how to install fresh woody on 3ware7506-LP / raid?

[Will Trillich <will@serensoft.com>]

i'm trying to get a fresh-from-cd woody install to work with (and
install on) my 3ware 7506-4LP scsi/ide raid, with no success.
if you have any suggestions, i'm all ears!

i can install MORPHIX (v4.1, kernel 2.4.21) on my system with NO
TROUBLE -- but of course it's based on unstable/testing
debian distribution, and includes lots of cruft.

the raid howtos seem to refer to hardware that's apparently
different enough from mine that i get lost -- my setup is a scsi
controller that drives two ide drives:

	pentium II
	192mb ram
	3ware escalade 7506-4lp (driver is 3w-xxxx.o)
		(acts like a scsi card, but controls ide drives)

when morphix 4.1 gets installed (like a dream) the raid shows up
like a plain old scsi drive (/dev/sda*). but i can't get woody to
cooperate with it...

i downloaded the debian boot floppy images (1.44 mb boot and
root) with raid support, thinking that they had drivers or
scanners to detect raid devices on boot-up. dmesg indicates that
the raid is detected, but there's no way to mount any /dev/sd*
partitions (see config above) during the install process. it
appears to look only for IDE drives.

[also, the driver-* 1.44mb images write ok {fdformat; dd if=
of=} but ALL wind up being un-mountable. at least all the ones i
tried (2.2.* 2.4.*). can't read them in my mac, either, and the
mac can usually decipher any floppy i give it...]

when i try to boot from the woody cd (from iso image -- instead
of the actual floppies above) i try:

	linux (2.2.20)
		no hard drives could be found
	compact (2.2.20)
		no hard drives could be found
	bf24 (2.4.something, not sure -- locks up)
		this is the one i'd like, of course, but it gets stuck after 
		"usbkbd.c: :USB HID Boot Protocol keyboard driver"
		(locks up tight as a drum -- no ctl-alt-del, only the
		hardware reset button works)

and even with the first two, i tried copying 3w-xxxx.o (from
kernel-image-2.4.18-686 -- most recent instance i've found, via
packages.debian.org when searching for 3w-xxxx) to a floppy disk
under /boot/, and then "pre-loading the module" at the early
stages of the install, but all i get is 

	"The loading has failed."

the 3w-xxxx module shows up in the list (it's just list of one,
but it's still a list) from the floppy, but it doesn't install.
what would i need to look for in order to supply arguments to
the module-loading process?

or, maybe there's a lilo boot parameter i can use to get the scsi
device to talk with woody?

or, maybe there's a way to boot from the morphix cd, and then run
the woody install routines? (tho it seems that morphix keeps its
cdrom mounted, putting a big hole in this theory...)

or is there a simpler path to enlightenment?

====

dmesg from morphix includes

<snip>
3ware Storage Controller device driver for Linux v1.02.00.032.
PCI: Found IRQ 10 for device 00:0a.0
3w-xxx: PCI Parity Error: clearing.
scsi2 : Found a 3ware Storage Controller at 0xe400, IRQ: 10, P-chip: 1.3
scsi2 : 3ware Storage Controller
  Vendor: 3ware     Model: Logical Disk 0    Rev: 1.0
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 00
Attached scsi disk sda at scsi2, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
SCSI device sda: 312579760 512-byte hdwr sectors (160041 MB)
<snip>

and the partitions come up nice as you please. what does morphix
do that i need to get woody to do?

-- 
I use Debian/GNU Linux version 3.0;
Linux boss 2.4.18-bf2.4 #1 Son Apr 14 09:53:28 CEST 2002 i586 unknown
 
DEBIAN NEWBIE TIP #1 from Will Trillich <will@serensoft.com>
:
Looking to use your Debian machine as a FIREWALL? No problem!
Try "apt-get install ipmasq"... After you've got your
/etc/network/interfaces file set up properly, ipmasq will
save you lots of work, setting up firewall and routing
tables automatically.

Also see http://newbieDoc.sourceForge.net/ ...