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vrai
n00b
Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 15
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 Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 4:20 pm Post subject: Suggestions for a PCI SATA controller |
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Due to my purchasing of the world's least compatible motherboard I've been forced in to buying a SATA controller card. Obviously I want to avoid any more compatibility problems so I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions?
All I need is a simple two port SATA PCI card which is compatibly with the vanilla Linux kernel. I've been looking at the StarTech PCISATA2 and it seems promising. It's cheap and claims to be Linux compatible. Does anyone have any experience with this card? Is it as compatible as it claims? |
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NeddySeagoon
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Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 54831
Location: 56N 3W
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| Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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vrai,
Tell us more about the worlds least compatible motherboard before you go spending more hard earned cash.
PCI cards are inherently slow because of the limited PCI bus bandwidth, so thats a last step, as is spending more money.
Can we see all of your lspci output please.
You may just have a new SATA controller, like JMicron, which needs a newish kernel to get support.
_________________
Regards,
NeddySeagoon
Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail. |
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vrai
n00b
Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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The problem is not that Linux cannot see the SATA drive, but that the motherboard refuses to recognise any of the SATA drives I've attached to it thus far. I bought the board, an Asus P5LD2-C, with the intention of using a PATA CD and HD initially; before adding a few SATA drives latter on. On paper the board looked ideally suited to the task, with 4 PATA and 4 SATA ports.
Unfortunately 3 of the 4 PATA ports are attached to some moronic proprietary RAID controller and so unusable. I managed to get the system working and Gentoo installed by putting both the CD and HD on the same channel (the ATA-66 one). Foolishly I assumed these problems would be limited to the PATA controller and so kept the board; roll forward a couple of months and it turns out that the SATA support is even worse. Despite trying SATA multiple drives, multiple cables, the Cartesian product of the BIOS IDE settings and even removing the PATA devices to check that they weren't interferring with the process; I can't even get the BIOS to see the drive, let alone Linux.
If I can't get a controller card that will work I'm just going to bin the P5LD2 and buy a socket 775 that doesn't have on board RAID and doesn't use the ICH7 south bridge. |
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NeddySeagoon
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Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 54831
Location: 56N 3W
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| Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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vrai,
The on board raid and ICH7 can be used in Just a Bunch Of Drives (JBOD) mode on their SATA interfaces.
I'm interested in your lspci output to see what you have, knowing the motherboard type is not very useful, so I can help you keep your money in your pocket and help others to fix this problem too, which will save them money.
Modern SATA drives have two modes 150Gb/sec and 300Gb/sec. Your SATA controllers probably don't do 300Gb/sec, so you need to set the speed jumper to 150Gb/sec. Any cheap PCI card you get will be 150Gb/sec only too.
_________________
Regards,
NeddySeagoon
Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail. |
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vrai
n00b
Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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I've tried jumpering the drives to 150Gbps, thought the motherboard manual claims that it supports 300Gbps. I'll shut the machine down as soon as I can to double check the BIOS for a JBOD mode.
In the mean time I've attached the lspci output, hopefully it was what you were after ...
| Code: | 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ/P/PL Memory Controller Hub (rev 81)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 2580
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ/P/PL PCI Express Root Port (rev 81) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000e000-0000efff
Memory behind bridge: cdf00000-cfffffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d0000000-00000000dff00000
Capabilities: [88] #0d [0000]
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [90] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
Capabilities: [a0] Express Root Port (Slot+) IRQ 0
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device 8237
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
Memory at cdcf8000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [60] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
Capabilities: [70] Express Unknown type IRQ 0
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff
Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+) IRQ 0
Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
Capabilities: [90] #0d [0000]
Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000c000-0000cfff
Memory behind bridge: cde00000-cdefffff
Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot-) IRQ 0
Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
Capabilities: [90] #0d [0000]
Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device 8179
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
I/O ports at 7000 [size=32]
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device 8179
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 20
I/O ports at 7400 [size=32]
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device 8179
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
I/O ports at 7800 [size=32]
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device 8179
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
I/O ports at 8000 [size=32]
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device 8179
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
Memory at cdcff800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [58] Debug port
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1) (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32
I/O behind bridge: 0000a000-0000bfff
Memory behind bridge: cdd00000-cddfffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 0000000050000000-0000000050000000
Capabilities: [50] #0d [0000]
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device 8179
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device 8179
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
I/O ports at <unassigned>
I/O ports at <unassigned>
I/O ports at <unassigned>
I/O ports at <unassigned>
I/O ports at ffa0 [size=16]
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller IDE (rev 01) (prog-if 8f [Master SecP SecO PriP PriO])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device 2601
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
I/O ports at 9800 [size=8]
I/O ports at 9400 [size=4]
I/O ports at 9000 [size=8]
I/O ports at 8800 [size=4]
I/O ports at 8400 [size=16]
Memory at cdcffc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device 8179
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 6
I/O ports at 0400 [size=32]
01:03.0 Mass storage controller: Integrated Technology Express, Inc. ITE 8211F Single Channel UDMA 133 (ASUS 8211 (ITE IT8212 ATA RAID Controller)) (rev 11)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. P5GD1-VW Mainboard
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
I/O ports at b800 [size=8]
I/O ports at b400 [size=4]
I/O ports at b000 [size=8]
I/O ports at a800 [size=4]
I/O ports at a400 [size=16]
Expansion ROM at 50000000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 19)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Marvell 88E8053 Gigabit Ethernet controller PCIe (Asus)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
Memory at cdefc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
I/O ports at c800 [size=256]
Expansion ROM at cdec0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [5c] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/1 Enable-
Capabilities: [e0] Express Legacy Endpoint IRQ 0
04:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV44 [GeForce 6200 TurboCache(TM)] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Unknown device 9931
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
Memory at cf000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
Memory at ce000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Expansion ROM at cdfe0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [68] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
Capabilities: [78] Express Endpoint IRQ 0
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vrai
n00b
Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 7:28 pm Post subject: |
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I restarted the system and had another play with the BIOS settings. There is no setting that causes the BIOS recognise the drive. I then re-read the manual and found to interesting sections. The first seemed to suggest that the ICH7R only handles the primary IDE channel (as used by my CD/HD combination) - the rest of the IDE support is handled by an ITE 8211 chipset, sadly disabling this in the BIOS does cause a fall back to the ICH7R.
The second was in reference to which sockets I should attach SATA drives to:
| Code: | Connector Color Setting Use
SATA1/SATA2 Red Master Boot disk
SATA3/SATA4 Black Slave Data disk |
Now I've tried all of the sockets but the "Setting" column has me confused. I was under the impression that SATA drives don't have master/slave settings. Certainly none of the ones I own have jumpers for this configuration. |
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NeddySeagoon
Administrator
Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 54831
Location: 56N 3W
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| Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 8:24 pm Post subject: |
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vrai,
Some BIOSes have support for making SATA drives appear as PATA devices. It should be disabled
grepping the kernel tree for 8211 shows
| Code: | | This option enables support for the ITE 8211 and 8212 |
so your PATA 8211 interface is supported.
The Intel ICH7 works too but it can be difficult to make it work for both PATA and SATA at the same time and get DMA on the PATA.
Provided you can install Gentoo to the point of building a custom kernel, everything in your lspci can be made to work.
I'm not sure of the detail for the ITE 8211 chip. As its provided on the motherboard, its likely to be fake (BIOS) raid, not hardware raid.
_________________
Regards,
NeddySeagoon
Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail. |
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