# IDE/ITE is gone... [SOLVED]

## HeXiLeD

This weekend  i wasted around 12h trying to figure out this. i think  i have tried almost if not all things possible to try to fix this problem or maybe its seomthing so simple that  i cant see it.

a while a go i had this problem but related to IDE/Raid channels

Its explained and solved HERE

And right now the problem is happening again but with the regular IDE channel.

A while ago after having all of this working  i noticed that one of my IDE HDs 'wasnt seen anymore'  and  i thought that maybe it had died.

Later on i found out that was because  i removed the IT821X support from the kernel.

so recently, while testing 2 recent kernels that got me some issues; i found that now i had another IDE problem. But this time not like the other one and not the same IDE channel. This time  the regular ide.

I use the regular IDE for my DVD & CD Rom

Before i added  the IDE/Raid i had:

```
# ls /proc/ide

drivers  hda  hdb 
```

Now i have :

```
# ls /proc/ide/

drivers  hda  hdc  ide0  ide1
```

and when i had it all working i had:

```

# ls /proc/ide/

drivers  hda  hdb hdc hdf  ide0  ide1
```

ide0 and ide1 are the IDE/Raid Controlers.

HDA is in the primary IDE channel as master and HDC in the secondary IDE controler as master.

This IDE/raid is called ITE

I have set the controler in the bios to work as regular IDE and not as raid.

This is the board

My Bios detects the *roms on the Regular IDE channel ( *roms ).

also detects The IDE/Raid channels.

the problem is that gentoo doesnt. even the floppy disk IDE is gonne.

In other words; my regular IDE channel  that connects my *Roms only detects them during boot/bios. and not by gentoo

I belive i have all the support in the kernel.

I have compiled and recompiled  the kernel  and changed my bios a thousand times and its always a no go for my regular IDE. even the floopy disk is not detected.

what am i missing here? i am lost and dont know what else to look for.

----------

## yabbadabbadont

If you boot the Gentoo install cd, are all the ide devices visible then?  If so, compare that kernel config to your current one to try to find the difference.  If not, can any other live cd, like knoppix, see the ide devices?

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## HeXiLeD

I tried both gentoo live cd and knoppix. ( it was a good idea )

Both showed:

```
# ls /proc/ide/

drivers  hda  hdb  ide0
```

This was for the *roms only. The IDE/Raid - ITE channels were not detected due to the fact that the kernel didnt have IT821X IDE support compiled.

the floppy disk was also working.

This tells me that it cant be the BIOS settings. 

So i went check the kernel again.... and checked it all from end to end... and i still dont see where the problem is...

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## yabbadabbadont

You might try reverting back to older kernel versions.

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## HeXiLeD

Finally i was able to find and fix this issue.

after re-compiling and re-compiling the kernel and trying new options  i decided to recompile without  IT821X IDE support.

after reboot  i got my Regular IDE, floppy and *roms detected and working.

so i decided to re-compile again but this time compiling the  IT821X IDE support as (M) modules.

et voila ! it worked... for the frist time  i got  all IDE and ITE channels working.

```
 # ls /proc/ide/

drivers  hda  hdc  hde  hdf  ide0  ide1  ide2
```

However; something is seriously messed up with this kernel because i could only reboot once with no issues. after these changes the system kept scrolling an endless 'loop' of the kernel configuration which only ended with the almighty power button.

even more weird was that i rebooted with other  kernel .config's of the same 2.6.18-rc3 and the same happend even not having IT821X IDE support enabled.

finally  i used my 'stable' config... with  IT821X IDE support compiled as (*) --> [the way it didnt work before]; and now it works ...

Its messed up i dont understand the reasons for this unless some part of the OS is caching these settings in some wierd way.

Anyway ... compiling  IT821X IDE support & Silicon related drivers as module works.

Problem is solved.( from my side... )

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## HeXiLeD

update:

even after solving this issue i could not make my box work properly.

kernel 2.6.18-r2/r3 vanilla for some reason breaks my system when  i compile it with the IDE/ITE Sata & Raid controlers.

The best result i had as getting the  box  to boot, but right after i would get an 'endless scroll' of the kernel settings. This was always lopping and the only way to stop it was the power button.

It got so messed up that  i have to use the livecd and revert to an older kernel. (2.6.16.16)

Currently its stable and 100% working. in fact now the ide channels are displayed and detected according to their physical setup.

```
ls /proc/ide

drivers  hda  hdb  hde  hdg  ide0  ide2  ide3
```

Before there was a discrepancy in hde  hdf. since both IDE/ITE HD's are set as master on their primary and secondary channels; its not right for them to be detected as if they were both in the primary channel; 1 as master and the other as slave.

The proper detection is :hde  hdg

Primary and only Regular IDE channel: 

(*roms)

Master --> hda

Slave  ---> hdb

Primary IDE/ITE Channel:

Master ---> hde

Slave   ---> (free. and if set it would be hdf

Secondary IDE/ITE Channel:

Master ---> hdg

Slave   ---> (free. and if set it would be hdh

This issue is now finally concluded and closed by downgrading to another kernel version; (2.6.16.16)

----------

