Hi! Need some help please. The debian installer can't find the hard disks on a IBM xSeries 345 with debian-dell-2.4.25 or debian-dell-2.4.26 iso. I tryed several boot parameters but with no luck. Any hints? Thanks

Hi!

I just wanted to thank you for the great ISO that worked on my Dell PowerEdge 1750's I did have one issue, and that was that the kernel didn't have iptables compiled into the kernel. (No big deal, as I just recompile the kernel immediately after the install). Therefore, I just wanted to offer my kernel config at:

http://www.erikin.com/index/Docs/linux/debian/dell/1750/kernel/.config

to anyone that needs to get iptables compiled into their kernel.

Also, (and this might have just been me...), but I found that lilo wouldn't boot from:

/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.26-bf2.4

but only from /vmlinuz:

/vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-2.4.26-bf2.4

What would be the reason behind this?

thanks,
Shannon Eric Peevey
President, EriKin Corporation

Hello, all motherboards and barebones from supermicro work perfectly whith your installer!

Theo Hoogerheide - <mancz [at] mancz.nl>

Hello & Thanks! This works well on my PowerEdge 750.

I have only one wish - iptables. Why wasn't this built in? Also, why wasn't e1000 built in instead of a module?

Anyway, back to iptables: Could someone please provide specific details for downloading, building, and insmod'ing ip_tables.o ? (I've tried building my own kernel in many different ways, including with the .config above, to no avail - I'll keep butting my head against it tho, cuz it's a good skill to have. Meanwhile, I'm in a hurry to put this 750 into production).

Thanks!

Marc

Absolutly Brilliant, this saved me soo much time.
Also you can update your list and add dell 2850 to it.
It works perfectly with these servers =)

Sean

A heads-up for people that are trying to recompile their own kernel "Debian-style". I use this following page as my reference, and I never go wrong:

http://myrddin.org/howto/debian-kernel-recompile.php

take care,
Shannon Eric Peevey
President, EriKin Corporation

Thanks for the ISO. It worked great with my new Dell Precision 370!

I had some troubles at first, since the installation didn't recognize my ethernet card, a Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5751 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 01) with PCI ID 14e4:1677. I thought this would work with the tg3 driver but it didn't, so I couldn't do a net install.

To get it working, I downloaded the first ISO of the current Debian stable (woody) installer. (Note that the new debian-installer for sarge won't work here.) When I got to the point where it's time to install the base system, I changed to this disk and everything installed just fine.

Once I had the base system installed, I put in a CD containing a 2.6 kernel (2.6.7). I used the settings from the config file config-2.4.6-dell-sata provided on this page. This worked out fine. The kernel found my SATA drive, and my network card was now recognized by the tg3 driver. No patches needed.

Thanks again!
/Anders

I used the SATA config to build a 2.6 kernel, and it works just fine on all but one machine and i cannot figure out why. It's a dell 750, sata drives and rieserfs. i have the exact same kernel on 4 other 750s with the exact same hardware and partition scheme and they are rock solid. The one that is giving me problems just won't boot at all, it throws a kernel panice (unable to mount VFS). it works fine with a 2.4 kernel though. I just find it very odd that one computer out of a grand total of 10 machines just refuses to work with a 2.6 kernel.

this page is an excellent resource though, thanks a bunch! I'm really happy to have my servers running on my OS of choice. thanks again.

The standard ISO works for Dell Optiplex GX280's with a 40gig SATA drive.

Hi.

Thanx a mil for this.

The iso boot cd worked 100% with a 6650.

Hey Rudolf,

> I came across your "Debian on Dell Servers" page and found it eminently
> useful for installing woody on my new ASUS p4p800-vm machine. However, I
> ran into the following trouble and I was wondering if you could help me
> resolve it (just a pointer in the right direction wold be fine):
>
> Your kernel comes without most of the network support I need so I tried
> to recompile either 2.4.26 or 2.4.27 from the debian testing tree.
> Unfortunately neither of these kernels will boot (they die with a
> comment about not being able to load block-major-8), presumably because
> the libata patches aren't applied and the SATA hardware is identified as
> IDE, not scsi? However I am not sure how to apply patches because the
> kernels in the debian source tree are 2.4.26-rc4 and 2.4.27-rc6 and
> there is no libata patch for either of them. Any suggestions would be
> welcome and a mention of this on your otherwise superb website would
> also be appreciated!

I would suggest using the stock kernel from www.kernel.org or one of
their mirrors. The ISO does not use the Debian kernels.

Scott

Can anyone build this for me and create a .deb or an iso with the 2.4.27 kernel?

I am a new linux user (~1 yr) and have tried all the instructions on building a kernel to no avail. I'm trying to build one for a dell 2850 with the 2.4.27 kernel (note: the iso with 2.4.26 listed here works perfectly with my system except for the e1000 is modularized instead of compiled in) with the e1000 compiled in (not moduled), ACPI turned on and RAID 5 ready. Everytime i try i get a relly good compile. No errors (i compile on my computer here then scp it to the server). When i run dpkg -i <kernel_name>.deb and choose no boot floppy and yes set boot loder, it gives me an "everything went fine" message after testing the lilo.conf file. Everytime i get some kind of error during boot when i select Linux from lilo. I have used the kernel-config listed here on this page vanilla or with my own edits to them (turning on the e1000, ACPI and RAID 5 for example). Here are the errors that i get:

Linux ....................................................................
.......................<system halt> - got this one 2 times

LinuxEBDA (something like this) too big. lilo is (blah - where blah means something like it was left hanging or something)... - got this one 2 times (sorry for no specific error message i know how annoying that is)

LI99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 999 99 99 99 99 ...... - got this one on the last install before lilo even loaded. This was the only kernel-image that i actually compiled on the server itself.

Could someone either build it for me or give me some ideas as to what i'm doing wrong. I followed the compiling kernel debian style how to listed here on confluence. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Matt :|

Nevermind. I realized i was building perfectly fine kernel-images. There was some crap left over in my lilo.conf file from going from a debian kernel to a monolithic kernel. Once i rebuilt lilo the images were booting up file.

Matt

Hi,
I am new in linux.
I just download this ISO and installed it on a Dell 2850 with a basedebs.tar downloaded somewhere.
other things are fine. but the X11 cannot be started. I think the new radeon x410 driver are not available.
any body can help? how should I do?

Thanks

Hi,
I have solved this. I use vesa for the devie. it works fine now.
Thanks

Hi,

I'm interested in buying the newest PowerEdge SC1425, because of the inexpensive SATA drives instead of SCSI drives. Can anyone tell whether I can run Debian on this new machine? I guess not yet... Furthermore, it is not clear to me whether I could use software RAID 1 on this server with Debian. The Dell site states "software RAID is not supported with RedHat Linux operating systems and SATA Hard Drives".

Any help would be appreciated.

I would like to run Debian on a precision workstation with an Adaptec 79xx chip. This particular version is not recognized by any vanilla (nor debian) kernel (not even latest 2.6), and only by Red Hat EL 3 update 3 (evidently red hat patched their kernel to support this chip).

Now, if your installer works, how am I going to go about building a custom kernel; what good is that going to do when the whole problem is that the standard kernels do not support Dell's newer hardware? Can't you provide some info on where you got the patches, etc, on building the installers kernel and how to build one?

Actually I'm not using any custom patches anymore. This is all default source tarballs right from kernel.org. I used to apply the SATA patches but those are included in the main-line kernel now so I don't need to.

If this ISO boots up and sees your disk then you can grab the kernel configuration it puts in /boot and build your own kernel directly after installing (which I highly recommend doing anyways).

I just managed to install the IBM 226 with Adaptec 7902 with the HostRaid enabled in the BIOS.
But it wasn't a direct install. Here are the steps I took.

1. Disable the HostRaid option in the Adaptec BIOS so that the ISO with 2.4 kernel can see the HDDs. Will require the AIC79XX driver to be in the kernel.

2. Install Debian with 2.4 kernel on DISK1.

3. After the whole installation is completed, download the source for kernel 2.6.10 which now includes the latest AIC79XX driver with HostRaid capability. Compile the kernel and include the AIC79XX driver in the kernel, not as a module.
Add to the /etc/lilo.conf or GRUB.
Reboot the system with the 2.6.10 kernel to ensure this new kernel is working properly.

4. Reboot the system. Go to the Adaptec BIOS setup. Enable HostRaid mirror for Disk2. And copy over the Disk1 to Disk2.
This took a long time for me....a couple of hours at least.

5. Reboot and select the 2.6.10 kernel to boot up with.
Voila, the RAID system should boot up similar to before enabling the HostRaid option.

I have only one niggling concern after this...how do i check that the data is really mirrored on the other disk without making the RAID1 out of sync? I would hate to spend another few hours syncing it...

Hope this helps
This was the option after struggling for couple of days trying to make a netinstall ISO with a 2.6.10 kernel

Hi,

the iso image works fine on a IBM xSeries 345. But i run
in troubles with a IBM xSeries 306, any ideas??

with best regards

Roman

Hi there,

I was really excited to see this ISO posted, but I am having difficulty.

The installer/kernel is not recognizing my smart array (Compaq 1850R). I know they're set up correctly because, with the proper drivers loaded, both SuSE and Fedora installers recognize the controller and drives. Booting with this ISO gets into the installer, but prompts me that no disks are connected to the system, and do I have a module floppy, etc.

Is there something I'm missing? I thought I read correctly that the smart array drivers are included in this ISO...

matt

Sorry folks,

Think I have rejocied too early on being able to use the HostRaid function with the 2.6.10 kernel.

Realised that I was still seeing both RAID disks as sda1 and sdb1. Instead of just sda1 in a real working RAID1 configuration.

Probably will still require the A320.o driver file that only exists for RedHat dist.

Me have given up on using the RAID function....

This .iso was a lifesaver for me. I struggled with Mandrake 10.1 using the alt1 expert boot. Managed to get the OS installed, but could not fool mkinitrd into putting the megaraid2 driver into into initrd, even dropping down to console during the install and manipulating /etc/modules before Mandrake ran mkinitrd.

The Dell 2850 I was installing on had a PERC4 raid controller and no floppy drive so there was no way to get the megaraid2 driver on the box short of making my own cd install image.

Your .iso saved the day. I've had to learn a LOT about debian (being a RedHat/Mandrake kind of guy) during the last two days. I did a recompile of my kernel to get iptables working + the Seagate DAT72 drive. I'll be posting the details to my web site http://www.hamptonandassociates.net/nuke/html/index.php within the next two days including the kernel config I used for the 2.4.28 kernel.

Thanks a bunch!

Just wanted to let everybody know that I received the PowerEdge SC1425 yesterday (with two processors and SATA drives), and the ISO works just fine. Currently the machine is running a homebrew 2.6.10 kernel, and I haven't experienced any problems yet. Note however that I did install a 3Ware 8006-2LP RAID1 controller, so I do not know who well it works without hardware RAID. One last remark about the 3Ware controller: it is hard to connect the SATA cables to it, because in this Poweredge some metal is in the way. I had to twist the cables and force the connectors into the controller, but apparently it works. But maybe another controller with the ports located differently on the card would be a better solution.

Excellent! I have succssfully compiled and installed a modified kernel several times in the past. But, in attempting to add support for a newly acquired AEC6280 ATP865 (Rev 3) IDE conroller, I managed to lose my SCSI drivers in the mix. As a result my system was unbootable. I have a floppy for such occasionss, but it got mangled somehow AND my PowerEdge 2300 wasn't allowing me to boot from even known good DOS floppies despite BIOS settings.

This iso image allowed me to boot my PowerEdge 2300, easily restore my own last known good kernel image with 0 data loss and confidently proceed to compile a new custom kernel WITH SCSI and AEC62XX support.

Can't thank you enough.

Great Job! It's install perfectly in a PowerEdge 2800...
But, after install, I try to use the debian kernel-image-2.6.8-em64t-p4-smp, without success (it's a dual xeon with em64t).
I add in /etc/mkinitrd/modules the megaraid module and do a mkinitrd to generate a ramdisk with the module. After boot, kernel panic ...

I try to compile a kernel-2.6.10 both 32 and 64 bits, including the megaraid nativelly, with the same result.
The megaraid appears to not load in boot.
Thanks for any help...

I'd like to know if anyone else here is having a particular issue with the Intel 63000ESB SATA controller (in my case, on a Dell PowerEdge 750)

Now, as a preface, I am NOT running Debian on this system. My company's a Gentoo shop. (I won't go into why.)

Gentoo's (stock patchset) kernel detects the SATA disk great on this server, but gentoo's performance patches are causing crashes under high load. So I am trying to get a plain vanilla kernel to work.

As it stands, using the (slightly modified) config posted here, I am able to get a working system. However, the SATA disk, which under Gentoo was detected as /dev/sda is now only detected as /dev/hdc, and it complains about not being able to use DMA.

Using boot paramters like hdc=none and ide1=noprobe either have no effect or just cause it to fail to see the disk at all.

So... does anybody have any pointers? :^)

I found a solution!

Booting using the debian kernel directly didn't work either... but I found a patch from Jeff Garzik (the libata author) that did the trick:
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/jgarzik/libata/2.4.28-rc3-libata1.patch.bz2

After applying to the 2.4.28 official kernel source tree, I recompiled and was immediately in SATA heaven. hdparm tests show performance is equal to that under the gentoo kernel, and torture-tests have convinced me it's stable.

The only downside to this patch is that this (i think) may disable DMA on PATA drives unless they are forced to use the standard IDE driver using kernel arguments. YMMV.

I hope this helps anyone else who has had trouble getting this or similar models of Dell servers to work properly with SATA. If anyone has questions on this topic I'll be happy to help if I can.

Just to let you know that your CD also works on HP NetServer LPr's with the megaraid scsi.

Thanks a million!

Cheers
Tim.

Hi;

this iso is excelent!!!! , drop the problem with sata disk but have problems witch netcard (tg3) (broadcom netxtreme bcm5751).
recompiling kernel is solution!!.

sorry for my english

Problems with a Dell SC420 SCSI server.

I have tried the ISO above but find that it does not see the Adaptec 39320 SCSI controller.

Can anyone give some pointers or do I have to create a custom CD.

Cheers Pete

Cant find basedebs.tar or dist/woody/main/binary-i386/Release on CD
>>me=newbie<<
I downloaded the iso onto and XP machine and used Nero to burn it to a CD. It gets to the point in the install where is tries to install the base system and it cant find basedebs.tar I checked the CD and sure enough the Release file has a 0 file size. Is Nero screwing this up? Is possible that the iso is missing these files or is corrupt? I downloaded it twice and had the same result. Anyone have an idea about how I would go about figuring this out?

The iso showing a file size of 6,214k on XP. How do I verify that?

This file was created by Nero after it indicated a successful CD Burn. Notice missing files not on report. Can someone verify this result or am I just really slow.

Windows XP 5.1
IA32
WinAspi: -
ahead WinASPI: File 'D:\Program Files\Ahead\Nero\Wnaspi32.dll': Ver=2.0.1.59, size=160016 bytes, created 6/17/2003 9:25:03 AM
Nero version: 6.0.0.28 (Nero Express)
Recorder: <TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-R5112>Version: 1031 - HA 0 TA 0 - 6.0.0.28
Adapter driver: <atapi> HA 0
Drive buffer : 2048kB
Bus Type : default (0) -> ATAPI, detected: ATAPI
CD-ROM: <TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-R5112>Version: 1031 - HA 0 TA 0 - 6.0.0.28
Adapter driver: <atapi> HA 0

=== Scsi-Device-Map ===
CdRomPeripheral : TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-R5112 atapi Port 0 ID 0 DMA: On
DiskPeripheral : Maxtor 6Y160P0 atapi Port 1 ID 0 DMA: On

=== CDRom-Device-Map ===
TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-R5112 E: CDRom0
=======================

AutoRun : 1
Excluded drive IDs:
CmdQueuing : 1
CmdNotification: 2
WriteBufferSize: 83886080 (0) Byte
ShowDrvBufStat : 0
EraseSpeed : 0
BUFE : 0
Physical memory : 1022MB (1047284kB)
Free physical memory: 728MB (745616kB)
Memory in use : 28 %
Uncached PFiles: 0x0
Use Static Write Speed Table: 0
Use Inquiry : 1
Global Bus Type: default (0)
Check supported media : Disabled (0)

18.3.2005
CD Image
11:29:49 PM #1 Phase 90 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1800
Buffer Underrun Protection activated

11:29:49 PM #2 Text 0 File Reader.cpp, Line 118
Reader running

11:29:49 PM #3 Text 0 File Writer.cpp, Line 124
Writer TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-R5112 running

11:29:49 PM #4 Text 0 File Burncd.cpp, Line 3128
Turn on Disc-at-once, using CD-R/RW media

11:29:49 PM #5 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 237
Last possible write address on media: 359847 (79:59.72)
Last address to be written: 3106 ( 0:43.31)

11:29:49 PM #6 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 242
Write in overburning mode: FALSE

11:29:49 PM #7 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 2043
Recorder: TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-R5112;
CDR code: 00 97 15 17; OSJ entry from: Ritek Co.
ATIP Data:
Special Info [hex] 1: C0 00 90, 2: 61 0F 11 (LI 97:15.17), 3: 4F 3B 49 (LO 79:59.73)
Additional Info [hex] 1: 00 00 00 (invalid), 2: 00 00 00 (invalid), 3: 00 00 00 (invalid)

11:29:49 PM #8 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 403
>>> Protocol of DlgWaitCD activities: <<<
=========================================

11:29:49 PM #9 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 775
Setup items (after recorder preparation)
0: TRM_DATA_MODE1 (CD-ROM Mode 1, ISO 9660)
2 indices, index0 (150) not provided
original disc pos #0 + 3107 (3107) = #3107/0:41.32
not relocatable, disc pos for caching/writing not required/not required, no patch infos
-> TRM_DATA_MODE1, 2048, config 0, wanted index0 0 blocks, length 3107 blocks [TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-R5112]
--------------------------------------------------------------

11:29:49 PM #10 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 944
Prepare recorder [TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-R5112] for write in CUE-sheet-DAO
DAO infos:
==========
MCN: ""
TOCType: 0x00; Session Closed, disc fixated
Tracks 1 to 1:
1: TRM_DATA_MODE1, 2048/0x00, FilePos 0 307200 6670336, ISRC ""
DAO layout:
===========
_Start|___Track|Idx|RecDep|CtrlAdr
-150 | lead-in | 0 | 0x00 | 0x41
-150 | 1 | 0 | 0x00 | 0x41
0 | 1 | 1 | 0x00 | 0x41
3107 | lead-out | 1 | 0x00 | 0x41

11:29:49 PM #11 Phase 24 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1800
Caching of files started

11:29:49 PM #12 Text 0 File Burncd.cpp, Line 4095
Cache writing successful.

11:29:49 PM #13 Phase 25 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1800
Caching of files completed

11:29:50 PM #14 Phase 36 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1800
Burn process started at 8x (1,200 KB/s)

11:29:50 PM #15 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 2167
Verifying disc position of item 0 (not relocatable, no disc pos, no patch infos, orig at #0): write at #0

11:29:50 PM #16 Text 0 File Mmc.cpp, Line 14783
StartDAO : CD-Text - Off

11:29:50 PM #17 Text 0 File Mmc.cpp, Line 19362
Set BUFE: supported -> ON

11:29:50 PM #18 Text 0 File Mmc.cpp, Line 15070
CueData, Len=32
41 00 00 14 00 00 00 00
41 01 00 10 00 00 00 00
41 01 01 10 00 00 02 00
41 aa 01 14 00 00 2b 20

11:30:16 PM #19 Text 0 File WriterStatus.cpp, Line 113
<TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-R5112> start writing Lead-Out at LBA 3107 (C23h), lenght 0 blocks

11:30:29 PM #20 Text 0 File ThreadedTransfer.cpp, Line 229
all writers idle, stopping conversion

11:30:29 PM #21 Text 0 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1658
Set remaining time: 0:00,000 (0ms) -> OK

11:30:29 PM #22 Phase 37 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1800
Burn process completed successfully at 8x (1,200 KB/s)

Existing drivers:
File 'Drivers\atapi.sys': Ver=5.1.2600.0 (XPClient.010817-1148), size=86656 bytes, created 8/23/2001 4:00:00 AM (Adapter driver for rec)

Registry Keys:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon\AllocateCDROMs : 0 (Security Option)

Duh! Ok, I still dont think the packages in question are on the disk. But, I was able to use the network option to download them over the net. Problem solved.

Sorry about all the extra mess on the board.

OK I have sorted the problem out.
It seems the aic79xx driver from Adaptec under linux source does not work with these cards from Dell (they are a cut down version of the card). Ther is however a different dirver on the Adaptec web site called aic7Yxx which does work.

I have now created a new ISO if you would like it let me know and I will see if the owner of this site will put it on here.

Regards Peter King.

Hi
so far the debian-dell-2.4.29.iso boot-up on my PowerEdge SC1425 but it recognize my RAID0-system as two separated scsi hard disk /dev/sda, /dev/sdb.
Do I have to invoke any other spells???

Hi all,

Other than compatibility with the current stable version of Debian, I'm curious why someone hasn't created an install image with a 2.6.x kernel. Scott's image has worked perfectly for me so far, and I'll be trying it with a new 2850 soon. I see that they're shipping a PERC4ei controller now. It looks like this uses the same driver, but we'll soon see.

Hi,
The iso worked realy fine, no issue with it, however I wouls like to upgrade to a 2.6 kernel.
I tried to compile serveral config, but none of it worked !

Has anybody a working 2.6.10 64bit config for a dell 1850 with PERC4 Raid controller wich I could use as basis ?
Cheers Marc

I used this iso to install on a 2850 and it worked great. Problem is that it won't work on the 1850 for me. The 1850 I have, has a Silicon Image 0680 controller to which the CDROM is attached. The installation process starts ok but it can't mount CD later on. So it all comes to a grinding halt. I looked at /var/log/messages and it says

(none) user.info dbootstrap[78]: mount: Mounting /dev/hdb on /instmnt failed: No medium found.

The .config for the kernel has the following

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SIIMAGE=y

Maybe that is not the correct driver. I don't know. Any ideas?

Any ideas?

Hi, got a couple of brand new 1850's on my desk ready to go. The iso loads the raid modules fine, however Im unable to get the network up. Tried the tg3 device driver and almost every other network device driver - just wondering which one is the e1000, or am I misunderstanding some completely ?

Do you have the SiI0680 controller? I think that is what my problem is. The driver isn't compiled in for this and hence can't mount the CD.

Hi, The new machines dell 1850 come with processors Xeon of 64 Bit. Has someone installed debian? Thanks

Well, I got there in the end but via a circuitous route. I first installed Sarge netinst image from

http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

This recognises the Silicon Image controller, the embedded PERC controller and the e100 nic.

I kept made a couple of partitions (one for the Scott Kveton image downloaded from this page and one for the Woody disk 1 iso. Once Sarge is installed, I copied the two CDs to the two partitions.

Then, I started the installation again using Scott Kveton's CD and when asked to load driver and modules, pointed it to partition where I had copied the CD. I have to do this because it can't see the CDROM anymore. This loads the e1000 nic module and then I can either continue the installation using the partition on which the woody disk 1 was copied or over the network.

Of course, I can't use the CD now that woody is installed but I can live with that.

Hi,
thanks for the great iso - safed me lot of time
I' ve installed Debian woody on Dell PowerEdge 1600SC with LSI Logic CERC ATA 100/4ch v. 6.60
I' ve rebuild the kernel with linux-2.4.30 vanilla sources and make oldconfig.
Everything went just fine.
I' ve downloaded and installed the firmwaredriver v. 6.62 for the ATA RAID controller and installed two new 160GB Maxtor harddisks
After reinstalling Debian and rebuilding the kernel 2.4.30 with make oldconfig the system could not be started.
"kernel panic" while trying to mount the root-fs
the 2.4.29 built still worked fine
I ' ve rebuilt the 2.4.30 kernel with megaraid v1 and the system could be booted.
Real strange.
Seams like the latest megaraid2 driver could not find the contoller with the new revision.
A new built of the 2.4.29 vanilla sources with a smaller config and megaraid2 worked without any problems.

Does anyone have a working sarge image of this ISO?

Yes. .. Anyone have this with Sarge and 2.6.8 on it? (or 2.6.x)?

Thanks very much for the iso - a real life saver. I installed on my poweredge 4300 without hitches, but when I compile 2.6.12 with the same config I get a cannot mount root fs error. Can anyone help me?

Hi,

I installed debian-dell-2.4.29.iso on my PE SC1425 and were able to boot the machine fine. But I needed the NFS enable, so I tried recompiling the kernel with the existing .config. After recompilation of the kernel, the SC1425 doesn't boot up. It gives me kernel panic error. I tried various kernel but the machine just wouldn't boot up. I am not changing anything on the config except enabling NFS support. Is anyone had this problem or am I doing something wrong? Any help will be appreciated.

Hi,

The debian-dell-2.4-29.iso worked fine on my dell PE 1425 SC but it recognize my RAID0-system as two separated scsi hard disk /dev/sda, /dev/sdb. I just needed to install the e1000 module manually. I've tried creating a software RAID with mdadm without success. I have a kernel panic (unable to mount VFS) when I reboot my system. So I enjoy myself trying the new debian-dell-2.4.31.iso which does not recognize my hard disk drives nor my NIC !!! It's getting worse.
I've no more idea. Could someone help me , please ?

I've got the same problem with 2.4.31 on the poweredge sc 1420. It doesn't recognize my hard drives nor my NIC... Any help would be appreciated

um, hey guys.

I knock through this all pretty easily up to the point its time to install the base system - at which point I get the following

File Not Found!
The installation program couldn't find any directory containing a file basedebs.tar or dists/woody/main/binary-i386/Release

I've not been prompted for any network settings so am assuming a net install isn't going to work at this stage. I've tried to insert any of the full install disks, no luck. Can someone throw me a bone here? Is this iso suppose to be only 6MB big? Is it missing the base package it seems to think its suppose to have?

Thanks any and all for your prompt response. I'm camped here at the colo until I can get this resolved. Oh the good times abound...

Scott Gamble

Hey guys/gals,
I'm attempting to install sarge on a pe800 with cerc raid. The iso avail for download (currently debian-dell-2.4.31.iso) has me booting a woody install. I'm thinking of walking through the install of woody then upgrade to sarge, any thoughts?
Thanks.
JRock

Thanks for the ISO!

I have it working on an HP LH6000 with no troubles.

I would like to suggest that with any new kernels coming out that certain things are left in the kernel. For instance USB support would seem to be a major item that many folks need. I have recompiled the kernel to include USB support and it appears to be recognized at the hardware level, but I will be darned if I can get it mounted to use.

Any thoughts?

Thorndike AT plwireless DOT com

Love the ISO!

It works on Dell PowerEdge 1425 as well.

Debian 3.1 Sarge works flawlessly with the standard installation CD using linux26 as boot option on a Dell Power Edge 1800 with CERC SATA RAID Controler.

Many thanks for the ISO !

I have two questions :

1) Which kernel options do I have to choose to compile a new kernel on on PE 2850 with two xeon 64 processors?
2) Is there any ISO file to setup Debian on a PE 1855 blade servers?

Thanks in advance.

I'm also getting the kernel panic when trying to install the 2.6.8 kernel.

I get: VFS: Cannot open root device "801" or unknown-block(8,1) Please append a correct "root=" boot option. Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(8,1).

So basically it doesn't see my disks. It does see the adapters during boot (AIC7XXX).

Btw, I have a Poweredge 1400.

Any ideas??

• Eric ejharris@aristocrat-inc.com

We recently purchased three new Dell SC1425 PowerEdge servers with the SCSI RAID controller. I was glad to find this site when I discovered that my trusty Debian Sarge installer CD was of no use on the new hardware.

Unfortunately, Scott's great ISO seems to also have difficulties with the newest 1425s from Dell. The SCSI drives are not detected. I don't have the immediate specs on my boxes as I make this post, but I have found a similar thread on the Dell support forums. Anyone have further insight into getting Debian on these Dells?

http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/2005-August/022412.html

I too purchased one of these SC1425's with the Adaptec RAID and was unable to get the latest ISO (debian-dell-2.4.31.iso) to recognize the card and two SCSI drives. However, I was able to get sarge installed by using the debian-dell-2.4.29.iso which recognizes the adaptec card and drives. I would suggest using the older iso to get a base installation and then compile a new kernel, which is what I did. I found the old iso here http://staff.osuosl.org/~kveton/debian/debian-dell-2.4.29.iso

On the kernel compile, I spent days compiling new kernels and experiencing kernel panics using the debian kernel-source for 2.6.8. Don't waste your time as the aic79XX drivers in that source won't recognize the adaptec card. Just go to kernel.org and download the latest 2.6 source (2.6.13 at the time of this writing). The aic79xx drivers included in the latest source from http://www.kernel.org will compile correctly and see the adaptec card.

BTW, don't bother trying to use the adaptec as a raid as it's not a real hardware raid solution. Use mdadm to setup a software raid instead. Be sure to compile RAID into your new kernel for that to work. I followed the raid instructions here http://alioth.debian.org/download.php/668/rootraiddoc.97.html

Use the older iso to get a base install. I found it here http://staff.osuosl.org/~kveton/debian/debian-dell-2.4.29.iso

For the NIC, load the e1000 module manually during the installation. After that you'll be able to do a net install of sarge.

Is this happening with a new kernel that you've compiled or the stock 2.4.29-bf2.4 kernel from the iso? IIRC, the default 2.4.29-bf2.4 kernel doesn't have RAID compiled into it. Compile in the e1000 while your at it so you don't have to load it manually.

I am trying to get xserver running on a Dell Optiplex GX280...
does anyone have any pointers on this???

I can boot Knoppix LiveCD and get a functioning Desktop, but when I try to reuse that XF86Config-4 it fails to load.

I'm trying to document my progress here:
http://kennethhunt.com/archives/001621.html

I have used the debian-dell-2.4.31.iso to install sarge on a PowerEdge 830.

The install worked without any problems, just loaded tg3-networkdriver and selected a debian ftp-mirror as download source. And the result, a working Debian/GNU 3.1 system!

I successfully installed debian on SC1425 with SCSII card using http://staff.osuosl.org/~kveton/debian/debian-dell-2.4.29.iso

and then I compiled 2.6.13 with AIC79xx support without any problem BUT don't try to compile 2.6.8 kernel with AIC79xx, It do compile but doesn't detect the card !

I now have a debian 3.1 with 2.6.13 kernel woking

Well kids, here's my 2 cents.

Dell 750.
Used the above mentioned linux ISO - debian.
System came up fine.
Decided to upgrade to 2.6.xx
An upon reboot, got the following error:

… pivot_root: no such a file or directory /sbin/init: 432: cannot open dev/console: No such a file Kernel Panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init

Well, after an hour or so of scouring the net I figured what problem was.
When the 2.4 kernel is installed, it "sees" the drive as hda or hdc but when he 2.6 kernel boots, it see the drives as sda (what they really are).
When booting, the kernel cannot mount he file system.

What i did was the following:

Boot system into 2.4 and change the following:

vi /boot/grub/menu.lst
change
/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-1-686 root=/dev/hdc1 ro
to
/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-1-686 root=/dev/sda1 ro

Notice the hdc ==> sda

write and quit the file.

vi /etc/fstab
change all hda (hdc) entries to sda
eg. /dev/hdc1 ==> /dev/sda1

My fstab entries is/are below:

/dev/sda1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/sda9 /home ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/sda8 /opt ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/sda6 /usr ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/sda7 /var ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/sda5 none swap sw 0 0

write and quit the file

Then reboot - all should be well now...

Hope this helps a few of you out there.

Does anyone either have a 64bit version of this ISO or a 64bit compiled kernel with a megaraid driver that supports de PE 2850's SCSI controller?

Hello,

I'd like to share a success-story with you:

I just installed Debian on a HP Compaq dc7600 Small Form Factor PC [1]. Standard Debian Sarge installer (debian-31r0a-i386-netinst.iso) didn't find the NIC, nor the SATA disks. The debian-dell-2.4.31.iso found the disks, but I had to insert an old 3com NIC to get network.

After installing and dist-upgrading I installed a 2.6.14 kernel, rebooted, and all was peachy, including the onboard NIC.

Thanks for the hard word on the installer!

Kind regards,

Maarten

[1] http://tinyurl.com/99mn2

I just killed nearly a day trying to build 2.6.8 so that it would run on Poweredge 850.

Executive summary is that 2.6.8 CANNOT be used on PE850, you need to use 2.6.14.3 instead (that's the only one I checked so far and that worked).

The reason I was poking around 2.6 is that it's debian's official 2.6 version (as of Dec 02, 2005).

The problem lies with SATA on-board adapter. This bundle of joy is NOT recognized by ata_piix driver and therefore the boot ends with kernel panic, namely - "VFS: Cannot open root device 801".

I basically traced 2.6.8 driver code trying to figure this one out and the function that is responsible for initializing an instance of PCI device (SATA adapter in this case) never gets called. Ie the device is never recognized by the system as sata/piix.

I tried nearly all possible permutations of SCSI kernel config options trying to eliminate the possibility of some of them breaking or affecting ata_piix driver -> no go, nothing helps. Finally gave up, fetched latest kernel, built and it booted fine the first time.

my 2c, hope this saves someone few hours of frustration

> The reason I was poking around 2.6 is that it's debian's official 2.6 version (as of Dec 02, 2005).

The reason I was poking around 2.6.8 ...

Hi,

Just a note that the standard Debian installer > 20050305 build will install on Dell 1750's without this ISO. This is with a PERC/4, tg3, and SCSI drives. Saves on the rebuild for iptables, and allows you to apt-get upgrade the kernel without worries

NOTE: This ISO is great and saved my life when we first got these blasted machines

thanks,
speeves

I'm trying to install Debian on a Dell Precision 5150c which seems have the same hardware style than PowerEdge. With Debian Netinstall CD, I can't access to the SATA Hard Drive, but I can access to the network only with a 2.6 kernel.

Is anyone who have this ISO with a 2.6 kernel ?
Thanks !

I'm trying to use the current iso driver image 2.4.31  to load up sarge on my PowerEdge 1850.   But when i put in the 2nd CD for the system to load up the base system.  It says it cannot find any directories with the woody or the "basedebs.tar" in them.    This is still looking for the term woody as a pathname or the basedebs.tar file, which does not exist in the new sarge 3.1 Debian. 

 Does anyone have a solution to this.   The only get -around that i see is to load up the woody 3.0 and than do updates and upgrades of dist.  to 3.1   which is a long path.

- Jay

Hi. do you have ISO image for SC1425 with 39320SCSI? I have the same problem as Victor and i cannot find any possibility on net..

 Thanks

David: david.kamarad@rwe-ecs.cz