livecd does not detect my hard drive as sata

[manji_]

Hello all,

I'm trying to install gentoo on a new system, and I the live cd(both 2007 and 2008), does not detect my Sata drive as sda, but hda. So I assume that it does not see the sata controller or smthg. So I guess this could be a BIOS issue, right? The motherboard I use is a Gigabyte EP45-UD3R, and tha options for data/ide are:

chipset's controllers (Intel ICH10R Southbridge)
SATA RAID/AHCI Mode : Disabled (Disabled/AHCI/RAID)
SATA Port0-3 Native Mode: Enabled (Enabled/Disabled)

Gigabyte Sata2 controllers
nboard SATA/IDE Device (GIGABYTE SATA2 Chip): Disabled (Enabled/Disabled)
Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode (GIGABYTE SATA2 Chip): Disabled (IDE/AHCI/RAID-IDE)\

I'm using the chipset's controller on my SATA2 hdd, and I don't need RAID. I'm have tried to change these option, but the live cd either couldn't find any media, or the the hdd was referred as hda or hdc and not sda

[NeddySeagoon]

manji_,

Set the BIOS to use ACHI mode for your drives.
The other modes are 'compatibility modes' which are slow because the do not nomrally support DMA. They are needed to allow the install of the Windows ACHI patch.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[manji_]

Thank you for your quick reply.
I tried both:
SATA RAID/AHCI Mode (Intel ICH9R Southbridge): AHCI
SATA Port0-3 Native Mode (Intel ICH9R Southbridge): Enabled

and:
SATA RAID/AHCI Mode (Intel ICH9R Southbridge): AHCI
SATA Port0-3 Native Mode (Intel ICH9R Southbridge): Disabled

but what happens is slowing the boot time because the following message appears:
Serial ATA AHCI BIOS, Version UPSD src 04-20-2007 (something like that, this is copy paste from the web)
Copyright (c) 2003-2006 Intel Corporation
** This version supports only Hard Disk and CDROM drives **
Please wait. This will take few seconds.

and after booting from the live cd, I see:

[manji_]

I think I'll try to switch to the Gigabyte Sata2 port, and see if anything happens.

[DONAHUE]

Try the system rescue cd, http://www.sysresccd.org/Download , in place of the gentoo cds. (rescue64 at the boot prompt for a 64 bit system.) If that works, use it and follow the handbook for a manual install. A funtoo stage 3 from http://www.funtoo.org might be a good idea also.

[manji_]

Switching to the GSATA port, makes the hard drive visible as sda by the livecd, but the cdrom which is still on a chipsets's port, is seen as hdd. The problem with the hard drive now is that Vista won't boot(I was going for a dual boot), so I guess I have to stick with the chipset's sata ports.
My motherboard has 8 ICH10R ports, and 2 G_SATA2 ports. I prefer the ICH10R controllers, but Gentoo can't seem to handle these in my situation. Can anyone help me here plz?

[manji_]

Ok, I'll try that, but how should my sata configuration look like?
If I leave it like that:
SATA RAID/AHCI Mode: AHCI
SATA Port0-3 Native Mode: Enabled
lengthens my boot time for about 10 secs as I mentioned. Is AHCI preferable no matter that cost?

[NeddySeagoon]

manji_,

Install your gentoo using whatever mode works for you. The install will be slow but we can fix that when you make your own kernel.
When you configure you own kernel, follow this post
The settings there will drive your chipset in AHCI mode properly.

Windows is more of a problem. When it was released, it did not have ACHI drivers, so you need to operate the BIOS in the non ACHI mode until you apply the ACHI patch to windows - after that, switch the BIOS to ACHI mode and leave it.

You must install grub to the MBR using the hard drive names known to the installer. After that, fix grub.conf to point to the real_root as it will be under ACHI. Also fix the /etc/fstab. If you don't get it right first time, get back into your install and fix it.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[manji_]

DONAHUE, the rescue cd sees the hard drive as sda1 and the cdrom as sr0.

NeddySeagoon, you're saying that after I configure the kernel, the drives will be recognized properly? If so, I think I can handle it . I don't know If you are familiar with the BIOS I'm using, but for these SATA controllers, all the options I have are:
SATA RAID/AHCI Mode : ... (Disabled/AHCI/RAID)
SATA Port0-3 Native Mode: ... (Enabled/Disabled)

I guess AHCI is a good thing, right? So enabling it in the first option, is what I should do. But when I do that, the motherboard shows a message
** This version supports only Hard Disk and CDROM drives **
Please wait. This will take few seconds.
and I do have to wait for about 10 secs. This is a motherboard issue, but does anyone know if this is normal?

Windows Vista x64 SP1 which I am using don't seem to have any problem with enabling AHCI(they did have when I used the onboard sata ports...)

[NeddySeagoon]

manji_,

Use SystemRescueCD to install your Gentoo, it will save all the messing about with drive names.
Be sure to set up your kernel the way I suggested in my previous post.

Yes, AHCI is a good thing, its an open standard and more and more chip sets are compliant with it.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[manji_]

Thank you NeddySeagoon, I'll try to install from the SystemRescueCD. But I have to find why this message is coming up , cause it's a little annoying.

[DONAHUE]

when in the chroot and before