The kernel IDE driver still loads even if you're PXE booting. The driver will either be compiled into the kernel or it will be loaded as a loadable kernel module. Jim's approach was sound with regard to putting the kernel driver in because if there's no drive, it'll ignore it. If there's a drive, it will load the module for it and at least have the device entry available in case you want to do local media. This covers both those who want to use local media and those who don't.
If you have a mechanical failure on the drive, you can either disable it in your system BIOS, in which case the system will look like it has no hard drive, or you can physically disconnect power to the drive or even remove it. I'd suggest removing drives with mechanical failures since that click may actually continue to occur even if the drive is disabled in the BIOS. I suppose an alternative approach would be to disable the IDE controller in the BIOS, in which case I don't think it will continue to probe for the drive. The interesting thing about platter and head failures is the drive electronics still notify the host controller that the drive exists even when it can't determine the geometry for the drive. That's why you continue to get that clicking noise (the attempted head probe) even when the drive is dead. Dave Fenwick On Fri, 19 Jan 2007 17:21:22 +0900, "Tomoki Taniguchi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > I have a 2 year old laptop with a broken (click of death) HDD. > I figured, since LTSP doesn't use the local HDD, that this would make > the perfect LTSP Client. > > I thought that the clicking would stop after PXE started but the > clicking continues. > I get a few "Buffer I/O error on drive hda, logicak block 0" with the > number increasing. > This is prior to X starting up. > > The clicking continues the whole time the pc is on. > I suspect that this is because the LTSP client tries continuously to > access the drive. > Is there anyway to tell the LTSP client to not try accessing local ATA > drives? > > I tried to see if there was a way to turn off the drive in the BIOS, > but there was no option for it. The only other way to do this is for > me to open up the laptop and remove the drive completely. > > -- > Tomoki Taniguchi > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT > Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share > your > opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys - and earn cash > http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV > _____________________________________________________________________ > Ltsp-discuss mailing list. To un-subscribe, or change prefs, goto: > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ltsp-discuss > For additional LTSP help, try #ltsp channel on irc.freenode.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys - and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV _____________________________________________________________________ Ltsp-discuss mailing list. To un-subscribe, or change prefs, goto: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ltsp-discuss For additional LTSP help, try #ltsp channel on irc.freenode.net
