[CentOS] CentOS4 and older megaraid - SOLVED

Sun Aug 21 07:25:37 UTC 2005
William <wlist-centos at kimballstuff.com>

Craig White wrote:
> There's really nothing to it. I seriously doubt that being single
> channel or dual channel has anything to do with it at all.
> 
> If you want megaraid.ko from 2.6.9-11EL-i686, 2.6.9-11EL-i586 and
> 2.6.9-11ELsmp-i686 I could probably upload them somewhere for you to
> download but the process is quite simple and you really need to get it
> down so you don't rely upon others every time the kernel updates.
> 
> If you put them on a vfat floppy, they work.
> 
> The issue really is, you need an install already functioning to install
> the matching kernel-devel to build the modules.

You underestimate me; perhaps because you're missing the little, but 
imperative, details in my messages.  :)

The CD-ROMs I'm using don't have the 2.6.9.11EL kernel on them; 
therefore, modules compiled against that kernel do me no good.  I know; 
I've tried.  :)

Don't worry, this isn't upsetting.  It's just a challenge that I'm going 
to find a better way to surmount.  I was trying to provide a service to 
others still using the original CentOS 4 (by that, I do mean the very 
first CentOS 4 that was ever released) and who are still asking for a 
working megaraid driver disk.

Alas, I'm going to replace my 4.0 CD-ROM set with a new (as of tonight) 
4.1 set and probably meet far easier success with it.  I'll just 
recommend everyone else do the same in order to use whatever solution I 
am able to prove working.  No worries.  :)

The following text is provided only in an effort to belay any further 
doubt about my capability on this project.  You see, I run an overgrown 
SOHO at home (8 distinct servers with several additional workstations) 
where I experiment widely.  I write How-Tos, update others that I find 
useful but inaccurate, contribute to open source projects, and generally 
tool around with Linux and Windows for curiosity's sake.  I'm an 
engineer elsewhere by trade, and this is my hobby at home.  I'm having 
absolutely no trouble compiling these modules.  I'm just using the wrong 
source and/or I haven't yet found the magic sequence that will pull 
together a driver disk that will work fully with CentOS 4.  I have used 
the ddiskit utility, which was very educational, but the result was 
still unsuccessful.  Indeed, the installer finally recognizes my disks 
as driver disks, but it always ignores my megaraid driver claiming that 
no matching devices were found.  I suspect the device ID doesn't match 
"something" on my dd, but I don't know what.  In all honesty, this is my 
very first driver disk project, but it is far removed from my first 
major Linux undertaking.  Rather than dig deeper into an already 
antiquated version, I've decided to skip this leg of the project in 
pursuit of an avenue that seems to have greater, easier success.  I'll 
upgrade my source install set to CentOS 4.1 and see what happens.  Then, 
I'll share the result and, hopefully, provide a fully functional driver 
disk that will be far easier for the many other people waiting for such 
a solution.  Make no mistake, a lot of other people are looking for this 
driver disk.  The way I see it, good, compassionate assistance can be 
dreadfully hard to find in the broad Linux community; especially for 
newbies who face a torrential onslaught of razzing and impatience.  I'm 
just trying to help the lowest common denominator.  :)

-- 
William Kimball, Jr.
http://www.kimballstuff.com/
"Programming is an art-form that fights back!" (Unknown)