new cdrom

[Mike Bilow]

Glenn Burkhardt wrote in a message to Mike Bilow:

 GB> Anyone know anything about changes in ATAPI or IDE
 GB> protocols?  I'm having trouble installing RedHat 5.0 on a
 GB> brand-spanky new Acer PII.  During boot, linux reports
 GB> something on 'hdc', but is unable to determine what.  I've
 GB> tried forcing it with 'boot:  linux hdc=cdrom', but it still
 GB> doesn't  see hdc as a CDROM drive when the installation
 GB> program gets to the point of trying to access the CDROM.  

I don't think this has anything to do with the protocol, but more likely is an
issue with the chipset.  Some of the newer motherboards use a very new Intel
PCI chipset that might have some problems under the 2.0.x kernels, although my
understanding is that support should be present in the 2.1.x kernels.  Some of
these problems could be timing related, so that the CD drive will be correctly
detected about 25% of the time.

Some machines, especially Gateways, have funny BIOS problems under advanced
operating systems if they are configured to allow boot from CD, since the BIOS
seems incapable of making sure that the device in question is really a CD
before trying to boot from it using the CD boot protocol.  This will hang at
least Linux and Windows NT, and probably anything except Windows 95.

Of course, you should check all of the relevant CMOS settings for PCI chipset
control, paying special attention to IRQ mode and allocation.

 GB> The drive is a master on the secondary IDE channel.

 GB> Win95 is able to see (and read from) the drive either as a
 GB> master or a slave. 

 GB> This is the second time I've had trouble with RedHat 5.0
 GB> seeing a CDROM. The first time, on an Acer Entra system,
 GB> switching the CDROM from slave  to master on the secondary
 GB> IDE channel was enough.

The drive should properly be configured as master if it is the only device on
the channel.  Linux takes the view that you ought to be able to get your
jumpers in the right positions, and does not want to risk corrupting data by,
say, dual-addressing data on the hard drive and CD drive at the same time, as
Windows 95 is perfectly willing to do.

 GB> Thanks in advance....

 GB> (P.S.  I was planning on helping at the Installfest
 GB> tomorrow, but now I'm not sure I'm qualified anymore...)

There are few computer problems which cannot be fixed with a sledgehammer.
 
-- Mike