Topic: Promise ULTRA100 controller problem

[Matt]

I have a Promise ULTRA100 controller and a brand new 60GB Maxtor HDD. I am trying to install E-Smith v4.1.2. I have read and followed the HowTo about installing e-smith with the promise controller. First of all, at the "accept" boot screen when I am supposed to be able to type ALT-F2 nothing happens. Any ideas there? I just typed accept and got into where I could see the I/O values for the Promise controller. After typing the following at the "accept" boot: prompt

accept ide2=0xe800,0xe402 ide3=0xe000,0xdc02

e-smith starts the install but right before it gets to the screen where it ask for single hard disk, dual hard disk, etc. i get a bunch of garbage that ends with:

Aiee, killing interrupt handler
Kernel panic: Attemped to kill the idle task
In swapper task - not syncing

then it just freezes on that screen. Any ideas on what might be causing this?

[WXP]

Hi dude.. I never did it but you can try with :

accept ide2=0xfc78,0xfc8a ide3=0xfc80,0xfc8e

See you

[WXP]

From : http://cidet.net/?_c=showNews&nid=136

I. RedHat 6.2 & 7.0
                       Ultra 100 & Ultra 100Tx2
a. Finding Your Promise I/O
 1. Boot from a Linux Floppy or CD. Hit enter and continue into the graphical install.
 2. At the first graphical install screen, press Ctrl-Alt-F2 to
    get to a command prompt. You should see a command prompt that
    looks like the following.
        bash# (or) sh-2.04#
 3. Now, you need to look at the /proc/pci file. This command
    (Bash# cat /proc/pci |less ) will enable the user to
    determine the I/O ranges for all PCI devices in the system.  
 4. Type the following at the bash# (or) sh-2.04#

        cat /proc/pci |less

 5. Once you look up the I/O ranges for the Promise Controller
    You will notice something similar to the following:

      Bus 0,  device  17, function  0:
      Unknown mass storage controller: Promise Technology
      Unknown device (rev 2).
      Vendor id=105a. Device id=d30.
      Medium devsel.  IRQ 10.  Master Capable.  Latency=32.  
      (A)  I/O at 0x9400 [0x9401].
      (B)  I/O at 0x9000 [0x9001].
      (C)  I/O at 0x8800 [0x8801].
      (D)  I/O at 0x8400 [0x8401].
           I/O at 0x8000 [0x8001].
      Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xd5800000 [0xd5800000].

    NOTE: Please note the letters A, B, C, and D are only for
    reference. These 4 lines contain the I/O addresses that you
    will need to make the installation to see your
    Promise ATA100 controller.

 6. Type the following command:
        ide2=0x9400,0x9002 ide3=0x8800,0x8402
    NOTE: Be aware that for lines B and D you need to add 2 to
    set the right value. In the I/O range according to the
    formula below. Write this command down because you will need
    it when you reboot.
        ide2=A,B+2 ide3=C,D+2
b. Installing and Booting Linux
 1. Now that you have written down this information, you need to
    reboot from the Linux Floppy or CD.
 2. When you get to the initial boot prompt screen type your ide
    command at the boot prompt like the example below:
        boot: text ide2=0x9400,0x9002 ide3=0x8800,0x8402

 3. This should allow you to continue on with RedHat setup and
    now it should find any HDD on the ATA 100 controller.
    You should have no problem installing Linux.

 4. Remember to type the ide command after the installation
    reboot:
        Boot: linux ide2=0x9400, 0x9002 ide3=0x8800, 0x8402
 5. Make certain that you Add the "append" command to your
    lilo.conf follow   the examaple below:

           image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.14-5.0
                label=linux
                read-only
                root=/dev/hde9
                append="ide2=0x9400, 0x9002 ide3=0x8800, 0x8402"



    NOTE: Make certain always, whenever you modify your
    lilo.conf file be sure to run /sbin/lilo as root to
    reinstall lilo or you may not be able to reboot. To insure a
    flawless install make certain that there is no resource
    sharing from the start of the installation to insure a
    flawless install.

Hope this helps !

See you

[Matt]

Thanks for the response WXP! Promise sent me those same instructions. I followed them and they work fine up to the point in the installation right before the single HDD, dual HDD or upgrade screen. That's when I get that frozen screen with the errors I mentioned previously.

[WXP]

Oh ok.. I cant help you more then

Sorry

[Matt]

Problem solved. I am not going to use the Promise controller. I attached the hard drive to the IDE channel on the motherboard and everything works fine. I just thought I would have to use the Promise controller because the BIOS is very old (1992). But I installed E-Smith and then check my hard disk space and all 60GB are there, so I'm good. Thanks for the responses anyway.

[Chris O'Donovan]

After much effort I managed to get the promise controller to work in an old box with a 60GB Maxtor drive. If I remember correctly, I had to fiddle with the BIOS on the machine to get it to finally work. A very frustrating experience.

The hard drive ran slightly slower with the promise controller than it did with the on-board IDE controller.
Enabling DMA mode made a big difference.

  /sbin/e-smith/config setprop hdparm status enabled

but don't try it on a machine with live data. If it doesn't work it may trash the data on the drive.

Chris