Dell Precision 670, SCSI, aic79xx

[tbg]

I have been trying to install Gentoo on a Dell Precision 670 workstation with a Seagate SCSI drive. I've tried all the various boot disk methods I can get my hands on (2004.1, 2004.2, gentoo|smp, doscsi, etc. etc. etc.) but Gentoo never recognizes my SCSI drive. If this were my own machine I would just install an IDE drive and forget about the SCSI, but this is company-issued equipment so I am really stuck with the configuration...

I can install Red Hat Enterprise Linux using an aic79xx driver in a modules.cgz file on a floppy, which Red Hat prompts for as part of its installation process.

I tried following the "alternate installation instructions" http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/altinstall.xml - I even made a Knoppix boot disk (but Knoppix doesn't see the SCSI drive either), and I tried folllowing the instructions for installing Gentoo on top of Red Hat as described at the end of that page (I made a single floppy boot disk and tried to use parted without success basically because apparently this version of red hat can't make a minix floppy).

I guess I fundamentally don't understand the "alternate instructions" - it occurred to me that if I couldn't resize my Red Hat installation I could just re-install Red Hat fresh with plenty of disk space available for Gentoo. The "alternate instructions" merely say

Once you have resized, boot back into your old linux as described. Then go to The Gentoo Handbook: Preparing the Disks and follow the instructions.

When it says "boot back into your old linux as described", what description is it referring to? I actually tried following the "preparing the disks" instructions and it has me removing all my partitions with fdisk - I actually did this just to see if I could completely wipe out my disks while running Red Hat to install Gentoo - Red Hat started to complain about me trying to change the filesystem on its swap space and then things got really impossible when I started to try to mount things (section 4.e).

I'm guessing that if anything were to work I should have tried creating new partitions for Gentoo in an unused portion of my drive. Ideally, I could have a dual-boot Red Hat and Gentoo system. I've already spent more time on this than I really should (I'm not getting paid to try to figure out how to run Gentoo on a Precision 670 workstation).

Any comments? suggestions? I am mostly posting this information for the benefit of anyone who would want to try to install Gentoo on a similar configuration...

[inode77]

I suggest you try the following:
1.) Install linux redhat enterprise in just one partition. (Make the partition the size of your future /home gentoo partition) Choose just the minimum to install, all you need is a working kernel to address your hardisk and cdrom.
Make the swap the size you intend to use later with gentoo. (We will just reuse it)
2.) After a sucessfull install boot redhat and type fdisk "/dev/sdX". Make all the partitions you need for your gentoo install.
3.) Reboot. You changes will not have any effect until after a reboot.
4.) Make the filesystems, unpack your stage tar ball, chroot, sync, bootstrap, emerge system, compile kernel and install cron, syslog and everything necessary for your first gentoo boot.
=> IMPORTANT: Make sure you have compiled in the necessary scsi driver into your kernel! <= IMPORTANT
5.) Install grub the way you like.
6.) Reboot into gentoo
7.) Make a new filesystem on your redhat partition and extend your fstab to automount the newly created partition.

[tbg]

Thanks!

I am "emerging" gs-sources right now, prior to building the kernel. A google of "aic97xx gentoo" brings me to a page that seems to indicate it is up to date with aic97xx.

Edit: gs-sources wouldn't build, so I emerged gentoo-dev-sources and I'm building it now... Not sure what the problem was with gs-sources but I'm kind of running out of time...


I installed most of red hat enterprise in (your) step 1, rather than just the minimum, because I found out previously that I need kernel development tools to build my e1000 driver, which is part of my Red Hat installation process...

I'll post more when I know more.

[tbg]

I was away from the internet (and the machine I am trying to install Gentoo on) all weekend...

Here's what I get when I try to boot, through Grub:

VFS: Cannot open root device "sda4" or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

Here's my grub.conf:

default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES (2.4.21-4.ELsmp)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.21-4.ELsmp ro root=LABEL=/ hdc=ide-scsi
initrd /initrd-2.4.21-4.ELsmp.img
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES-up (2.4.21-4.EL)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.21-4.EL ro root=LABEL=/ hdc=ide-scsi
initrd /initrd-2.4.21-4.EL.img
title Gentoo 2.6.7-r11
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.6.7-gentoo-r11 root=/dev/sda4

I've tried a few other things, without success. It just occurred to me that instead of copying my Gentoo kernel to sda1 (hd0,0) maybe I should copy it to somewhere on sda4???

I think I am close enough to keep pursuing this... I really dread using RedHat for work and having to figure out how to install RPMs .

I guess I should add that my current partitions look like this:
/dev/sda1 (boot enabled) start 1 end 13 Id: 83 System Linux
/dev/sda2 start 14 end 5129 ID: 83 System Linux (where redhat is installed)
/dev/sda3 start 5130 end 5258 ID: 82 Linux swap
/dev/sda4 start 5259 end 17849 ID: 83 Linux (where I am trying to install gentoo)

[tbg]

I'm running out of things to try. I tried using genkernel --menuconfig all to make sure the aic79xx driver was built into the kernel (I thought maybe making an initrd would help).

Block device /dev/sda4 is not a valid root device....
the root block device is unspecified or not detected.

It seems that the driver for an Adaptec 7901 controller just isn't available. googling around, it appears I am not the only one trying to install a free Linux distibution on it, without success.

for example:
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=pw_other&message.id=3445

[tbg]

I am sort of making progress, at least if I never want to use Gentoo to update my kernel sources.

I downloaded the aic79xx drivers as source in an RPM from the Dell website.
SCSI RAID: Adaptec U320 HostRAID Controller, Driver, Enterprise Linux 3, Multi Language, Precision 370, 470, 670, v.2.0.8, A00
I found this driver by entering my Dell service tag under downloads and looking in the "SCSI non-Raid" controller section for RedHat (the only Linux drivers on the site).

I installed the sources using this command:
rpm -iv "rpm name" - where "rpm name" is the rpm with the sources in it (I forget what it is exactly). I am doing this in a RedHat terminal window.

The driver sources end up in /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES/aic79xx (or something like that).

From my "gentoo" terminal window (on the same machine), i.e. a terminal where I have mounted /mnt/gentoo and chroot to /mnt/gentoo, where I can build my gentoo kernel, I mounted the redhat partition as /mnt/redhat (i.e. "mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/redhat").

Then, still in my "gentoo window", I deleted all the object files in /usr/src/linux/drivers/scsi/aic7xxx, and copied all the files from /mnt/redhat/usr/src/redhat/SOURCES/aic79xx to that directory, plus all the files in the aicasm subdirectory.

I then rebuilt my kernel using "make && make modules_install" (I did not run make menu_config, so I am using the .config from my last build, which I did with genkernel), and copied the bzImage, System.map, and .config file as usual.

I am now able to mount my /root file system on /dev/sda4 and I can log into the console prompt. It has been so long since I have gotten to this point in the gentoo installation, I have actually forgotten what to do next.

I am hoping that some gentoo guru will read this and know what is required to get those dell linux drivers into official distribution. Or perhaps come up with a better way of installing device drivers when building the kernel.

I thought I saw something somewhere on the Dell website that implied that the 7901 Adaptec controller is built into the Dell motherboard (not sure about that though).

[rsg]

I haven't been able to get RedHat, Knoppix, or Gentoo to see the SCSI drive! I have apparently the exact same system as you, at least with respect to your original post subject.

I've also had problems with the 2.6 kernal and my USB2 keyboard and mouse; did you have similar problems?

I'd like to recreate what you did, but can't get started. Any ideas?

[tbg]

glad to be of any assistance I can offer...

I scrapped the usb keyboard and mouse (the ones that attach to the monitor). CORRECTION: I am using an old DELL PS/2 keyboard and an old PS/2 logitch mouse that are connectly directly to the box.

I erroneously said I was using old USB keyboard and mouse directly attached to the back of the machine. I am in the process of trying to rebuild my system, and realized I had posted the wrong information!

you definitely need to get the SCSI patch from DELL for the RedHat installation.

when you install redhat, there is point where you can prompt for different drivers on a floppy (sorry I don't remember the specifics). I recommend you get RedHat up before doing Gentoo.

[tbg]

I want to followup this thread with some more detailed instructions.

I recently trashed my system and found it was not easy to recreate my steps based on the information in this thread, so for the record, here is what I think works to get Gentoo installed on a Dell Precision 670 a SCSI drive:

Step 0: First, you really need to get RedHat Enterprise Linux installed on your machine. This involves using a special patch floppy to load the SCSI drive, which you should be able get off of the Dell site, (as described previously in this thread). If you can't get Red Hat, X, and Gnome/KDE running on your Precision 670, forget about installing Gentoo.

In order to install Gentoo, you will need to have created 4 partitions on your SCSI drive. Here is the configuration I used:

/dev/sda1 common boot partition
/dev/sda2 RedHat root and Gentoo home
/dev/sda3 common swap partition
/dev/sda4 Gentoo root partition

If at some point you screw up and need to start all over:

In RedHat:
# fdisk /dev/sda
# delete partition 4
# create partition 4
# reboot
# /sbin/mke2fs -j /dev/sda4

Step 1: Open a terminal in RedHat and SU to root. Read along with Section 4.e of the Gentoo Handbook "Mounting".

# mount /dev/sda4 /mnt/gentoo
# mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot
# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot

Step 2: Put 2004-2 Live CD Disk in CD drive (5.a. Installing a Stage Tarball).
# ls /mnt/cdrom/stages
# cd /mnt/gentoo
# tar -xvjpf /mnt/cdrom/stages/stage3-i686-2004.2.tar.bz2

you can ignore the error at the end.

Step 3: "Configuring the Compile Options" Section 5.e

# nano -w /mnt/getnoo/etc/make.conf

add -pipe to CFLAGS
add MAKEOPTS="-j3"

Step 4: Section 6.a Chrooting into the new Environment

# cp -L /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc/resolv.conf
# mount -t proc none /mnt/gentoo/proc

# env -i HOME=$HOME TERM=$TERM /usr/sbin/chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
# /usr/sbin/env-update
# source /etc/profile

Step 5:

# emerge --sync to get portage

Step 6:

# nano -w /etc/make.conf

set up your USE flags

Step 7: "Configuring the Kernel"

# ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/EST /etc/localtime

Step 8:

# emerge =gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.7-r11

Note: as of this writing, I cannot get my hack to the kernel drivers to work with the latest gentoo-dev-sources (2.6.9-r1) because of changes to the config files, apparently, so I am using 2.6.7-r11.

Check the linux link as described in the handbook.

Step 9:

# emerge genkernel
# genkernel all

(go set up this kernel in grub and see if it works, it probably won't, but try it anyway.

Step 10:
# cd /usr/src/linux/drivers/scsi/aic7xxx
# mkdir /mnt/redhat
# mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/redhat
- copy the drivers sources from where you unpacked them on your redhat installation (see elsewhere in this thread):
e.g.:
# cp /mnt/redhat/usr/src/redhat/SOURCES/aic79xx-2.0.8/* .
(also copy the subdirectory aicasm)

Step 10.5:
You need to go into make menuconfig at this point and make sure your aic79xx driver is built-in and not loaded as a module. It probably doesn't hurt to load every Adaptec driver, but the key is the U320 one in the "low level SCSI" submenu.

Basically the way I got this to work was by doing a combination genkernel, custom kernel build.


Step 11:
# cd /usr/src/linux
# make && make modules_install

# cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/kernel-2.6.7-gentoo-r11

You should now be able to complete the steps in a regular genkernel installation (as described in section 7.d).

[vmadunic]

I've just solved the problem on my box.

Problem was in booting from SCSI disks. System locks up with a kernel panic
here is the copy kernel lock: