Red Hat Linux Install Failure with Promise FastTrak TX Onboard SATA150 RAID Chipset

[Ron Herardian]

Problem title: Red Hat Linux Install Failure with Promise FastTrak TX Onboard SATA150 RAID
Chipset
Problem reported: January 26, 2004
Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, Red Hat Fedora

Red Hat installer (anaconda) reports "no hard drives have been found." Problem
occurs when installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 (Kernel 2.4.21) or Red Hat Fedora on
machines using ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe (BIOS revision 1011) motherboards. The boards have
Promise Technologies FastTrak TX 378/TX2plus SATA150 onboard RAID controllers (BIOS
revision 1.00.0.37).

The RAID drivers are not loaded correctly by the Red Hat installer after following expert
steps necessary to load disk drivers from a diskette prior to installation. After
inserting the driver disk and selecting the appropriate driver, the Red Hat installer
reports "no hard drives have been found" although the machine's hard drives
have been properly installed and configured. RAID 1 configurations with 2 ATA/EIDE and
also with 2 SATA150 drives have been tested.

The initial release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 3 and Fedora supported Intel ICH5
and Silicon Image SATA chipsets but did not support the Promise SATA chipset, although
support has been planned for later releases. In the interim, both ASUS and Promise
distributed drivers for Red Hat Linux 9 and later.

The drivers available from ASUS and Promise only work when compiled/installed/configured
on a running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 or Fedora system. This is only applicable when the
OS has already been installed onto a non-RAID/non-mirrored boot disk, i.e., the drivers
only allow the user to add a SATA or IDE RAID array to a previously installed/configured
machine.

To provide for mirrored (RAID 1) boot disks it is necessary to install the OS directly
onto a (RAID 1) array, not after the OS has been installed. For new installations, where
there is no OS on the machine, is not possible for the user to first compile the driver
and then install the OS for the first time.

The following drivers from the ASUS and Promise web sites were tested:

1. [ASUS] FastTrak TX4000/376/S150 TX Series Linux Driver Version 1.00.0.13 SMP
2. [ASUS] FastTrak TX4000/376/S150 TX Series Linux Driver Version 1.00.0.13
3. [Promise] FastTrak TX4000/376/378/S150 TX Series Linux Driver Version 1.00.0.18
4. [Promise] FastTrak TX4000/376/378/S150 TX Series Linux Driver Version 1.00.0.19
5. [Promise] SATA150 Series Linux Driver Version 1.00.0.11 for Red Hat Linux 8.0/9

None of the drivers listed worked during installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 or
Fedora.

The solution required for mirrored RAID 1 boot disks is a driver that correctly supports
the Promise Technologies FastTrak TX 378/TX2plus SATA150 onboard RAID controller at
install time so that the Red Hat installer can access the RAID array.

This issue has been reported to ASUS, Promise Technologies, and Red Hat.

[Guy Fraser]

Ron Herardian wrote:

> Problem title: Red Hat Linux Install Failure with Promise FastTrak TX
> Onboard SATA150 RAID Chipset
> Problem reported: January 26, 2004
> Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, Red Hat Fedora
>
> Red Hat installer (anaconda) reports "no hard drives have been found." Problem
> occurs when installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 (Kernel 2.4.21) or Red Hat Fedora on
> machines using ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe (BIOS revision 1011) motherboards. The boards have
> Promise Technologies FastTrak TX 378/TX2plus SATA150 onboard RAID controllers (BIOS
> revision 1.00.0.37).
>
> The RAID drivers are not loaded correctly by the Red Hat installer after following expert
> steps necessary to load disk drivers from a diskette prior to installation. After
> inserting the driver disk and selecting the appropriate driver, the Red Hat installer
> reports "no hard drives have been found" although the machine's hard drives
> have been properly installed and configured. RAID 1 configurations with 2 ATA/EIDE and
> also with 2 SATA150 drives have been tested.
>
> The initial release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 3 and Fedora supported Intel ICH5
> and Silicon Image SATA chipsets but did not support the Promise SATA chipset, although
> support has been planned for later releases. In the interim, both ASUS and Promise
> distributed drivers for Red Hat Linux 9 and later.
>
> The drivers available from ASUS and Promise only work when compiled/installed/configured
> on a running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 or Fedora system. This is only applicable when the
> OS has already been installed onto a non-RAID/non-mirrored boot disk, i.e., the drivers
> only allow the user to add a SATA or IDE RAID array to a previously installed/configured
> machine.
>
> To provide for mirrored (RAID 1) boot disks it is necessary to install the OS directly
> onto a (RAID 1) array, not after the OS has been installed. For new installations, where
> there is no OS on the machine, is not possible for the user to first compile the driver
> and then install the OS for the first time.
>
> The following drivers from the ASUS and Promise web sites were tested:
>
> 1. [ASUS] FastTrak TX4000/376/S150 TX Series Linux Driver Version 1.00.0.13 SMP
> 2. [ASUS] FastTrak TX4000/376/S150 TX Series Linux Driver Version 1.00.0.13
> 3. [Promise] FastTrak TX4000/376/378/S150 TX Series Linux Driver Version 1.00.0.18
> 4. [Promise] FastTrak TX4000/376/378/S150 TX Series Linux Driver Version 1.00.0.19
> 5. [Promise] SATA150 Series Linux Driver Version 1.00.0.11 for Red Hat Linux 8.0/9
>
> None of the drivers listed worked during installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 or
> Fedora.
>
> The solution required for mirrored RAID 1 boot disks is a driver that correctly supports
> the Promise Technologies FastTrak TX 378/TX2plus SATA150 onboard RAID controller at
> install time so that the Red Hat installer can access the RAID array.
>
> This issue has been reported to ASUS, Promise Technologies, and Red Hat.
>   
>  
Asus has really poor linux support!

Drivers are very slow to come out and when they do, they are for outdated kernels. I have
had nothing but problems with Asus cards
and boards under linux.

[Dean Mumby]

Ron Herardian wrote:

> Problem title: Red Hat Linux Install Failure with Promise FastTrak TX
> Onboard SATA150 RAID Chipset
> Problem reported: January 26, 2004
> Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, Red Hat Fedora
>
> Red Hat installer (anaconda) reports "no hard drives have been found." Problem
> occurs when installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 (Kernel 2.4.21) or Red Hat Fedora on
> machines using ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe (BIOS revision 1011) motherboards. The boards have
> Promise Technologies FastTrak TX 378/TX2plus SATA150 onboard RAID controllers (BIOS
> revision 1.00.0.37).
>
> The RAID drivers are not loaded correctly by the Red Hat installer after following expert
> steps necessary to load disk drivers from a diskette prior to installation. After
> inserting the driver disk and selecting the appropriate driver, the Red Hat installer
> reports "no hard drives have been found" although the machine's hard drives
> have been properly installed and configured. RAID 1 configurations with 2 ATA/EIDE and
> also with 2 SATA150 drives have been tested.
>
> The initial release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 3 and Fedora supported Intel ICH5
> and Silicon Image SATA chipsets but did not support the Promise SATA chipset, although
> support has been planned for later releases. In the interim, both ASUS and Promise
> distributed drivers for Red Hat Linux 9 and later.
>
> The drivers available from ASUS and Promise only work when compiled/installed/configured
> on a running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 or Fedora system. This is only applicable when the
> OS has already been installed onto a non-RAID/non-mirrored boot disk, i.e., the drivers
> only allow the user to add a SATA or IDE RAID array to a previously installed/configured
> machine.
>
> To provide for mirrored (RAID 1) boot disks it is necessary to install the OS directly
> onto a (RAID 1) array, not after the OS has been installed. For new installations, where
> there is no OS on the machine, is not possible for the user to first compile the driver
> and then install the OS for the first time.
>
> The following drivers from the ASUS and Promise web sites were tested:
>
> 1. [ASUS] FastTrak TX4000/376/S150 TX Series Linux Driver Version 1.00.0.13 SMP
> 2. [ASUS] FastTrak TX4000/376/S150 TX Series Linux Driver Version 1.00.0.13
> 3. [Promise] FastTrak TX4000/376/378/S150 TX Series Linux Driver Version 1.00.0.18
> 4. [Promise] FastTrak TX4000/376/378/S150 TX Series Linux Driver Version 1.00.0.19
> 5. [Promise] SATA150 Series Linux Driver Version 1.00.0.11 for Red Hat Linux 8.0/9
>
> None of the drivers listed worked during installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 or
> Fedora.
>
> The solution required for mirrored RAID 1 boot disks is a driver that correctly supports
> the Promise Technologies FastTrak TX 378/TX2plus SATA150 onboard RAID controller at
> install time so that the Red Hat installer can access the RAID array.
>
> This issue has been reported to ASUS, Promise Technologies, and Red Hat.
>
>
>   
>  
Check the archives  Matthew Walburn reported having built a driver disk 
for fc1 , I tried and ended up having to install redhat 9 and then 
upgrade to fc1 using yum , this worked fine but was messy. I have 
requested Matthew Walburn post his disk or instructions which would make 
future instalations and support possible by simply compiling the 
boot-modules for whatever kernel is used by the instalation.

heres to hoping

as side note I was under the impression that the 378 supported raid 0+1 
meaning a mirror of a striped array , i tried this by creating the 
striped array did the install and then once i got the 2 extra drives , 
tried to create a mirror of the array , but alas it did not work. Would 
all 4 drives have to be available to the raid controller prior to 
creating the arrays , Any ideas ?

Regards
Dean

[Matthew Walburn]

Sorry for the delay!

>  Check the archives  Matthew Walburn reported having built a driver 
>  disk for fc1 , I tried and ended up having to install redhat 9 and 
>  then upgrade to fc1 using yum , this worked fine but was messy. I have 
>  requested Matthew Walburn post his disk or instructions which would 
>  make future instalations and support possible by simply compiling the 
>  boot-modules for whatever kernel is used by the instalation. 
I have made my boot disk which I successfully was able to install 
Fedora with, available on my website at:

http://www.railwave.com/fedora_fasttrack.img

To write the image out to a disk:

dd if=fedora_fasttrack.img of=/dev/fd0u1440

I wish I had better documented how I created it. I will try to reverse 
engineer my own process and post it here and on the web as well.

Good luck!

-Matthew

--
Matthew Walburn, RHCE
Network Assistant - x. 3-4995
MIT Department of Mathematics

[Dean Mumby]

Matthew Walburn wrote:

>  Sorry for the delay!
>
> > Check the archives  Matthew Walburn reported having built a driver 
> > disk for fc1 , I tried and ended up having to install redhat 9 and 
> > then upgrade to fc1 using yum , this worked fine but was messy. I 
> > have requested Matthew Walburn post his disk or instructions which 
> > would make future instalations and support possible by simply 
> > compiling the boot-modules for whatever kernel is used by the 
> > instalation.
>
>
>  I have made my boot disk which I successfully was able to install 
>  Fedora with, available on my website at:
>
>  http://www.railwave.com/fedora_fasttrack.img
>
>  To write the image out to a disk:
>
>  dd if=fedora_fasttrack.img of=/dev/fd0u1440
>
>  I wish I had better documented how I created it. I will try to reverse 
>  engineer my own process and post it here and on the web as well.
>
>  Good luck!
>
>  -Matthew
>
>  -- 
>  Matthew Walburn, RHCE
>  Network Assistant - x. 3-4995
>  MIT Department of Mathematics
>
>  
That would be great , as i stated i struggled with compliling the ft3xx 
module for the kernel-boot

Regards
Dean

[Matthew Walburn]

>  That would be great , as i stated i struggled with compliling the 
>  ft3xx module for the kernel-boot 
I was also unable to get the ft3xx module working. I was only 
successful after I found the following module alluded to on the kernel 
mailing list:

http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0307.2/2039.html

It discusses the GPLed Promise driver pdc-ultra-1.00.0.10.tgz. This is 
the one I used in my boot disk and in all module recompiles since. It 
is still being hosted by busybox at:

http://www.busybox.net/pdc-ultra-1.00.0.10.tgz

but I have also put it on my server as well at:

http://www.railwave.com/files/pdc-ultra-1.00.0.10.tgz

and I've moved the boot disk to:

http://www.railwave.com/files/fedora_fasttrack.img

Unfortunately it may be a little while before I can figure out how I 
got this to work as I was forced to make this new "test machine" a 
temporary printer server during our Fedora/CUPS RH7.3/LPRng 
transistion! 8)

I do however, have a pdc-ultra module recompile HOWTO that I will be 
posting later in the week.

-M

--
Matthew Walburn, RHCE
Network Assistant - x. 3-4995
MIT Department of Mathematics