Bug#460471: CDROM Drive not reliable during install
On Sunday 13 January 2008, Jessica Aldis wrote:
> I will do (1) as soon as possible. I'm pretty unkeen to try (3) until I
> have to, and my feeling at the moment is that this isn't a driver issue so
> I'll leave (2) till last.
>
> But I _do_ think there's an install system issue around DMA use for IDE
> CDROM drives in etch. A Google search hits lots of the same problem, in
> other releases.
Yes, we're aware of that, but that still does not make it an issue that is
specific to the installer. Any issues that are present during installation
should also be there after the installation as the installer just uses the
exact same drivers and default setup for accessing CDs as an installed
system.
> And all-generic-ide _did_ remove DMA use from the CDROM driver _and_ did
> help.
Those are two different things. If you want to try without DMA, just switch
to a debug shell and do 'echo using_dma:0 >/proc/ide/hdX/settings' (with
hdX the correct device for your CD drive). Then check by catting that file
that DMA is off.
Again, I'm really surprised that all-generic-ide makes a difference as I
would think you don't have a SATA controller. What is the output
of 'lspci -nn' (only need the line for your IDE (or SATA) controller)?
> An alternative that I prefer is to get the files from the install CDROM
> onto the laptop's hard disk, which I think I can do by physically
> installing it in another PC.
You'll probably need a special cable or connector for that though.
[...]
> Do you think this could work?
It should work as long as you realize that you won't be able to change the
partitioning on the hard disk.
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