Topic: Guide to Making a driver disk for HPT370

[Kelvin]

I've finally gotten the necessary info to create a working driver disk for the HPT370 so that you can install directly to the RAID drives.

This how-to assumes you have downloaded and compiled the Highpoint open-source driver from their web site on the desired kernel (ie. 2.2.19-7.0.8 for SME 5.1.2) (the resulting module file we are after is called hpt37x2.o)

I also assume you have downloaded the standard highpoint linux driver disk from their web site. We will be making changes to the standard driver disk to included support for the 2.2.19-7.0.8 kernel used by SME 5.1.2.

1. Unpack the standard driver disk. The folder we wish to work with (from the Ver 1.3 standard driver disk zip file) is called \Driver\rhdd which contains the files modules.cgz, modules.dep, modinfo, etc.

2. Make a working directory and copy the original modules.cgz and other files into it
eg.
mkdir /hpt370
cd /hpt370
cp /mnt/cdrom/Driver/rhdd/* .

3. Unpack the modules.cgz file
gzip -dc modules.cgz > modules.cpio
mkdir modules
cd modules
cpio -idumv <../modules.cpio

4. Create the directories for the required kernel 2.2.19-7.0.8
mkdir 2.2.19-7.0.8
mkdir 2.2.19-7.0.8BOOT

5. Copy the compiled driver modules hpt37x2.o into the above folders
cp /newdriver/hpt37x2.o 2.2.19-7.0.8
cp /newdriver/hpt37x2.o 2.2.19-7.0.8BOOT

6. Changed ownership of folders and files (might not be necessary, I wasn't sure)
chown -R admin:shared *

7. Create the new modules.cgz file
find -type f -print | cpio -o -H crc | gzip > modules.cgz

8. Replace the old modules.cgz with the new one
cp modules.cgz /hpt370

And answer y to overwrite the original file.

9. Just copy all the files in /hpt370 (minus the modules directory and the modules.cpio file) to a floppy and that's it !

You should now have a working driver disk to support the Highpoint HPT370 cards which will allow you to install directly to the RAID drives.
Note : directory names used above are examples only. Substitute as appropriate for your work environment.

Good Luck and have Fun ! I know I am, now that I finally have HPT370 support.

Kelvin

[Jeff]

Kevin:

I followed almost identical steps (but didn't change owner on the files).  Thanks for the suggestion of [accept dd] to use the driver disk.

Only one more curiosity (please forgive my ignorance).  When I compiled the driver it compiled as hpt374.o, (not hpt37x2.o as in your example). Wondering why the difference?  Did I just call it something different? Different source? Don't know...

Can't wait to get back home and fire up the HPT 404 raid controller

At your service,

Jeff

[Kelvin]

Hi Jeff,

Yes, I was wondering about the module name as well. In my case, the cards I am working with are HPT370 and HPT370A cards which works with the driver I downloaded. I have not got access to the newer chipset cards as yet.

Cheers !

Kelvin

[jeff]

I found my problem with the driver disk (you're going to love this one...) I had renamed pcitable to pcitable.txt so I could read it in notepad (windows) and forgot to change the name back.  That's why the driver disk was unrecognized.

I have uploaded a new copy of the driver disk for the 4 channel HighPoint RocketRaid 404 to my website.

The location is: www.jeffandsteph.com/highpoint/hpt374.zip

unzip these files to a dos formatted floppy and start your SME 5.1.2 installation with: accept dd

I'm a happy guy (Raid 0+1 on 4 40GB IDE disks = fast 80GB array for < $500 US).

Thanks Kevin for the additional insight.

At your service,

Jeff

[JeromeV]

Great !!
Hope it will be integrated in next sme version (with 2.4 kernel ? )

[Paul van Dun]

Can I also install the module after the installation, because I only want to make a raid1 of my data ibay because my mobo doesn't boot from the highpoint card, only from a SCSI disk.
I followed the normal procedure which I used for 4.12 but the output is:
hpt374.o: init_module: Device or resource busy and it says something about invalid IO and irq numbers ?
Why is the module called hpt374.o, I thought it was a hpt370a card ?


Regards,

Paul van Dun

[Kelvin]

Hi Paul,

Another forum reader, Jeff, also downloaded a driver which compiles to hpt374.o. I'm not sure, but I think you have the wrong source file. I downloaded mine by navigating from Highpoint's web site as follows :-

www.highpoint-tech.com -> support -> Device drivers, bios updates, FAQs -> HPT370/370A Chipset -> hpt3xx-opensource-v13.tgz

This driver compiles to hpt37x2.o

Yes, you can install the driver after installing on another disk.

In most M/B BIOSes, to boot from another controller like a SCSI or a IDE RAID card, you usually set it to boot from SCSI (this is what I do on mine).

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Kelvin

[Paulvan Dun]

Hi Kelvin,


This is not what I mean about loading the driver, in E-Smith 4.12 I could use the driver supplied by Highpoint because it was a RH7.0 driver.
Now you guys compiled the driver for the E-Smith kernel thus creating a file containing the file modules.cgz.
When I isssue the command gzip -dc modules.cgz|cpio -idumv it creates a directory containing several drivers for the various kernels.
After this I type depmod -a; insmod hpt374.o which gives the error mentioned in my earlier posting, could this be a problem that the driver is compiled on your machine ?



Best regards,


Paul van Dun

[Kelvin]

Paul,

>Now you guys compiled the driver for the E-Smith kernel thus
> creating a file containing the file modules.cgz.

Actually, that's not right.
When I compiled the driver, the driver module is called hpt37x2.o. This driver is for HPT370/370A cards only.

The modules.cgz thingy was created purely for the purpose of creating the driver disk - not necessary if you don't require card activation at install time. Note : modules.cgz is NOT the driver file, hpt37x2.o is. modules.cgz is a zip file containing the driver modules for the various kernel versions.

Another forum reader, Jeff also got hpt374.o but then he was compiling a different source driver file for a different card, a newer Highpoint 404 (I think) which is NOT based on the HPT 370/370A chipset.

If you are getting hpt374.o, I will be guessing that you have not got the correct driver (and thus not able to activate it -- assuming your card is based on a HPT370). Therefore, insmod hpt374.o with a HPT370 card will very likely fail, as you see at the moment.

Kelvin.

[Ludovico Paveri]

Hi,

where i could find a compiled driver for the hpt370 with kernel of smeserver 5.1.2. I can't compile it myself because i haven't a linux machine.
Thanks for the help!
Bye

Ludovico