DSL 2.1b and the i865 chipset

Forum: User Feedback
Topic: DSL 2.1b and the i865 chipset
started by: Lodovik

Posted by Lodovik on Jan. 14 2006,20:03

Hi,

I love DSL, it is one of my most useful tool. Until recently, I stayed with an older version (1.9) because 2.0 wouldn't boot on my PC. I have a plain Asus P4P800 motherboard with both IDE and SATA HDs.

Now, DSL 2.1b boots fine but I cannot see my SATA drive, as I did before. This has been tested with the Syslinux 2.1b version of DSL.

BTW, I like the new changes in the interface. The status applets looked better before but now more information is available at a glance.

Keep up the good work!

Posted by MethodOne on Jan. 14 2006,20:48

Did you try using the regular isolinux version?

Posted by Lodovik on Jan. 15 2006,03:38

Found it! I didn't noticed that you can now start DSL with the SATA cheatcode. It worked with the isolinux version. Now, I will try it with the SysLinux... I wonder why SATA support is now disabled by default.

Posted by cbagger01 on Jan. 16 2006,06:19

It is disabled for 2 reasons:

1) We were unsure if automatic SATA driver loading will cause problems for some computer systems.

2) The driver loading process takes a very small but noticable amount of extra boot time (maybe a sec or two, depending on the speed of the computer). So to keep the bootup times short (especially on older hardware), this was made into an optional boot feature.

At this point, there have been no problems reported with the drivers so it may be possible in the future to make the SATA driver loaded automatically and instead only DISABLE it when needed via cheatcode "nosata". Similar to "nousb" "noagp" etc.

Posted by Lodovik on Jan. 17 2006,01:09

I enabled SATA to be default and run into boot problems on an old P-III with a Via chipset. It hanged just at the start, before even showing the penguin. Disabling SATA solved the problem. Enabling it only when necessary is fine with me. As long as I can access my SATA drives on my own PC, I can't ask for more.

Keep up the good work and thanks for the support!

Posted by cbagger01 on Jan. 17 2006,04:21

FYI,

There is a boot message that appears on your monitor before the SATA modules are loaded and probed.

Did you see something like "Checking SATA..." or similar before your VIA computer locked up?

Posted by Lodovik on Jan. 19 2006,01:25

Yes, I saw the message (on another computer than the first that wouldn't boot). There was another line just after that message but I can't remember what was displayed. I will pay more attention next time and report with more details, if you wish.

Posted by cbagger01 on Jan. 19 2006,17:38

Usually, the loading will finish with the line "Done"

If not and it freezes, the last module name loaded should appear instead.