install a PATA drive (the recently superseded IDE type, you know?)
> and then everything should be fine for whatever distribution you want.
> 
> Sadly, you may have to wait until the release of the next kernel version
> to see improved SATA compatibility and to be able to use that super-fast
> drive
> :-(.  At least that's what I've read.
> 
> Let us know if I'm barking up the wrong tree, because I'm about to embark
> on my option 2/ with my son's PC.

This might help chris

http://tinyurl.com/jftqt

Have fun
-- 
Eric S