Topic: Promise IDE RAID card FastTrack SX4000

[AV]

God day,

I have this card and 3 identical 60GB HDD. I have looked in www.promise.com site and have found drivers for RedHat 7.2 and 7.3 (have to use them for SME 5.6 - do I?). How can I use (install) them in SME 5.6 (how and when I have to put supplied drivers?)? I am going to do fresh install and will try to setup RAID 1 with Hot Spare HDD. RAID card seems to be werry solid! It has slot for RAM for cashe. I have installed 256MB ECC SDRAM so I think performance will be good.

Thank you.

AV

[blinky]

This is the readme.txt from the driver file.
You've got to wonder why they call it a README file hey......


         Promise FastTrak SX4000 Linux Driver
        Installation for RedHat Linux 7.2/7.3
         Driver Version 1.00.0.x

[INTRODUCTION]

1.1 Foreword
       Use this driver with all Promise FastTrak SX4000 cards running
       under RedHat Linux 7.2/7.3.

       Do NOT use this driver for other versions of Linux for FastTrak
       SX4000 support.


1.2 Support List
       Red Hat 7.2        (kernel 2.4.7-10)
       Red Hat 7.2        (kernel 2.4.7-10smp)
       Red Hat 7.3        (kernel 2.4.18-3)
       Red Hat 7.3        (kernel 2.4.18-3smp)


[INSTALLATION]

2.1 How to make a driver installation diskette:

2.1.1 On DOS-based PC:

      Running "rawrite.exe" and according to prompt to extract image file
      to floppy.

2.1.2 On UNIX/LINUX-based PC:

      Run the command "dd if=imagefilename of=floppydevicename bs=10k" to
      copy image file to floppy.

      Note:
      imagefilename = the disk image file name that you want to copy.
      floppydevicename = the floppy device name, on Linux OS that name
      should be "/dev/fd0".


2.2 To install the FastTrak SX4000 Linux Driver into an EXISTING SYSTEM:

    1) Insert the driver installation diskette into the floppy drive.

    2) Type the following commands:

     # mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
     # cd /mnt/floppy
     # sh install
       Answer Yes/No at setup configuration.
            Yes will load the FastTrak driver every time Linux boots.
     # cd ..
     # umount /dev/fd0



2.3 To install the FastTrak SX4000 Linux Driver into an NEW SYSTEM:

    1) Start the RedHat Linux Installation with CD ROM booting.

    2) At the "Welcome to Red Hat Linux ..." installation screen, a prompt
       labeled "boot:" will appear at the bottom of the screen.

    3) Type "expert" (without quotations) or "linux dd" at the "boot:" prompt,
       then press Enter.

    4) At the "Devices" dialog box, insert the driver installation diskette
       into the floppy drive. Then select "OK" or "Yes".

    5) Continue with the installation as normal.

    6) Press Ctrl-Alt-F2 when the installation reaches the "Congratulations"
       menu. Then insert the driver installation diskette into the floppy
       drive. Type the following commands to load the FastTrak driver:

       NOTE: For Redhat 7.2, skip the command # umount /tmp/fd0.
   
      # umount /tmp/fd0   
      # mkdir /mnt/floppy   
      # mount -t ext2(or msdos) /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
      # cd /mnt/floppy
      # sh binstall
      # sync
      # cd
      # umount /mnt/floppy

    7) Press Ctrl-Alt-F7 and click "Exit" to finish the installation.



Copyright 2002, Promise Technology, Inc. All rights reserved.

[AV]

blinky wrote:
>
> This is the readme.txt from the driver file.
> You've got to wonder why they call it a README file hey......

I know that...

>
>
>          Promise FastTrak SX4000 Linux Driver
>         Installation for RedHat Linux 7.2/7.3
>          Driver Version 1.00.0.x

That is OK. I have made Driver diskette.

>
> 2.3 To install the FastTrak SX4000 Linux Driver into an NEW
> SYSTEM:
>
>     1) Start the RedHat Linux Installation with CD ROM booting.
>
>     2) At the "Welcome to Red Hat Linux ..." installation
> screen, a prompt
>        labeled "boot:" will appear at the bottom of the screen.

Where I can find that kind of screen in SME 5.6??? I have booted from SME 5.6 boot CD several times and there is no such screen or anything like that???


AV

[blinky]

Hold down 'shift' or boot to single user mode.

I don't know from experience yet, as I'm still waiting for my card to turn up. I won't be using mine with e-smith as SME 5.6 still doesn't support dual AMD CPUs.
They are the mobos with the 64bit slots.....

[AV]

blinky wrote:
>
> Hold down 'shift' or boot to single user mode.
>

And then what should I do...? "linux dd" or "expert" commands do not work... What command should I use to load driver?

AV

[blinky]

AV wrote:
>
> blinky wrote:
> >
> > Hold down 'shift' or boot to single user mode.
> >
>
> And then what should I do...? "linux dd" or "expert" commands
> do not work... What command should I use to load driver?
>
> AV

Like I said, I haven't done it yet...
Will it install on a single disk using the default drivers?

If so look here:
http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productId=94&category=All&os=3

FastTrak SX4000 RedHat 7.3 Array Utility 208.52KB  1.30-12 Linux
RedHat 7.3 2002/08/23
Description Linux utility to -
- create, delete, & monitor arrays
- rebuild/synchronize arrays
- enable/disable SMART and hard drive write cache
- get enclosure information when using optional SuperSwap drive enclosures (fan speed, voltage, and temperature)

Once installed on to a single disk you could then load the specific driver and you 'might' be able to use the utility to create the array you want from there.

Let me know how you go.

[AV]

blinky wrote:
>
> AV wrote:
> >
> > blinky wrote:
> > >
> > > Hold down 'shift' or boot to single user mode.
> > >
> >
> > And then what should I do...? "linux dd" or "expert" commands
> > do not work... What command should I use to load driver?
> >
> > AV
>
> Like I said, I haven't done it yet...
> Will it install on a single disk using the default drivers?

Well,  for now I was trying to setup Windows 2000 Pro and get error about RAM. So I changed RAM in RAID card. Now I am finishing Windows 2000 Pro instalation. After this if everything ok I will try to setup SME. I will post results.

AV

[AV]

AV wrote:
>
> blinky wrote:
> >
> > AV wrote:
> > >
> > > blinky wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Hold down 'shift' or boot to single user mode.
> > > >
> > >
> > > And then what should I do...? "linux dd" or "expert"
> commands
> > > do not work... What command should I use to load driver?
> > >
> > > AV
> >
> > Like I said, I haven't done it yet...
> > Will it install on a single disk using the default drivers?
>
> Well,  for now I was trying to setup Windows 2000 Pro and get
> error about RAM. So I changed RAM in RAID card. Now I am
> finishing Windows 2000 Pro instalation. After this if
> everything ok I will try to setup SME. I will post results.

I tried SME but without success again... Now I know that hardware configuration is OK. How can I load custom drivers in SME? Please, some one help me with this!

AV

[AV]

Hi,

I do not know, but I think that SME 5.6 is not exactly build on RH 7.3... or SME kernel is different...
I get RH 7.3 instalation CD's and it beautifully installed on my system with Promise FT SX4000 RAID card. I can do 0 or 1 or 5 level RAID with Hot Spare and Hot Swap capabilities.

PLEASE!!! Someone from SME team be so kind and help me install this card on SME!!!

AV

[blinky]

AV wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I do not know, but I think that SME 5.6 is not exactly build
> on RH 7.3... or SME kernel is different...
> I get RH 7.3 instalation CD's and it beautifully installed on
> my system with Promise FT SX4000 RAID card. I can do 0 or 1
> or 5 level RAID with Hot Spare and Hot Swap capabilities.
>
> PLEASE!!! Someone from SME team be so kind and help me
> install this card on SME!!!
>
> AV
The kernel revision is 2.4.18-5 for SME 5.6
To install a driver disk, hold down shift as it boots to get to the boot prompt. Type "accept expert" no quotes. But this will not work for the SX4000!!!

I have spent the last three days trying to get the source driver from Promise all around the world and it is NOT going to happen. It is needed to allow the driver/module to be compiled against the kernel revision you are using. Without it you may as well be using Winblows as you are at Promise's mercy for drivers - and they don't give a f*ck about Linux users.

I have a beta driver for Red Hat 8.0
 (kernel 2.4.18-14)(kernel 2.4.18-14smp) (also SuSE 8.1) - not that it will help us in this matter, but let me know if you want it.

Please, try to get it from support@promise.com first so they know people do want these drivers.
If you feel "ripped-off" like I do from this news - good! e-mail promise and tell them.

I know I haven't helped with the install, but at least you now have an understanding of the problem.

- blinky