Re: Installing Sarge on Dell Inspiron 9400
B Thomas wrote:
>So I did create a file /etc/modutils/libata with content :
>
>add options libata atapi_enabled=1
>
>
>
/etc/modutils/libata should read:
options libata atapi_enabled=1
not
>add options libata atapi_enabled=1
>
>
>
Perhaps that is where your problem lies...
>However on rebooting the problem persists. Your identification
>of the problem seems to be right on target (thank you) as dmesg
>shows me :
>
>ide0: I/O resource 0x1F0-0x1F7 not free.
>ide0: ports already in use, skipping probe
>ide1: I/O resource 0x170-0x177 not free.
>ide1: ports already in use, skipping probe
>
>
That's ide-generic reporting that the resources for the SATA controller
are being used (by ata_piix) and cannot be configured. You would see a
similar output in dmesg if ide-generic locked the SATA controller before
ata_piix.
>Does this mean I have to prevent ide-core, ide-disk, ide-cd modules
>form loading.
>
It means that both ata_piix and ide-generic are trying to configure the
SATA controller. Which one configures the controller depends on which
module is loaded first!!
>Can I use modutils for this ? Could you kindly point
>me to any docs on how it is done ? (I can recompile my kernel only
>after I have a reasonable debian install with kpkg). In general
>what must one read to understand all the details about modules,
>initrd images etc ?
>
>
I'm not sure if modutils can keep these modules from loading. They're
loaded from the initrd at boot prior to the root fs being mounted.
I've always found that generating a custom initrd was the easiest
solution. Re-compiling the kernel is not necessary.
Configure /etc/mkinitrd/mkinitrd.conf and /etc/mkinitrd/modules....
Edit mkinitrd.conf to your liking, then edit the modules file and
include only the modules needed to mount the root fs. For your setup you
could append ata_piix and ext3 (or whatever fs u used) to the file. Then
regenerate a custom initrd.
ex:
mkinitrd -o /boot/initrd.img-custom
Then re-configure your boot loader, add an *extra* boot image that uses
the custom initrd. Run a test boot. If things appear to be correct, then
you can safely use the new initrd as opposed to the debian one. Once you
configure mkinitrd any debian stock kernel upgrade will generate a
initrd image based on that configuration.
>I did try looking in the bios if there was any option to turn of
>ide compatibility mode for the cd/dvd. I could find none. The bios
>seems to be very minimalistic compared to those I was familiar with
>from a few years ago. There are very few things that can be changed.
>
>
>
My laptop is the same way. Sucks, doesn't it.
Stefan
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