Re: Re: i865 based systems
Neal Lippman wrote:
Has anyone installed a 2.4 series kernel on a system based on the intel
I865 chipset? If so, I am wondering if there are any recommendations re:
motherboards that seem to work well.
From a quick grep through the 2.4.21 source (latest kernel available for
testing) is appears that both i865 support and sATA support are in the
kernel, which are the two major issues with this chipset (since I think
the onboard gigabit LAN became supported in 2.4.19).
As far as I can tell, there is sATA support in 2.4.21, although I cannot
figure out what the device major number or /dev entries for that would
be.
Hi Neal
Don't know how much this will help but as you've had no
other answers, here goes. I'm trying to get an i875P based
m/c to work but am still having problems, but it sounds
like you know more about kernels than me. FWIW, my machine
appears to boot OK in general under 2.4.21 but:
- I have problems with the network. I haven't yet persuaded
the network to boot properly. Once the system is up and
running, I can start it by hand (ifdown eth0; ifup eth0).
The controller on my board (it's an Intel D875PBZ mobo) is
apparently different from those supported in previous
kernels. Once I've fixed it I'll have to come back to the
disks:
- initially there were problems with disk errors and
unexpected interrupts, so I switched the BIOS to legacy mode
(the SATA disks appear as PATA but it's not possible to see
all the devices). That made the problem go away but I'll
have to come back to it when I've fixed the network.
There are apparently problems with some other SATA support
chips and perhaps with specific hard drives so check the
lists and google carefully before buying.
People say they have got these boards working but I don't
remember seeing anybody who claimed to have made native-mode
SATA work who gave full details.
Cheers, Dave
-------------------------------------------------------
Hi Neal,
I've been struggling with an Intel S875WP1-E board for the past month.
Further to Dave's comments:
- re NIC: same trouble initially, but obtained the E100-2.2.21 source
from the Intel site and compiled the drivers. This works fine now under
kernel 2.4.21. Indeed, the alternate E100 module (not the original
Becker driver) seems to do the trick;
- re onboard SATA: this board was selected as the Promise onboard SATA
controller (PDC20319) provides the option of RAID 0, 1 or 0+1. My client
wants hardware mirroring. However, the bios that shipped with the board
only allowed RAID0. After some to-ing and fro-ing with the very helpful
Hal and Joe at Intel support, I obtained the P06 bios. Ooops!!! The RAID
options had disappeared completely from the BIOS setup. Back to Intel:
obtained the updated SATARAID.exe utility, and at last I could create RAID1;
- next problem was getting the kernel to recognise the controller. After
a bit of searching the kernel.org mailing lists, etc., I found out about
the 2.4.21-atascsi1.patch and Jeff Garzik's libata. After
patching/re-compiling, the ICH5 controller was recognised and I have a
kernel that recognises the SATA drives as scsi drives - however, not as
RAID. Unlike the legacy PATA mode, the drive's entire capacity is
recognised though.
- On the Intel web site the updated drivers for this controller were
promised for release in August, but they have yet to appear. The
existing drivers (available for RedHat and Win2K/XP only) support the
SATA drives but not as a RAID. Modifying the RH modules is beyond my
competency, so I asked the Intel support people if the drivers could be
released as source at least. However, nothing yet.
It's been a disappointing experience, particularly for my client, a
small magazine publisher, who wanted to move his file and print serving
from an ageing NT4 box to Debian. He recognises the issue is not really
a Debian one, so much as an Intel one. (However, we've experienced
similar Debian-discrimination in moving his previous backup software,
Arcserve/Brightstor, to Debian: RedHat, Suse, Caldera, etc., installers,
but CA don't give Debian a real look - only so far as a client agent).
My recommendation, if you were considering buying this board or a board
with this chipset, I'd wait a couple of months until the drivers, etc.,
have been addressed more adequately.
cheers
tony
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