SCSI headache (AIC7xxx)

[nakediron]

This is my first post to the forums. This issue is driving me nutz.

The hardware that I'm attempting to use:
MSI K7D mainboard
Athlon MP 1800+
1GB
Adaptec 29160LP SCSI
(2) Fujitsu 36GB drives (MAP3367NC)

I've tried both CentOS 4.3 and Debian 3.1r2 (my two fav distros). All of the hardware is correctly detected with both installations. However, I'm unable to install a bootloader on either of the SCSI drives. Grub gives me an error; and Lilo appears to work but never boots.

Incidently, I've done a low-level format on both drives. I've installed the latest BIOS versions on the motherboard and the host controller. And both installations work great if I use an IDE drive instead. I've even built a new kernel from source and compiled the absolute latest drivers available from Adaptec.

When I attempt to move the installation from the IDE drive onto a SCSI drive, I can mount the SCSI partitions; but if I 'chroot' into the mounted SCSI partition I get a "Segmentation Fault". It's like this system is cursed or something!

Is this just a crummy motherboard?

[drl]

Hi, nakediron.

I installed CentOS 4.3 this week onto a Seagate SCSI, controller is (onboard) "Adaptec AIC-7899P U160/m", the MB is a Tyan Thunder K7, a few other SCSI drives, and a frame/carrier that holds an IDE drive.

I had a similar problem, and what I found was that the installer wanted to place grub in the MBR of the first HD in the boot sequence. So I aborted the install, changed the boot sequence to what it would be after the install, and everything proceeded normally. In fact, I am writing from the box with that CentOS on it.

Best wishes ... cheers, drl