Ryan Langseth wrote:
> I would think its because Promise made the driver work with windows
> since they would lose alot more market share if they did not.  Also
> you should be able to make the promise raid controller act like a
> regular controller(w/o raid) and then you should be able to boot off
> of the disks, rather than getting a IDE drive.  Also check google some
> more, it has been a while since I did anything with promise raid(1
> year+), maybe things have changed.
> 
> -ryan
> On 7/16/05, Kevin Lombardo <kevin.lombardo at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>>Well I guess I'll probably try to get an IDE and scrap the RAID, but I
>>would like to know: why does the NT/W2K boot loader boot off the array
>>just fine?
>>

I had a Promise Raid card, was not thrilled with it. If I recall
correctly I had to do some fooling around with getting a kernel module
passed in at boot time to get the raid working. Okay, I went and found
the email I had from the support tech, this was for Red Hat and I'mnot
sure if this will count for a sata controller or not, but it may give
you somewhere to start from.

 PROMISE FastTrak Series Linux Driver
 For Red Hat Linux 7.3/8.0
 Version 1.02.0.25 [11/18/2002]

[INTRODUCTION]

1.1 Foreword

    This procedure applies to all Promise FastTrak Series adapters and
    onboard chipsets running under the RedHat Linux operating systems.
    Do NOT use this procedure for other versions of Linux.

1.2 Support List

       PDC20262         FastTrak66
       PDC20265R        FastTrak100 Lite/SMARAID
       PDC20267         FastTrak100
       PDC20270         FastTrak LP/TX2/TX4
       PDC20271         FastTrak TX2000
       PDC20276         MBFastTrak133 Lite
       PDC20277         SBFastTrak133 Lite
       with
       Red Hat 7.3       (kernel 2.4.18-3)
       Red Hat 8.0       (kernel 2.4.18-14)

1.3 Prepare a Driver Diskette

    You will use a diskette to load the new Linux driver onto your PC.

    1) Obtain a new, formatted diskette and label it "FastTrak Driver
Disk." Insert it into your PC's floppy drive.

    2) Extract the contents of the driver file you downloaded from the
Promise website onto your floppy disk. Use either WinZIP in Windows or
Unzip in Linux to extract the files.


[INSTALLATION]

2.1 To install the FastTrak Series Linux Driver into an EXISTING SYSTEM:

  1.) Boot linux system and login as root.

  2.) Insert FastTrak Driver Disk for install FastTrak Driver by issuing
      commands :
  # mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
  # cd /mnt/floppy
  # sh install   (Answer Yes/No when inquire setup configuration)

 You can answer Yes to bind FastTrak driver into linux booting.

                # cd ..
                # umount /dev/fd0

    NOTE: Due to the Linux kernel misidentifying the FastTrak card, all
IDE channels except onboard IDE are disabled. To enable the other IDE
channels, remove the line "ide2=0 ide3=0 ide4=0 ide5=0 ide6=0 ide7=0
ide8=0 ide9=0"
    in /etc/lilo.conf or /boot/grub/grub.conf.

  3.) Reboot Red Hat linux system.


2.2 To install the FastTrak Series Linux Driver into a NEW SYSTEM

  1.) Start the Red Hat Linux Installation with CD-ROM booting.

  2.) At the "Welcome to Red Hat Linux ..." installation screen, a
prompt labeled "boot:" will appear at the bottom of the screen.

  3.) Please append parameters (see Note 1 below) at the "boot:" prompt,
      then press the Enter key.

  4.) At the "Devices" dialog box, insert the FastTrak Driver Disk in
the floppy drive and then select "OK" or "Yes" to continue install.

  5.) Enable "Configure advanced boot loader options" box at Boot Loader
      Configuration menu, and type kernel parameters (see NOTE 2 below)
      in the General kernel parameters field.

  6.) Continue with the installation as normal.

  7.) If the installer occur warning message about "The kernel was
unable to re-read the partition table on /dev/sd(x), (Device or resource
busy)...", Please do not click skip, just click Ignore bottom to
continue the install.

  8.) Press Ctrl-Alt-F2 when installation at the "Congratulations" menu.

  9.) Insert the FastTrak Driver Disk floppy, Issue commands to load
FastTrak driver.
  # umount /tmp/fd0 (For safety issue, Just in case)

  # chroot /mnt/sysimage
                # mount /dev/fd0 /mnt
 (If USB Floppy, Please choose USB floppy device such as /dev/sdb)
                # cd /mnt
                # sh setup-ft

  10.) Choose your selection here, after FastTrak driver setup successful.
  # cd /
                # umount /mnt
                # exit

  11.) Please press Ctrl-Alt-F7 and click "Exit" button to finish
installation.


[NOTE]

   Linux Kernels 2.4.x misidentiy Promise ATA-RAID controllers as simple
IDE controllers. This results in the built-in Linux IDE driver trying to
handle the controller and can prevent the proper FastTrak ATA RAID
driver from loading.
   Follow the installation instructions AND the parameter commands
referred to below section. This status we called "IDE issue".

   1.) "linux ide0=0x1f0, 0x3f6,14 ide1=0x170, 0x376,15 ide2=0 ide3=0
ide4=0 ide5=0 ide6=0 ide7=0 ide8=0 ide9=0"

   2.) "ide0=0x1f0, 0x3f6,14 ide1=0x170, 0x376,15 ide2=0 ide3=0 ide4=0
ide5=0 ide6=0 ide7=0 ide8=0 ide9=0"

   3.) Occasionally, during bootup, you may see Unresolved Symbols,
followed by an OK or a FAILED. In either case, this is a cosmetic error
and does not affect RedHat Linux 7.3 or the FastTrak RAID Controller card.

   4.) Rarely, during bootup, you may see a HUSH (humble shell) message.
This is also a cosmetic error and does not affect RedHat Linux 7.3 or
the FastTrak RAID Controller card.

   5.) To see information on your array(s) and the Driver version number:

       a. Launch your terminal emulation program.

       b. Type "cat /proc/scsi/FastTrak/(x)" then press Enter, x is a
register number in your system.