[Asterisk-Users] Semi OT - SuperMicro config question for the Linux/Hardware jedi's - $50 bounty!

[David Muench]

On 12/21/05, Cory Andrews <Cory at voipsupply.com> wrote:
> I have a SuperMicro 5013C-MT with the P4SCT+ motherboard and am having
> trouble
> with all Linux distributions  (Debian, Gentoo, Redhat ES3 and
> Ubuntu). No distributions will detect the SATA drives and therefore
> cannot install.

Hi Cory,

I have that system as well - excellent system, but it was frustrating
getting Linux on it. Here's what I did with Ubuntu:

Boot up the Ubuntu live cd. apt-get build-essential and the kernel
sources. Download the marvell SATA driver. I am using 3.4.2a, and have
been for 6+ months with no issues. If you're using Ubuntu 5.10 which
has kernel 2.6.12, you'll need a patch to get the driver to compile -
send me an email directly if you can't find it on google. Build the
driver in the livecd, and then copy mvSata.ko off to another machine.

Then boot the Ubuntu install CD, and after it sets up the network but
before it gets to the partitioning, ALT-F2 into a shell and grab that
mvSata.ko from the machine you copied it to. modprobe that in the
Ubuntu shell and the disks should be available. You should be able to
proceed through the Ubuntu install now.

The next problem is that Ubuntu has no knowledge of that mvSata
driver, so it won't be part of the initrd once you finish the install
and reboot, so Ubuntu won't boot. Boot up the livecd again, grab the
mvSata.ko off of your other machine to get the disks online, and then
generate a new initrd in your ubuntu install. Basically you need to
copy mvSata.ko to /lib/modules/<kernel ver>/kernel/drivers/scsi/ and
then do a depmod with the -b option since your real root partition
will be mounted somewhere else like /mnt or wherever you mounted it.
After that use mkinitrd to generate a new initrd including the mvSata
module.

This sounds like a heck of a lot of work but it's not so bad. Once you
get it installed once, kernel upgrades are easy - you just need to put
the mvSata in place and regenerate the initrd after installing the new
kernel. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Dave

--
David Muench - davemuench at gmail.com
Jabber ID: dave at jabber.wasteland.org