[solved] SATA II disk with PCI controller

senjin · 2010-10-30 15:34:07

Yesterday I bought a new SATA II disk (Seagate Momentus 7200.4). My motherboard has old VIA VT8237R chipset which doesn't support anything above SATA I, so I bought also PCI SATA controller (SIL3512). I connected and it worked. I partitioned the drive and put some data on it without any problems.

Today I wanted to install arch on this new drive. Unfortunately the installer cd doesn't see it. Also my current arch install on old (IDE) drive no longer see that drive!

When I run palimpsest it shows me the PCI controller, but no disks connected to it...

I'm completely confused. I tried various things (probably chaotically), but I think the only thing I really did was partitioning the new drive. Could it change anything?

Last edited by senjin (2010-11-01 01:59:01)

R00KIE · 2010-10-30 15:40:33

Well ... the disk probably works fine with a slower interface, give it a try. If it works maybe you can return the controller card and it's not like you will be getting a big speed penalty anyway.

senjin · 2010-10-30 15:53:27

No it doesn't. The VIA chipset I have can't talk with any drive above SATA I The PCI adapter I bough does it properly, at least did it yesterday... I have no explanation why it worked yesterday and doesn't today. I just partitioned the drive...

R00KIE · 2010-10-30 20:51:25

Maybe you just need to load some additional modules .... boot with the setup that worked, check which modules get loaded, then boot with the livecd and check which modules are loaded and compare.

senjin · 2010-10-30 21:33:36

The problem is that now it doesn't work in any configuration... I can't see the disk from my current arch install (on the old IDE disk). The module sata_sil is loaded and the SATA interface is visible in palimpsest for example.

Another symptom is that when I boot the computer there is a new message "press F4 for RAID setup" or similar. When I press F4 it says "No device detected, Utility disabled! Press any key to continue". Of course my single disk is not enough for RAID matrix, but the message doesn't say so explicitly... so maybe it's hardware configuration problem? But then, how could it work yesterday then?...

I have no idea where to search. If it's a module, how can I find out which one? And should it be a module I load with modprobe, or rather put in mkinitcpio.conf?

R00KIE · 2010-10-30 22:06:45

If it is a problem with hardware configuration then I can't help much. Are you sure everything is attached properly to the HD? Like power supply and data cable, I know it sounds silly but if you've been fiddling with it something might have gotten loose.

The other possibility is that something died, maybe the HD since the rest seems to be working. If you can try to connect the disk to a motherboard that supports sata 2 and see if it gets detected.

senjin · 2010-10-30 22:36:57

HDD is fine - tested on another computer. Well, I'd say it's connected properly, I can hear the spinning noise (if I put my ear closely...). The PCI adapter is detected properly, and it's new... ok, I will check it with another disk.

R00KIE · 2010-10-31 11:09:48

Then if the problem is not hardware, turn to software
Check the output of 'dmesg' and look for anything suspicious. You might want to give a livecd of another distro a try and see which modules get loaded and if the disk is detected, no other ideas here for now, maybe someone with experience dealing with raid cards can give more help.

senjin · 2010-10-31 11:25:32

I finally solved the problem by fixing the HDD to SATA I using jumper and connecting it directly to the motherboard. I tried to connect it to the PCI interface too, but it didn't work... looks like there's something wrong with the PCI interface or PCI port in my mother board... but then I'm really confused - how it could work before?

Anyway, turns out that it is - as you have suggested - a hardware problem. I will try to give the PCI interface back. Thank you for help and sorry for wasting your time.

R00KIE · 2010-10-31 22:47:08

I guess you have to return the controller card soon if you want a refund, but unless this temperamental behavior is common it would be interesting to know what's causing it.

Glad I could help make it work somehow, don't forget to edit your first post and add [Solved] to the title.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-10-30 15:34:07

[solved] SATA II disk with PCI controller

#2 2010-10-30 15:40:33

Re: [solved] SATA II disk with PCI controller

#3 2010-10-30 15:53:27

Re: [solved] SATA II disk with PCI controller

#4 2010-10-30 20:51:25

Re: [solved] SATA II disk with PCI controller

#5 2010-10-30 21:33:36

Re: [solved] SATA II disk with PCI controller

#6 2010-10-30 22:06:45

Re: [solved] SATA II disk with PCI controller

#7 2010-10-30 22:36:57

Re: [solved] SATA II disk with PCI controller

#8 2010-10-31 11:09:48

Re: [solved] SATA II disk with PCI controller

#9 2010-10-31 11:25:32

Re: [solved] SATA II disk with PCI controller

#10 2010-10-31 22:47:08

Re: [solved] SATA II disk with PCI controller

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