SATA disk drivers missing from Debian 5.0.3 network installer
 

Hi,
*
I am a new Debian user and am trying to install 5.0.3 over the network.* My server has SATA drives and the installer isn't recognizing them.* In other words, "cat /proc/partitions" shows nothing. *I noticed that the network version of the "initrd.gz" file is missing the ata_piix.ko and libata.ko drivers.
*
These drivers are present in the Debian distribution, however.* I tried copying the distribution's ata_piix.ko and libata.ko drivers into the initrd.gz, but they won't load because "insmod" says "Invalid module format".
*
Does anyone know if there's a workaround for this problem?
*
Thank you.
*
Rigoberto

SATA disk drivers missing from Debian 5.0.3 network installer
 

On Fri, 2009-11-20 at 11:06 -0800, Rigoberto Corujo wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am a new Debian user and am trying to install 5.0.3 over the
> network. My server has SATA drives and the installer isn't
> recognizing them. In other words, "cat /proc/partitions" shows
> nothing.

You might want to try configure your SATA controller in "Compatible"
mode in the BIOS (instead of "AHCI")

>
> I noticed that the network version of the "initrd.gz" file is missing
> the ata_piix.ko and libata.ko drivers. These drivers are present in
> the Debian distribution, however. I tried copying the distribution's
> ata_piix.ko and libata.ko drivers into the initrd.gz, but they won't
> load because "insmod" says "Invalid module format". Does anyone know
> if there's a workaround for this problem?

Is Debian-Installer booting ? (the initrd in D-I includes all the
sensible drivers. BTW, on installed systems, the initrd is built with
'MODULES=most' in initramfs.conf, by default)

Which Debian-Installer do you use ?
Where did you get the .ko modules from ?

Franklin


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SATA disk drivers missing from Debian 5.0.3 network installer
 

Hi Frank,
*
Thank you for your response.* I am familiar with the BIOS option you are referring to because I've had to set it before on the HP ProLiant DL1XX servers, but this is an HP*BL2x220c G5 blade and no such option exists.
*
If I install directly from the DVD, which has the loadable kernel modules, the disks are properly recognized, which leads me to believe that the BIOS setting isn't the issue.
*
This is the Debian Installer I used to install over the network.
*
http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/lenny/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/debian-installer/i386/initrd.gz
*
http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/lenny/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/debian-installer/i386/linux


I also tried taking the libata.ko and ata_piix.ko modules from the "initrd.gz" that comes with the Debian 5.0.3 DVD 1 under the "install.386" directory and loading them when the Debian Network Installer was sitting at the shell prompt, but I got.
*
# insmod libata.ko
insmod: error inserting 'libata.ko' : -1 Invalid module format
*
The problem is that I will be doing all my installs over the network so I need for the Debian installer to recognize the SATA disks.
*
Thank you.
*
Rigoberto

--- On Sat, 11/21/09, Frank Lin PIAT <fpiat@klabs.be> wrote:


From: Frank Lin PIAT <fpiat@klabs.be>
Subject: Re: SATA disk drivers missing from Debian 5.0.3 network installer
To: "Rigoberto Corujo" <rcorujo@yahoo.com>
Cc: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Date: Saturday, November 21, 2009, 2:13 AM


On Fri, 2009-11-20 at 11:06 -0800, Rigoberto Corujo wrote:
> Hi,
>*
> I am a new Debian user and am trying to install 5.0.3 over the
> network.* My server has SATA drives and the installer isn't
> recognizing them.* In other words, "cat /proc/partitions" shows
> nothing.

You might want to try configure your SATA controller in "Compatible"
mode in the BIOS (instead of "AHCI")

>
> I noticed that the network version of the "initrd.gz" file is missing
> the ata_piix.ko and libata.ko drivers.***These drivers are present in
> the Debian distribution, however.* I tried copying the distribution's
> ata_piix.ko and libata.ko drivers into the initrd.gz, but they won't
> load because "insmod" says "Invalid module format".***Does anyone know
> if there's a workaround for this problem?

Is
Debian-Installer booting ? (the initrd in D-I includes all the
sensible drivers. BTW, on installed systems, the initrd is built with
'MODULES=most' in initramfs.conf, by default)

Which Debian-Installer do you use ?
Where did you get the .ko modules from ?

Franklin


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SATA disk drivers missing from Debian 5.0.3 network installer
 

[No top posting[1] and no HTML please ]

On Mon, 2009-11-23 at 07:04 -0800, Rigoberto Corujo wrote:
> On Sat, 2009-11-21, Frank Lin PIAT <fpiat@klabs.be> wrote
> > On Fri, 2009-11-20 at 11:06 -0800, Rigoberto Corujo wrote:
> > >
> > > I am a new Debian user and am trying to install 5.0.3 over the
> > > network. My server has SATA drives and the installer isn't
> > > recognizing them. In other words, "cat /proc/partitions" shows
> > > nothing.
> >
> > > I noticed that the network version of the "initrd.gz" file is missing
> > > the ata_piix.ko and libata.ko drivers. These drivers are present in
> > > the Debian distribution, however. I tried copying the distribution's
> > > ata_piix.ko and libata.ko drivers into the initrd.gz, but they won't
> > > load because "insmod" says "Invalid module format". Does anyone know
> > > if there's a workaround for this problem?
> >
> > Which Debian-Installer do you use ?
> > Where did you get the .ko modules from ?
>
> If I install directly from the DVD, which has the loadable kernel
> modules, the disks are properly recognized, which leads me to believe
> that the BIOS setting isn't the issue.

Agreed.

> This is the Debian Installer I used to install over the network:
> http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/lenny/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/debian-installer/i386/
>
> I also tried taking the libata.ko and ata_piix.ko modules from the
> [..] the DVD [..]
>
> # insmod libata.ko
> insmod: error inserting 'libata.ko' : -1 Invalid module format

I am not sure why it complains.

Interestingly, I never noticed that netboot images and CD images are
very different (see below). And that's reasonable: the initrd should
contains enough drivers, to be able to fetch the remaining
debian-installer .udeb (i.e modules and programs) :

+----------+-----+-----+
|DIR(2) | CD | NET |
|----------+-----+-----|
|acpi | yes | yes |
|ata | yes | -- |
|base | yes | yes |
|block | yes | yes |
|cdrom | yes | -- |
|char | yes | yes |
|hid | yes | yes |
|ide | yes | yes |
|ieee1394 | yes | yes |
|input | yes | yes |
|leds | -- | yes |
|misc | yes | yes |
|mmc | yes | yes |
|net | -- | yes |
|parport | yes | -- |
|pcmcia | yes | yes |
|scsi | yes | yes |
|serial | yes | yes |
|ssb | -- | yes |
|thermal | yes | yes |
|usb | yes | yes |
|video | yes | yes |
|virtio | -- | yes |
+----------+-----+-----+
(2) DIR: the directories in initrd's /lib/modules/*/kernel/drivers

So, the initrd included on a CD/DVD must contains all the IDE, SATA and
CD drivers, so it can later fetch extra .udeb from the CD/DVD (the
network driver are then read from the cdrom
in /pool/main/l/linux-kernel-di-i386-2.6/nic-*)

On the other hand, the initrd provided for netbooting must include all
the drivers so it can later download the extra .udeb from the network.
(the IDE, SATA, CD/DVD drivers are downloaded from
http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian/pool/main/l/linux-kernel-di-i386-2.6/ )



So, to solve your problem, you probably just have to netboot and proceed
through Debian-Installer menu. Once the network is configured, D-I will
detect the hardware and download the appropriate packages.

If I am correct, your disk should be detected nicely before the
partitioning stage !

If you still have problem, you can send *me* the logs. To retrieve D-I
logs, follow the instruction in this wiki page (screenshots and logs are
retrieved the same way):
http://wiki.debian.org/ScreenShots#debian-installer-gui

Franklin

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#toc


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SATA disk drivers missing from Debian 5.0.3 network installer
 

> On the other hand, the initrd provided for netbooting must include all
> the drivers so it can later download the extra .udeb from the network.
> (the IDE, SATA, CD/DVD drivers are downloaded from
> http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian/pool/main/l/linux-kernel-di-i386-2.6/ )
>
> So, to solve your problem, you probably just have to netboot and proceed
> through Debian-Installer menu. Once the network is configured, D-I will
> detect the hardware and download the appropriate packages.
>
> If I am correct, your disk should be detected nicely before the
> partitioning stage !
*
Yes, downloading the additional drivers solved the problem. The SATA disk is now recognized.
*
Thank you very much, Frank.
*
Rigoberto