Hi,

I just did new auto upgrade of R5A16 from R4V5 and noticed a very odd problem with it not detecting my DVD drive. The funny thing is that the BIOS recognized the drive, the KnoppMyth R5A16 install program recognized the drive but when R5A16 booted, the drive disappeared from the "dmesg"!

Please do not confuse this problem with the frequently asked "pineapple" and "cd_link.sh" permissions problems since I have had all those already and fixed under R4V5. I am fairly sure this is different.

I replaced the NEC 1300A DVD drive with another NEC 3520 drive and a DVD drive from my old emachine and both of them were recognized and worked properly in KnoppMyth (ie, play DVD, import DVD, import CD, etc).

I think there may be a problem, possibly with the linux kernel. I did some quick googles and found this item which is very similar

http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/ ... /0030.html

Here is a segment of the dmesg:

Probing IDE interface ide1...
ide1: Wait for ready failed before probe !
hdd: [seagate hard disk...]

The NEC 1300A has the most recent NEC approved Flash BIOS, have tried it with CS or Master jumper settings. It is supposed to be in the /dev/hdc slot but it does not show up in the /proc/ide/ide1/ no matter what I try.

Trying to mount the drive (futile since it does not show up in attached drive on the ide1 chain) results in a "hdc is not a valid block device" error message. I tried passing "/dev/hdc=ide-cd" as startup kernel message with no help.

The obvious solution is to just replace the DVD (which I did) and now am using the NEC 3520 in the KnoppMyth PVR. Even that is generating some funky dmesg error messages (can't replicate here) but at least it is recognized.

This is not intended to be a complaint, only a question to see if there is something I am missing.

Is there something I can do to get the kernel 2.6.11 to recognize the NEC 1300A DVD drive? Am I missing something obvious?

Thanks in advance.

Andrew Lynch

Hi, quick update on this issue with the ECS 848P-A motherboard, KnoppMyth R5A16 and the NEC-1300A DVD+-RW drive...

The "disappearing hdc" has kept reoccurring pretty much no matter what DVD drive I used so I started suspecting something fishy in the ECS848P-A motherboard BIOS. The NEC 3520 would occasionally disappear but not as frequently as the NEC 1300. Also, the Plextor (model ?) acted flakey as well. All signs pointed to a motherboard problem, as I saw it.

Now, I had *thought* that the linux kernel basically ignored the BIOS except to pass control itself after BIOS POST. Well, now I guess not. Maybe that is true for the linux kernel 2.4 but it apparently isn't for the linux kernel 2.6. The dmesg has several BIOS related messages.

Normally, I am highly reluctant to flash MB BIOS's unless there is an extremely good reason but it appeared as though I had run out of options. So I went ahead and downloaded the most recent ECS848P-A BIOS, built a BIOS flash floppy, *saved the original BIOS*, and then flashed the new BIOS.

Now, whenever the machine starts, it immediately detects both NEC DVDs (haven't tried the Plextor yet, but I suspect it is fixed as well) without any wierd hdc messages or balky delays on ide1 detection.

So, I guess the lesson learned here is that if you run out of options in a similar situation, take a hard look at the motherboard BIOS. It may be your culprit as it appears to be here.

Thanks!

Andrew Lynch

Personally, I will never buy another ECS motherboard.

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

Most likely, neither will I. I am probably going to stick with ASUS from now on.

Andrew Lynch