# Unable to boot using 2.6.24

## linga

I am having som troubles upgrading my kernel to 2.6.24.3 using gentoo-sources. It crashes on disk detection complaining about being unable to "IDENTIFY" disks or sata channels or something. I think this is the first complaint made by the kernel:

 *kernel-2.6.24-gentoo-r3 wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Driver sd need updating - please use bus_type methods
> 
> PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 0000:00:12.0 probably buggy NP table
> ...

 

So something is apparently wrong, but how do I fix it? I do want 2.6.24 since it contains new drivers for my Microsoft Natural keyboard (http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Microsoft_Natural_Ergonomic_Keyboard_4000#Modern_Way_of_doing_things)

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## didymos

BIOS bug, probably.  I'd check to see if your motherboard maker has an update available.

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## linga

They have a newer version, but I'm a little nervous about updating the bios. Why should it stop working between kernel versions?

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## didymos

Because the kernel changed?  Stuff like this pops up all the time; it's not unusual for an update do something somewhat differently than the prior version, and that can expose previously unencountered bugs. 

Why are you nervous about updating the BIOS?  I know it's theoretically capable of going very wrong, but in practice it doesn't happen very often.  And, if the new version causes other problems, you can always revert; most update tools can backup the currently installed version and restore it if necessary.

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## linga

Ok, I'm gonna make an attempt to update it...

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## linga

I have successfully updated my BIOS, but it didn't solve the problem, so I have written down som more of the output:

 *kernel-2.6.24-gentoo-r3 wrote:*   

> 
> 
> ata1.00:qc timeout (cmd 0xec)
> 
> ata1.00:failed to IDENTIFY (I/O error, err_mask=0x4)
> ...

 

After a search I found an older thread: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-484947.html but for me, the kernel doesn't even find any devices and can't mount the root filesystem.

EDIT: corrected spelling

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## didymos

OK, what's the make and model of the motherboard.  A search on that error turns up some stuff on via chipsets.  In the meantime, add noapic to your kernel boot options; you can edit the boot command in grub, then add it to grub.conf later if it works.

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## linga

I'm not at home right now, but I don't think its going to very easy to find out make and model since its a packaged HP pc, so it's probably some noname stuff. I'll try noapic when I get home, and I have previosly tested irqpoll without success.

Will report back later.

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## linga

Nope, it didn't work. I think somethng is going pretty wrong, because I get a call trace but due to the small amount of lines in the console I can't see the error. How do I make the kernel output text in more lines?

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## didymos

Well, what model of HP is it?  It's easy to figure out what's in it exactly from that.  lspci is also useful, but can't tell you all the details in many cases.

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## linga

According to HP, it's a ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 chipset, and not a via. The model name is dx2250.

```

#lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 Host Bridge (rev 10)

00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge

00:12.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 Non-Raid-5 SATA

00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI0)

00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI1)

00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI2)

00:13.3 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI3)

00:13.4 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI4)

00:13.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB Controller (EHCI)

00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 SMBus (rev 13)

00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 IDE

00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 Azalia

00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 PCI to LPC Bridge

00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 PCI to PCI Bridge

00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration

00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map

00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control

01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS482 [Radeon Xpress 200]

02:06.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

```

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## mimosinnet

Have you been able to solve the issue? I am also getting:

```
Driver 'sd' needs updating - please use bus_type methods 

Driver 'sr' needs updating - please use bus_type methods
```

Do you have any idea of their meaning or what needs to be done?

Cheers!

UPDATE: Gentoo bugzilla says it is a harmless warning.

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## linga

No, I haven't solved this yet and I have kind of given up. I'll wait for 2.6.25 and see if that works.

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## mimosinnet

This is my kernel configuration for my hard disk if this is helpful to configure yours:

```
# grep CONFIG_IDE .config

# CONFIG_IDE is not set
```

```
# grep CONFIG_ATA .config

CONFIG_ATA=y

# CONFIG_ATA_NONSTANDARD is not set

CONFIG_ATA_ACPI=y

# CONFIG_ATA_PIIX is not set

# CONFIG_ATA_GENERIC is not set
```

```
# grep CONFIG_SATA .config

CONFIG_SATA_AHCI=y

# CONFIG_SATA_SVW is not set

# CONFIG_SATA_MV is not set

# CONFIG_SATA_NV is not set

# CONFIG_SATA_QSTOR is not set

# CONFIG_SATA_PROMISE is not set

# CONFIG_SATA_SX4 is not set

# CONFIG_SATA_SIL is not set

# CONFIG_SATA_SIL24 is not set

CONFIG_SATA_SIS=y

# CONFIG_SATA_ULI is not set

# CONFIG_SATA_VIA is not set

# CONFIG_SATA_VITESSE is not set

# CONFIG_SATA_INIC162X is not set
```

```
# grep CONFIG_PATA .config

CONFIG_PATA_SIS=y
```

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## linga

I tried tweaking my .config with some of your settings, however I don't seem to have a CONFIG_ATA_ACPI option. Did you mean the AHCI optoin or am I missing a maybe critical option?

BTW, is it working for you?

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## mimosinnet

 *linga wrote:*   

> I tried tweaking my .config with some of your settings, however I don't seem to have a CONFIG_ATA_ACPI option. Did you mean the AHCI optoin or am I missing a maybe critical option?
> 
> BTW, is it working for you?

 

Yes, it is working for me. What is the output of "grep CONFIG_ATA .config"?

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## linga

Now trying using gentoo-sources-2.6.25-r1

```

$ grep CONFIG_ATA .config

# CONFIG_ATALK is not set

# CONFIG_ATA_OVER_ETH is not set

CONFIG_ATA=y

# CONFIG_ATA_NONSTANDARD is not set

CONFIG_ATA_ACPI=y

# CONFIG_ATA_PIIX is not set

# CONFIG_ATA_GENERIC is not set

# CONFIG_ATARI_PARTITION is not set

```

There is some progress, kernel init goes pretty well, but the kernel cannot find any partitions to mount and so it complains that the root= option is incorrect.

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## linga

I still haven't been able to solve this problem. lspci confirms that I am using the AHCI dirver on my 2.6.23 kernel. However, it seems like that driver doesn't work anymore.

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## mimosinnet

Sorry I have been away. What is the output of:

grep CONFIG_IDE .config 

grep CONFIG_SATA .config 

grep CONFIG_ATA .config 

grep CONFIG_PATA .config 

dmesg | grep ata

Cheers!

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## linga

I'm sorry too...

I thought I had already written that I got it working. In the end it sees like I had forgotten about a whole bunch of important things. I don't actually remember what I did to get the kernel to initialize ok, but I had also forgotten to enable the proc filesystem, socket and UNIX socket support, which gave me a lot of problems later in the boot process.

It's actually working fine now. Thanks for all the help anyways!  :Smile: 

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## mimosinnet

I am glad you have your system working...   :Smile: 

See you around!!!   :Wink: 

Cheers!

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