FC3 installation on a Dell Precision 370 with EM64T and S-ATA support

[z-buffer]

Hi all,

I desperately tried to install FC3-x86_64 on a Dell Precision 370 including only S-ATA drives and a P4 processor with EM64T extension. There is an existing WinXP installation, the workstation should be configured as dual-boot.

To have any Linux installer I tried recognize the S-ATA hard drive, one has to switch the S-ATA usage in the BIOS from "Autoraid/ACPI" to "Autoraid/ATA". Later, a kernel update from 2.6.8.x to 2.6.11.x should solve the problem and make it possible for FC3 to read the S-ATA drive also via ACPI.

A standard installation of the x86_64 version of FC3 works fine after the mentioned BIOS switch. But this installation won't boot in ATA mode; when reaching the boot loader it keeps on rebooting over and over.

Has anybody experienced something similar before? Should I disable the EM64T extension and install a i386 version of FC3? Even given a working x86_64 installation, will the kernel upgrade to 2.6.11.x solve the S-ATA via ACPI issue? This is at least the fourth complete installation on my system and I am quite desperate by now.

Thanks for your help,
Alex.

[z-buffer]

Sorry, there was a typo in the above post ... Please replace all occurances of "ACPI" in the text with "AHCI". Everything else should be correct.

[z-buffer]

A few installs later:
Booting the x86_64 FC3 processes a little further, but after probing audio, video, etc. the screen freezes. A few fedora logos appear on a scrambled screen and there is a frozen mouse pointer in the corner. Could this be a monitor or graphic card problem? If yes, how do I solve it?

Thanks,
Alex.

[jhegge]

I tried an FC2 install yesterday to a 370 with the same result. It also has a SATA drive (after we gave up on the Adaptec 39320 and SCSI drive the Dell supplied). We also had to change the BIOS setting for AHCI. That allowed the install w/ the stock 2.6.5 kernel but the NIC, a newer Broadcom apparently, wasn't detected. So, we upgraded the kernel to 2.6.10-14 to try get some driver support.

Well, that went badly, the machine locks at the point where the graphical boot says "Setting System Clock" and the console shows it just before init is started. Using "noprobe" and "acpi=off" didn't help either. We did finally roll back to 2.6.8 and the system would boot again. But, we wound up adding in and Intel NIC and forgetting the onboard Broadcom.

I did another install earlier with FC3 and that machine took quite well. I don't remember what exactly I did but that was a 32 bit install only.

I think the 2.6.11 kernel is a good idea, it may have more of the drivers you need, but you have to find one kernel to at least complete an install, then manually add the new kernels.

[z-buffer]

Thanks for your info.

Meanwhile, I also installed a 32-bit version of FC3, which boots and runs smoothly. I still have to switch the BIOS to ATA mode before booting Linux, though. Yes, the 2.6.11+ kernel is supposed to resolve that problem. Nevertheless, I won't manually upgrade my kernel for now, but wait for a Fedora-patched official release. For the time being, I prefer the BIOS switching over the possibly unstable system.

I might try another 64-bit install after a while, as I am still frustrated about not being able to use the full capacity of my hardware. :-/

[jhegge]

This reminds me of a similar issue: I tried putting FC2 on a Sunfire V20Z -- dual Opterons -- but with 2.6.8, some Java behavior went badly. After changing the kernel to 2.6.10, the platform worked fine. So, just beware of that as well. These were both 32-bit versions. The box was still a screamer even with this "crippled" 32-bit OS.

Originally Posted by z-buffer

I might try another 64-bit install after a while, as I am still frustrated about not being able to use the full capacity of my hardware. :-/

[z-buffer]

Just to let you guys know: As desired, the S-ATA problem disappeared after updating to the 2.6.11-1.14_FC3smp kernel, all my sda partitions can be accessed via AHCI now. Goodbye to BIOS fumbling.

Originally Posted by jhegge

The box was still a screamer even with this "crippled" 32-bit OS.

Of course I am quite satisfied with the 32-bit performance of my system right now. Nevertheless, upgrading to a 64-bit version is a question of principle for me. I will let this issue rest for a while until the 64-bit stuff is more established. After all, I have to work a little bit from time to time.

[Almuric]

After so many years, you will find you can use the Adaptec 39320 and SCSI drive the Dell supplied
with FC9 without any problem

[JohnVV]

Almuric PLEASE Do not drag up 3.5 year old posts and answer them !!

[glennzo]

Thread closed.