# [Gentoo 1.4_rc2] Promise Fasttrak TX2000

## ParoXysm

Hi every1,

I'm just trying to install RC2 @ my PIV with a Promise Fasttrak TX2000 RAID controller. Modprobing ataraid goes without any probs, but it fails when I try to modprobe pdcraid.

it says: 

/lib/modules/2.4.20-xfs_pre2/kernel/drivers/ide/pdcraid.o:

init_module: No such device

dmesg says:

Promise Fasttrak(tm) Softwareraid driver 0.03beta: No raid array found

Well, I'm sure I have a raid0 array because I've still have Win2k on it.

So I've deleted the array with the fastbuild utility and made a new array, but still the same error.

I hope you guys have a solution because with rc1 let me also down because of this controller.

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## TM001

Hi,

I noticed your thread here because I have the same problem (1.4rc1). I had just bought me a FastTRAK tx2000 to run RAID 1 (mirroring). Bad choise it seems because it is not fully supported by opensource drivers.

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> Currently, only RAID level 0 (striping) is supported, for the Promise Fasttrak(tm) and Highpoint HPT370 series of IDE RAID controllers. 

 

Read more here: http://people.redhat.com/arjanv/pdcraid/ataraidhowto.html

Maybe of interest to you aswell:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
>   Forge> OK, I'm sure you have a reason, but why not just pick up a well-
> 
>   Forge> supported Ultra66/Ultra100/Ultra100TX2 and kick the whole RAID
> ...

 

From a thread here:  https://listman.redhat.com/pipermail/ataraid-list/2001-November/000368.html

If you have your array set-up as RAID 1 this is your answer.

I am not sure how Promise's own drivers do their work...

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## JayBee

There is a well documented bug in recent Kernels that affects both Promise and HighPoint RAID controllers, which show problems symptomatic of what you are saying. I had similar problems with a HighPoint HPT374 Onboared RAID Chipset, and have managed to get Gentoo to run with it in RAID-0 Configuration, which was set-up in the chips BIOS.

To do this, I had to boot off the 1.2 CD, and perform the installation from there. The process is slightly different from the 1.4rc1 instrustions, but not drastically so. The biggest that I recall is having to manually set IP addresses etc upon first boot because the automated scripts that come with 1.4 are not present. The other problem is that there is not a version of lynx available on the CD, however it does come with all 3 stage tarballs. At the end of the install, you will end up with a system that is functionally equivilent to the 1.4 version, as you will install all the latest versions (if you choose a stage 1 tarball), or can update them after install if you use a stage2 or 3 tarball.

The only think to make sure you do is ensure you get a set of sources that are based on the 2.4.18 Kernel, or earlier as the 2.4.19 and .20 sources have the RAID bug. The latest gentoo sources that fit the description are 2.4.19-r7 (yes they are actually based on the 2.4.18 kernel). You can get them by doing:

```
emerge /usr/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-sources/gentoo-sources-2.4.19-r7.ebuild
```

Then, if you do an emerge --update world, make sure you reset your /usr/src/linux symlink to point to the 2.4.19-r7 kernel. Alternatively, do as i do and inject the latest sources into the world file:

```
emerge --inject sys-kernel/gentoo-sources
```

There is a cleaner way to do this, but I cannot remeber it at the moment and am away from my Gentoo box.

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## kaladis

I haven't tried RC2 so far. I had no problems modprobing pdcraid with gentoo 1.2. RC1 resulted in errors. So my suggestion: Use Gentoo 1.2 and untar a gentoo rc2 tarball.

The second thing:

I'm running a Promise Fasttrack TX2000 under Gentoo Linux at www.login-lanstation.de. The support for it is *HORRIBLE* The performance is the worst I've ever seen. Right now we don't need performance (other when compiling upgrades) which is why I left it in the system until the drivers become better (which is soon I hope).

Promise has released drivers. Unfortunately their latest drivers are precompiled for kernels of certain distros and their source distribution is a bit old. You might want to check out promise.com.tw (or whatever that site was)

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## fannus

I'm having a similar problem using the PDC20265 non-raid.  I'm running xfs-sources-2.04.19-r1, and I just installed a WD 160GB drive.  Everything detects fine, but it hangs on the partition check for the new drive.  I was wondering if this is the same bug that seems to be causing RAID problems with the promise controllers.  It's a dual boot, so the drive is partitioned  FAT32.  Any ideas?

    fannus

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