gentoo 2007.0 installation fails to identify hard disk

sosconsult · n00b Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 6

hi,
... never had that kind of problem before. I have a rather new intel based pc, where windows xp home is installed (and running) currently.

I wanted to install gentoo 2007.0 as future operating system by selecting the gtk+ gentoo installer.
when it comes to the partitioning there is no partition at all shown and no device selectable. i therefore can not add or delete any partition and when selecting the "recommended layout" the installer simply does not act.
i suspect the the live cd does not provide the driver(s) for my hard disk - although windows xp seems not to have any problem with it.

here the details of my hard disk:
00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] (rev 01)
00:05.0 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SATA Controller / IDE mode (rev 02)

can somebody help me with some hints?

pandaxiongmao · Guru Joined: 29 Sep 2003 Posts: 478 Location: USA

Hmm, I would try the default command line disk preparation if I were you (I assume you are not familiar yet with command line, but you've been registered with this forum for 2 years.)
If you want to brave the storm, then fire up gnome-terminal and type (if I guess correctly, your IDE hard drive should be /dev/hda)

sosconsult · n00b Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 6

the thing is -

- "/dev/hda" is assigned as cd-drive.
- "/dev/hdb,c..." does not exist
- nor "/dev/sda,b.." and others do

It appears as if there is no hard disk installed??!?

This is how my troubles started. I originally used the live cd of Gentoo 2006 and started with "cfdisk /dev/sda", because my sata drives usually require scsi device treatment. Since I could not solve the problem I decided to download the gentoo 2007 iso image and try it again. However i got the same result.

It is really funny, because I did not expect this kind of porblem occurring on a 2 month old PC with a running Windows XP. Unfortunately I am not familiar to configure non-plug&play hardware on Gentoo.

Do you have any idea how I could convince the kernel about the existence of my harddisk?

kernelOfTruth · Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 7:10 pm Post subject:

CONFIG_SATA_SIS=y & CONFIG_PATA_SIS=y should be the right kernel-drivers, right?

so please give my livecd (see signature) a try & say if it works, the "problem" is: this would lead you to the "classical"
gentoo install method without gtk+ installer (which is recommended anyway)

it's kernel is 2.6.20 (don't know if that suffices to support your hardware),

if you're courageous, so give it a try, then you will have mastered real gentoo install & learn a lot (given you have some time to spare) :wink:

you also might want to try out one of mbar's livecds (don't know how up-to-date they are atm), but if in doubt, they generally should be newer then mine is (I don't have much time & they're practically discontinued / under low update frequency - if at all for the future)
_________________
https://github.com/kernelOfTruth/ZFS-for-SystemRescueCD/tree/ZFS-for-SysRescCD-4.9.0
https://github.com/kernelOfTruth/pulseaudio-equalizer-ladspa

Hardcore Gentoo Linux user since 2004

sosconsult · n00b Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 6

I am not sure if I did eveything right but I am afraid I could not succeed!

I downloaded the iso-image as recommended and created the CD
then I booted with this kernel which went ok
- instead of "/dev/hda" the cd-drive was addressed as "dev/sr0"
- no harddisk "/dev/hdx" or "/dev/sdx" was available

- next attempt was to reboot with the option "irqpoll"
- this time I got a "kernel-panic"-abend with the following reasoning:
"Can not open root device "<NULL>" or unknown block (8,9) Please append a correct "root=" boot option"

do you have any other idea?

mudrii · l33t Joined: 26 Jun 2003 Posts: 789 Location: Singapore

After booting into live CD
can you post please

lspci
lsmod
fdisk -l
_________________
www.gentoo.ro

sosconsult · n00b Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 6

small-gentoo_x86 / # lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Unknown device 0662 (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS AGP port (virtual PCI-toPCI bridge)
00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Unknown device 0966 (rev 59)
00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] (rev 01)
00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] AC'97 Sound Controller (rev a0)
00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
00:05.0 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Unknown device 1183 (rev 02)
00:06.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] PCI-toPCI bridge
00:07.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] PCI-toPCI bridge
00:0e.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139c+ (rev10)
00:1f.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] PCI-toPCI bridge
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 661/741/760/761 PCI/AGP VGA Display Adapter (rev 04)
small-gentoo_x86 / #

small-gentoo_x86 / # lsmod
module........ size...........used by
8139too.....26880..........0
8139cp......24576..........0
e1000......124864..........0
sbp2...........23556..........0
small-gentoo_x86 / #

small-gentoo_x86 / # fdisk -l
small-gentoo_x86 / #

sosconsult · n00b Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 6

I was able to get over may problem by changing the SATA mode in the BOIS.

instead of the pre-selected "4P (IDE) +2S(IDE)"
I selected "4P (IDE) +2S(AHCI)"

I hope this information is valueable for some of you. Many thanks for your help

ElSenorPantelone · n00b Joined: 24 Jan 2006 Posts: 72

Also, sometimes the Gentoo liveCD has problems detecting hardware. Since Gentoo is so modular, you can install it very easily from another liveCD like Knoppix if you want to. Only some commands will not be available, like mirrorselect.

dj_unforgetable · n00b Joined: 09 Jun 2007 Posts: 15

Hmmm, I'm getting this same problem with the minimal cd. On loading the kernel it hangs for a bit while loading the "ahci" module but does so successfully. But when I try to partition the disk with fdisk, there is no disk to choose. hda is for the CD-rom and there's no sd*. lspci prints out

dj_unforgetable · n00b Joined: 09 Jun 2007 Posts: 15

can anyone help?

dj_unforgetable · n00b Joined: 09 Jun 2007 Posts: 15

mmm yello ?

mikegpitt · Advocate Joined: 22 May 2004 Posts: 3224

meush · n00b Joined: 09 Dec 2007 Posts: 8

I bought a laptop and I have similiar problem. Neither gentoo, nor knoppix and others see my HDD.
Only ubuntu liveCD has kernel fresh enough to support my SATA.
And that laptop's BIOS is so "arid" that it doesn't contain any advanced options, like SATA modes. So I'm stuck, and I wait for new Gentoo liveCD