[Gllug] Debian not booting on extra IDE card (/dev/hde)

[Rich Walker]

John Edwards <John.Edwards at cornerstonelinux.co.uk> writes:

[snip]

> The standard Debian kernels only detect the Intel IDE controller and then 
> try to mount the root fs. This produces the following error:
>     mount: /dev2/root is not a valid block device
> 
> And so without a root fs init can't continue and the kernel panics.
> 
> 
> Both the boot floppy and standard Debian kernels have the CMD640/680 driver 
> in the kernel, so how do I get a kernel to know the card is there ? 

I had some problems with a Promise card - during the boot process,
hd[a-d] and hd[e-h] swap around, so you can't get it to work. I ended up
putting the kernel on a floppy and leaving the floppy in permanently. I
think lilo 22.5 has some fixes for this - it's to do with which IDE
interfaces are booted first.

You might try fiddling with the BIOS "boot offboard IDE first" type
setting.

cheers, Rich.

> 

-- 
rich walker | technical person | Shadow Robot Company | rw at shadow.org.uk
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                                 London  N1 1LX       | +UK 20 7700 2487


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