xen
2007-01-15, 09:03 AM CST
I've written this guide because it is the solution to a problem I was having myself. I hope that this will be useful to other people too.
Scenario
Does your SATA hard-disk show up as hda and NOT sda?
Does copying take ages or lag your system?
If this is the case, then this solution might be for you!
Diagnose
Firstly, double-check that your hard-disk is incorrectly showing up as 'hda'. Firstly you need to login as root:
su -
And then enter the root password as usual. Then you should issue the following command:
hdparm /dev/hda
If you don't see the following, but instead see some information about your hard-disk, and you are positive that your hard-disk is SATA, then you fit the criteria!
/dev/hda: No such file or directory
Solution
1. Run the package updater and make sure your system is up-to-date.
2. Login as root again at a terminal window.
Finally, we want to edit our GRUB menu.list. Issue the following command:
gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
With any luck this should bring up the text-editor window. Next you need to find the corresponding line for your current (usually the newest) kernel and add 'hda=noprobe' to the end.
For example, below is my edit GRUB config. Please do not copy and paste this, just alter yours to have the 'hda=norprobe' option!
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda1
# initrd /boot/initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (2.6.18-1.2869.fc6)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2869.fc6 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet hda=noprobe
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18-1.2869.fc6.img
title Fedora Core (2.6.18-1.2798.fc6)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6.img
The next task is to reboot! Whilst booting up, you should notice differences already. The system should boot quicker than before. You may also notice some errors about mounting local filesystems. Please don't worry about this yet, I will explain below...
Login to a terminal as root, and do the following:
gedit /etc/fstab
Edit anything that says 'hdx' (where 'x' a number will be) and alter it to 'sdx'. Do not alter the numbers because the partition numbers shouldn't have changed. Either reboot or do the following in a root terminal:
umount -a
mount -a
With any luck, your system should be functioning as it should!
Please note that I accept NO responsibility if this damages your system or causes any other problems, by following the instructions in this thread, you are agreeing that I am not responsible for what happens to your system!
Scenario
Does your SATA hard-disk show up as hda and NOT sda?
Does copying take ages or lag your system?
If this is the case, then this solution might be for you!
Diagnose
Firstly, double-check that your hard-disk is incorrectly showing up as 'hda'. Firstly you need to login as root:
su -
And then enter the root password as usual. Then you should issue the following command:
hdparm /dev/hda
If you don't see the following, but instead see some information about your hard-disk, and you are positive that your hard-disk is SATA, then you fit the criteria!
/dev/hda: No such file or directory
Solution
1. Run the package updater and make sure your system is up-to-date.
2. Login as root again at a terminal window.
Finally, we want to edit our GRUB menu.list. Issue the following command:
gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
With any luck this should bring up the text-editor window. Next you need to find the corresponding line for your current (usually the newest) kernel and add 'hda=noprobe' to the end.
For example, below is my edit GRUB config. Please do not copy and paste this, just alter yours to have the 'hda=norprobe' option!
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda1
# initrd /boot/initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (2.6.18-1.2869.fc6)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2869.fc6 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet hda=noprobe
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18-1.2869.fc6.img
title Fedora Core (2.6.18-1.2798.fc6)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6.img
The next task is to reboot! Whilst booting up, you should notice differences already. The system should boot quicker than before. You may also notice some errors about mounting local filesystems. Please don't worry about this yet, I will explain below...
Login to a terminal as root, and do the following:
gedit /etc/fstab
Edit anything that says 'hdx' (where 'x' a number will be) and alter it to 'sdx'. Do not alter the numbers because the partition numbers shouldn't have changed. Either reboot or do the following in a root terminal:
umount -a
mount -a
With any luck, your system should be functioning as it should!
Please note that I accept NO responsibility if this damages your system or causes any other problems, by following the instructions in this thread, you are agreeing that I am not responsible for what happens to your system!