Promise Controller Card Problem

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: Promise Controller Card Problem
started by: zephyr200200

Posted by zephyr200200 on Mar. 05 2006,16:57

Hi,

Have finally gotten DSL 2.2 to boot on my main machine.
It's a P-4 2.53GHz, 1Gb DDR2700.

I have a GeForce3 TI 200 video card which complicated things,
but I have a handle on that problem and right now am posting this from DSL2.2 using Firefox.

Wow, this is really impressive. Very fast on my wife's old P-III 500, and lighting fast on my main machine... really shows up where Windows is lacking.

But I still have a few DSL problems to fix.

Before I burn a new DSL CD with my current DSL system configutation and setttings, I have one more major problem to deal with.

Am using a Promise ATA133 PCI Controller Card and am getting the well-known Linux "pdc202xx Primary Controller Reset" message during bootup. The card is detected as pdc20269. I'm seeing boot messages pretty much the same as what I found after google-ing
pdc202xx Primary Channel Reset.

This issue makes for a very long bootup time.

I have 3 Maxtor HDs connected to it. 80GB, 120BG and 250GB.
The IDE is connected to DVD-Rom, DVD/RW,CD-Rom, and CD/RW
The drives are formatted with a mixture FAT and NTFS.

I know the hardware setup is good because Puppy Linux, Slax, Austrumi and several other small distros boot and mount the drives with no problems as does Ubuntu, Mutagenix and various other Live CD distros.

Because of this issue, I can't access the HDs... and that's needed.

Anyone have any suggestions

Thanks,
zephyr

Posted by cbagger01 on Mar. 06 2006,02:45

It is possible that this bug got fixed in a newer version of the 2.4.x linux kernel, so please give DSL version 2.1b a try. This version is based on the linux 2.4.31 kernel so it might work.

Otherwise, you may be able to patch your kernel to get it to work, like these guys did for the 2.6.x branch:

< http://kerneltrap.org/node/3040 >

Posted by zephyr200200 on Mar. 06 2006,15:12

Thanks for the info and the link.

I tried both DSL 2.1b and 2.2b with pretty much the same results.

Unlike much of what was discussed in the link, it doesn't seem to matter whether I enable DMA or not.

I'm using the expert fb1024x768 commands at boot time
to get past the video card bug. I have to use the manual Xsetup.sh. to get DSL up and running but can install the needed fixes for that after I get DSL booted.

However, I need HD access to make a new Live CD with the needed fixes for the problems.
Kind of a Catch 22 situation.

Did notice that one of the posters on the link noted that in 2.4.20 or earlier the problem was not present.

Thinking about checking earlier versions of DSL with earlir to see if any have a version that might enable the Promise Card and allow me access to the HDs.

Will check the kernel versions in some of the other Live CD distro that work to see if the kernel is the entire problem or if other factors might be at work.

Posted by cbagger01 on Mar. 06 2006,17:38

I think somewhat earlier versions were based on 2.4.22

If you want to go back to the original kernel, get DSL version 0.5.3.1

Posted by zephyr200200 on Mar. 16 2006,15:06

After trying several Live distros, it looks like the only kernels that seem to work are of ver 2.6. And not all 2.6 versions correctly enable the Promise card.
(Knoppix 4.0, Slax for example do seem to)

I originally thought that I had some 2.4 distros enabling the Promise card.
I was mistaken.

Wanted to download and try the DSL 2.6 kernel experimental version but haven't found it.

And I'm a relative Linux noobie... have done kernel updates/compiles and some minor mods but nothing like what seems to be involved in this case.

Have done quite a bit of searching and reading but haven't found what I'm looking for.

Much of the info found on patching is a bit sketchy and aimed at those more advanced users. Or doesn't quite fit the problem I'm having.
Most of what I've found involved patches to fix an already enabled card/HDs that are reporting DMA errors.

I'd really like to have DSL usable on my main machine. I've tried several other distros but greatly prefer the look, feel, and features of DSL.
If I get the HDs enabled, I can reconfigure DSL to eliminate the nVidia glitch and can begin to configure it to fit my uses.

Any leads, info, or URLs greatly appreciated.

And, thanks to all those who put DSL together and maintain it.