Has anyone installed a 2.4 series kernel on a system based on the intel I865 chipset? If so, I am wondering if there are any recommendations re: motherboards that seem to work well.
From a quick grep through the 2.4.21 source (latest kernel available for
testing) is appears that both i865 support and sATA support are in the kernel, which are the two major issues with this chipset (since I think the onboard gigabit LAN became supported in 2.4.19).
As far as I can tell, there is sATA support in 2.4.21, although I cannot figure out what the device major number or /dev entries for that would be.
Hi Neal
Don't know how much this will help but as you've had no other answers, here goes. I'm trying to get an i875P based m/c to work but am still having problems, but it sounds like you know more about kernels than me. FWIW, my machine appears to boot OK in general under 2.4.21 but:
- I have problems with the network. I haven't yet persuaded the network to boot properly. Once the system is up and running, I can start it by hand (ifdown eth0; ifup eth0). The controller on my board (it's an Intel D875PBZ mobo) is apparently different from those supported in previous kernels. Once I've fixed it I'll have to come back to the disks:
- initially there were problems with disk errors and unexpected interrupts, so I switched the BIOS to legacy mode (the SATA disks appear as PATA but it's not possible to see all the devices). That made the problem go away but I'll have to come back to it when I've fixed the network.
There are apparently problems with some other SATA support chips and perhaps with specific hard drives so check the lists and google carefully before buying.
People say they have got these boards working but I don't remember seeing anybody who claimed to have made native-mode SATA work who gave full details.
Cheers, Dave
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Hi Neal,
I've been struggling with an Intel S875WP1-E board for the past month. Further to Dave's comments:
- re NIC: same trouble initially, but obtained the E100-2.2.21 source from the Intel site and compiled the drivers. This works fine now under kernel 2.4.21. Indeed, the alternate E100 module (not the original Becker driver) seems to do the trick;
- re onboard SATA: this board was selected as the Promise onboard SATA controller (PDC20319) provides the option of RAID 0, 1 or 0+1. My client wants hardware mirroring. However, the bios that shipped with the board only allowed RAID0. After some to-ing and fro-ing with the very helpful Hal and Joe at Intel support, I obtained the P06 bios. Ooops!!! The RAID options had disappeared completely from the BIOS setup. Back to Intel: obtained the updated SATARAID.exe utility, and at last I could create RAID1;
- next problem was getting the kernel to recognise the controller. After a bit of searching the kernel.org mailing lists, etc., I found out about the 2.4.21-atascsi1.patch and Jeff Garzik's libata. After patching/re-compiling, the ICH5 controller was recognised and I have a kernel that recognises the SATA drives as scsi drives - however, not as RAID. Unlike the legacy PATA mode, the drive's entire capacity is recognised though.
- On the Intel web site the updated drivers for this controller were promised for release in August, but they have yet to appear. The existing drivers (available for RedHat and Win2K/XP only) support the SATA drives but not as a RAID. Modifying the RH modules is beyond my competency, so I asked the Intel support people if the drivers could be released as source at least. However, nothing yet.
It's been a disappointing experience, particularly for my client, a small magazine publisher, who wanted to move his file and print serving from an ageing NT4 box to Debian. He recognises the issue is not really a Debian one, so much as an Intel one. (However, we've experienced similar Debian-discrimination in moving his previous backup software, Arcserve/Brightstor, to Debian: RedHat, Suse, Caldera, etc., installers, but CA don't give Debian a real look - only so far as a client agent).
My recommendation, if you were considering buying this board or a board with this chipset, I'd wait a couple of months until the drivers, etc., have been addressed more adequately.
cheers
tony
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