Kernel not working with UDMA card

kritoke · 2003-08-01 19:39:10

There is only one quirk with Arch Linux that prevents me from enjoying it thoroughly. For some strange reason, my PDC20269 udma card does not work in it. On boot up of the install cd, it shows my hard drives just fine. When either compiling by hand or doing a default image install of the kernel, it doesn't allow me to access the hard drives. I modprobe the correct driver, and it begins to be in use. But there lacks anything in /dev. I do a dmesg and it shows both hard drives and the card itself. This card has worked in every distro I have used, except for this one. I have recompiled my kernel so many times, I know my system by heart, so its not that I missing something. I know it isn't the newest kernel being a problem, because I have ran the latest kernel in slackware and it runs perfectly. I have also installed Crux, which is very similar to Arch Linux, and the card works perfectly under that. I really haven't found a distro that runs as great as Arch Linux, and would love to go back to my installation of it and be able to access my hard drives. So if anyone has any ideas, it would be appreciated.

Kritoke

sarah31 · 2003-08-01 19:46:22

just a guess..perhaps you need some sort of entry in devfsd.conf to enable this card? take a look through your crux files to see what is there and not in your arch configuration.

kritoke · 2003-08-01 20:03:29

The crux version of devfsd.conf is pretty barron, it only has 3 entries, which coinside with the first 3 entries of arch linux's devfsd.conf. There may be something in the conf that is screwing things up, thats about the only thing I can figure. I probably will try that in a bit, just running a ultra basic devfsd.conf and seeing what that turns up.

Kritoke

kritoke · 2003-08-01 20:33:16

Well I just tried a barebones devfsd.conf and still no worky.

Kritoke

sarah31 · 2003-08-01 21:49:24

ok i think i have another suggestion...i don't know if it will work or not....you mentioned that you are able to modprobe the correct module in. perhaps you should place the module into your rc.conf (in the module loading section) then try and reboot to make sure the module and then check your /dev for your drives (remember that in arch your drives will be listed under /dev/discs and not hdx). make sure your fstab has the correct entries for mounting your partitions/drives. for example:

/dev/discs/disc0/part2 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/discs/disc0/part1 / ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/discs/disc0/part3  /home   ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/ide/host0/bus1/target0/lun0/cd     /mnt/cd/        auto    ro,noauto,user,exec     0 0
/dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/cd    /mnt/cdr/       auto    ro,noauto,user,exec     0 0

kritoke · 2003-08-01 23:46:24

Already been done. I have actually been able to stump several linux support chat rooms. I am beginning to think maybe there is a bug between devfs and kernel 2.4.21 and my promise drivers. Crux runs 2.4.20 and devfs. Any other ideas?

Kritoke

sarah31 · 2003-08-01 23:57:19

not right at the moment but i will ponder it some more.

kritoke · 2003-08-03 23:08:50

I finally got it working. It was not easy by any means. I tried numerous patches for kernel 2.4.21, but none made it worked. I even tried moving to the latest 2.4.22 beta release, no worky there either. I tried to compile kernel 2.4.20, but apparently with the new gcc 3.3, it isn't very happy. So I had to look around and finally found a text talking bout the things to change to make it compile in the new gcc. So I did that, but I also had to just plainly disable reiserfs support because I couldn't figure out what to change in a file for that. All in all after compiling it, the card works perfectly. So I guess this means I found a bug in kernel 2.4.21 and it hasn't been fixed in the last 2.4.22 prerelease. So if you have a PDC20269, its probably not gonna work with kernel 2.4.21 and devfs. It does appear to work with systems not running devfs. I probably don't need a hair cut now because I pulled enough hair out trying to figure out what was wrong, hehe.

Kritoke

sarah31 · 2003-08-04 05:59:53

good job! sorry i could not find you a simpler fix.

perhaps you should mention your problems to the kernel folks.?

kritoke · 2003-08-04 17:14:43

If I can decode the kernel bug submission thing. It seems something like selling half your liver and then donating one kidney and chopping the other one half off. It's not that bad, but they really are concentrating on bugs in Kernel 2.5/Kernel 2.6beta, since thats what their bugzilla is set up for. It probably will be fixed in that, if not I will submit the bug then. Its basically due to these drivers being brand new in kernel 2.4.21. They kind of split them up and added a bunch of new support and its probably kind of ignored for devfs for now for my card.

Kritoke

gnomebox · 2003-08-05 07:12:07

indeed on selling the liver
--------------------------------
I have the same Promise UDMA card that kritoke has, and am having the same problem, but I cannot get rid of reiser support since my /home partition is resiser, and I would rather not loose my data.

Any suggestions?

I know this may seem vague, but just got arch going and there isn't much to say :-p

Arch Linux

#1 2003-08-01 19:39:10

Kernel not working with UDMA card

#2 2003-08-01 19:46:22

Re: Kernel not working with UDMA card

#3 2003-08-01 20:03:29

Re: Kernel not working with UDMA card

#4 2003-08-01 20:33:16

Re: Kernel not working with UDMA card

#5 2003-08-01 21:49:24

Re: Kernel not working with UDMA card

#6 2003-08-01 23:46:24

Re: Kernel not working with UDMA card

#7 2003-08-01 23:57:19

Re: Kernel not working with UDMA card

#8 2003-08-03 23:08:50

Re: Kernel not working with UDMA card

#9 2003-08-04 05:59:53

Re: Kernel not working with UDMA card

#10 2003-08-04 17:14:43

Re: Kernel not working with UDMA card

#11 2003-08-05 07:12:07

Re: Kernel not working with UDMA card

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