From: Sam Watkins <swatkins@fastmail.fm> To: Ray Kong <leikong@msn.com> CC: debian-user@lists.debian.org Subject: Re: sarge installation with kernel 2.6.8 Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 22:07:27 +1100 On Tue, Feb 01, 2005 at 05:49:55PM -0500, Ray Kong wrote: > I came back the latest office sarge netinstall cd image today, tried to > install kernel 2.6 in the very beginning. In both linux26 and expert26 > mode, the cdrom cannot be detected. You don't need to use linux26 or expert26 mode to install a 2.6 kernel. These just choose the kernel that the installer will run with. Install with a 2.4 kernel and then upgrade to a 2.6 one using apt-get or aptitude or whatever. I recommend to use grub rather than lilo, it's easier to install new kernels.
Finally, I got it working, thanks for your suggestion. The problem with kernel 2.4 is that it recognizes my SATA drive as a PATAdrive, thus runs at a much slower speed due to PATA simulation (more than 10 times slower, as I see from hdparm results). I tried to upgrade kernel to 2.6 from there, but failed, my guess is that SATA drives are listed as /dev/sd?? by kernel 2.6, while they were listed as /dev/hd?? by kernel 2.4 and thus the system
was installed on to /dev/hd??. In the end, I switched the disk controller mode from PATA/SATA combined toRAID/ATA, according to a post from dell linux forum. linux26 worked! my cdrom is detected correcly, thus I was able to installed 2.6 from scratch, my hard drive was recognized as SATA correctly. But, still had no idea what disk controller mode has got to do with cdrom detection.