[CentOS] New CD-ROM drive causes kernel panic

Wed Dec 28 13:24:08 UTC 2005
Alfred von Campe <alfred at 110.net>

Thanks for all the responses.

> You might want to first check your BIOS settings for the CDROM drive,
> and then the data cable. I really don't think there is such a thing
> as an incompatible CDROM, but I have seen some BIOS settings making
> CDROM drives behave weirdly.

What type of BIOS settings are you talking about?  The system is  
currently up and running, so I can't easily check it (but I'll  
probably reboot it later today).

> Don't forget you can completely _disable_ the sucker in the BIOS.   
> Yeah,
> you can't boot from it, but you only need that during an install.

Doh!  Why didn't I think of that?

> I would recommend checking the master/slave jumper settings. Is the
> cdrom drive the only drive on the cable? On what positions does the  
> bios
> report the drive (primary/secondary channel, master/slave?). changing
> DMA settings for the drive may help too. How does Linux recognize the
> drive (dmesg + /proc on which, as which drive hda, hdb, hdc, hdd?)

The master/slave setting is set to exactly the same setting (slave)  
as the CD-ROM drive it replaced (there is another drive on that same  
cable).  And how do I change the DMA settings?  I think this is what  
may be causing the problem.  Linux currently doesn't recognize the  
drive, as it is disconnected.  But I believe it's /dev/hdb (although  
it might be /dev/hdd).  There are two hard disks at /dev/hda and /dev/ 
hdc that are mirrored together and mounted as /home.

Alfred