Symptom(s):

When SATA ports are configured as AHCI in BIOS, some untested SATA DVD-ROM may not be detected under Red Hat* Enterprise Linux 5.1. The server can boot from installation DVD, but when selecting local CDROM as installation method, the following error message appears:

"No driver found
Unable to find any devices of the type needed for this installation type.
Would you like to manually select your driver or use a driver disk?"

Installation can be done via other methods like USB DVD-ROM or network, however during OS boot error messages similar to below may appear:

"ata3.00: failed to set xfermode (err_mask=0x4)
ata3: COMRESET failed (errno=-16)"

And after OS boot the SATA DVD-ROM cannot be detected.

Solution:

Please use a tested DVD-ROM drive in our Tested hardware list. You may also try the workaround below:

Configure SATA mode as IDE in BIOS: select Advanced | SATA Controller Configuration , set Onboard SATA Controller as Enabled , and Configure SATA as as IDE .
Complete the following procedure to install Red Hat* Enterprise Linux 5.1:

1. Boot from the installation DVD. Type " linux ide0=noprobe ide1=noprobe " as the boot option.
2. Continue the installation, after files are copied and when it prompts for first reboot, press Ctrl + Alt + F2 to switch to text console.
3. Type " vi /mnt/sysimage/boot/grub/grub.conf ". Add " ide0=noprobe ide1=noprobe " at end of each line of "kernel /vmlinuz-..." definition.
4. Save grub.conf and press Ctrl + F6 to switch back to graphic screen. Reboot the system and complete the installation.

If the operating system was already installed, then edit the /boot/grub/grub.conf file and add " ide0=noprobe ide1=noprobe " at the end of each line of "kernel /vmlinuz-..." definition.

The steps above will resolve the low hard drive performance issue when SATA is set to IDE mode.

Operating System:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0*

This applies to:

Intel® Server Board S3200SH Intel® Server System SR1530SH