# hpt374 highpoint raid controller

## greg32

Hi,

I have just put on order a new rocketraid 404 controller card.  It uses the hpt374 chip.  I will be running two wd80 gig drives in a raid0 array.  This will be the only storage on my system, no drives on the boards ide controller.  So this array has to be bootable.  I will be dual booting with win xp (for my games).  Windows will want the first partition, so I will give it to it.  

The only thing is I don't really know how to get linux working with a hardware raid.  Never done it before.  Once Windows is installed, lets say having the first part of the array (80gig), this leaves 80 gig for gentoo.  I will partition the drive according to a normal install.  But how do I get the livecd to see the aray in the first place.  On my gentoo at the moment, I am running a 2.6 kernel.  In the kernel config, I see it has support for the hpt374 controller under "hpt36X/37X support".  Does the livecd have support for this controller using the 2.4 kernel it uses??  

Also, if I can get the livecd to work, when I compile the 2.6 kernel for the running system, is all I have to do to get the system going is compile in the above mentioned item in the kernel?  Will I have to have an option to boot off board chipsets first as well?  How does lilo work in this senario, where the array has to be bootable, with no other hdd to boot from?

Any advice is very welcome before I venture into this alone.

Greg

----------

## greg32

Sorry to post to my own post, but will be trying this card very soon and need to know some things.

1. Will enabling the device in the kernel be all I need to do to support this card, or is there more to it?

2. Should I enable anything else in the kernel for maximum performace?

3. Will lilo be able to boot from this array as normal, or will I have to do more there as well?

4. Or will I end up having to move to a linux distro that high-point support their hardware for, i.e. Redhat, SuSe...

5. On the highpoint website, they have the source for their drivers. But if I use the kernel support, do I still need the drivers they provide, or are those drivers just a patch for older 2.4 kernels that don't support the hardware (if that makes sense)?

regards Greg

----------

## frobnoid

I've got an HPT370 chipset, and found the kernel drivers don't work, I get continuous "lost interrupt" messages. 

The HPT driver on the highpoint website works fine for me though.

----------

## taskara

 *greg32 wrote:*   

> Sorry to post to my own post, but will be trying this card very soon and need to know some things.
> 
> 1. Will enabling the device in the kernel be all I need to do to support this card, or is there more to it?
> 
> 

 

slightly more read this

and this part of the install guide

 *greg32 wrote:*   

> 
> 
> 2. Should I enable anything else in the kernel for maximum performace?
> 
> 

 

not other than the usual

 *greg32 wrote:*   

> 
> 
> 3. Will lilo be able to boot from this array as normal, or will I have to do more there as well?
> 
> 

 

more.. see above link

 *greg32 wrote:*   

> 
> 
> 4. Or will I end up having to move to a linux distro that high-point support their hardware for, i.e. Redhat, SuSe...
> 
> 

 

no.. you shouldn't have to

 *greg32 wrote:*   

> 
> 
> 5. On the highpoint website, they have the source for their drivers. But if I use the kernel support, do I still need the drivers they provide, or are those drivers just a patch for older 2.4 kernels that don't support the hardware (if that makes sense)?
> 
> regards Greg

 you can either install that driver, or use the one that comes with the kernel. I don't know which is the later version.

----------

## greg32

Thank you very much both of you.  Especially those links.  I now have some hope that it will work smoothly!!  I can't believe I did not come across that how-to in my searches.  I did look!

regards Greg

----------

## taskara

 :Wink:  no worries.. have fun.. and good luck!

----------

