UPDATE: The system is installed, using the ATA-100 connectors and a RAID array. The system installed the md drivers, so I think I'm all set in the RAID department. I picked RAID-1 during the Debian install script.
The hanging problem I believe was due to a BIOS issue; I updated the MB's BIOS from 3.3 to 3.5. One of the updates included an update to the Promise RAID Controller chip's BIOS. It hasn't hung since. The only problem I have right now is I can't seem to get the drive(s) to boot, I can see them and boot the system from a floppy, but I can't get the drives to boot directly. I have run LILO, and I have installed a quickie DOS system and I can boot to that, so I know my BIOS settings are correct. I think I just have to play around with install-mbr and see if I can get anywhere with that. P.S. Nowhere in Debian's install script is there any place to pick an SMP kernel. So I'm currently running on one processor (and it's still damn fast! :oD ) Rich Cloutier President, C*O SYSTEM SUPPORT SERVICES www.sysupport.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rich C" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "GNHLUG" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2001 4:45 PM Subject: debian install tips? > Hi all, > > I've just completed construction of a dual PIII system and I'm having some > difficulties installing Debian 2.2 on it. > > Hardware: > > MSI 694D Pro AIR Dual Socket 370 MB with VIA 694DP chipset, > Promise FastTrack 100 Lite Raid Controller (PDC20265), > VIA VT82C686A chipset (APM, AC97 Audio, UDMA 33/66 IDE) > > 2 PIII/1000EB OEM chips > > 384 Megs PC133 SDRAM > > 2 IBM GXP60 60 Meg drives in a mirroring array on the ATA-100 interface. > > I'm trying to install Debian 2.2r3. I downloaded the 3-disc set from one of > the mirror sites (ISO-images, set the system to boot from CD, and fired it > up. > > First problem: the installation kernel wouldn't see my disk drives. Research > on the Debian site pointed to CD#4 which would boot a kernel with the > UDMA-66 SCSI drivers in it. (Not exactly UDMA-100, but what the hell.) > Looked EVERYWHERE, could not find a CD image of this disk. DID find a folder > with a kernel, a tar archive full of drivers, and some misc files. Fine, I > could make a CD, right? Well, I downloaded the stuff, and tried to match it > up to the format of the other 3 CDs. Couldn't make sense out of it, so I > tried plan B: there was another folder with floppy disk images in it. I > downloaded those, wrote them to a bunch of floppies, and voila: the > installation program could see my drives and I could get to the partitioning > program. > > Second Problem: The partitioning program, cfdisk, kept hanging while trying > to initialize my 40 meg /usr partition (/dev/hde8) Tried making it smaller, > that didn't work. Tried making another partiton after it; that DID work, but > then I couldn't initialize the [new] last partition. Finally, I moved it up > in the order, so that this arrangement got initialized and mounted: > > /dev/hde1 1.2 megs swap > /dev/hde2 5 megs root > /dev/hde5 10 megs /home > /dev/hde6 40 megs /usr > /dev/hde7 2.5 megs /tmp > /dev/hde8 1.3 megs /var > > Third problem: During install, the machine randomly hangs. It randomly hung > during the partitioning process earlier too, but I figured that was due to > cfdisk screwing up. > > Now Debian's docs say that the UDMA-66 kernel is "patched" for the Promise > SCSI drivers, and the lack of a 4th disk in the ISO install set indicates to > me that UDMA-66 support is an afterthought. > > Before I go and tear this thing apart and try the following: > > Installing with only one processor; > Installing without the RAID array; > Installing with a disk on the standard IDE port; > Installing a copy of Red Hat or some other distribution > > I thought I'd run my experiences by the group to try to determine if: > > a) the SMP kernel supplied in 2.2r3 potato (sorry I don't know what version > it is) has problems; > b) my hardware might have problems; > c) my hardware is not supported; > d) Debian's install program has known issues with "newer" hardware (why > isn't a UDMA-capable kernel part of the "vanilla" package?) > > Any thoughts, warnings, tips, or comments would be greatly appreciated. :o) > > Rich Cloutier > President, C*O > SYSTEM SUPPORT SERVICES > www.sysupport.com > > > > ********************************************************** > To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following text in the > *body* (*not* the subject line) of the letter: > unsubscribe gnhlug > ********************************************************** > ********************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following text in the *body* (*not* the subject line) of the letter: unsubscribe gnhlug **********************************************************
