Unable to detect HDD when installing RHEL 5.5 using RocketRAid 2640x4

[seraph973]

I have a rocketraid 2640x4 with 2 500gb HDDs configured in my system. I also have a 3.5" usb floppy disk plugged in with the SCSI drivers

When I boot the RHEL 5.5 x86 32 bit installer, i type in "linux dd" at the first screen. Then it asks me to load my drivers via the floppy disk which i do.

When i get to the installation page of Linux after entering my serial key, it is not able to detect my HDD so i am unable to proceed. I have tried using drivers for RHEL 5, 5.1 and 5.2. There are no drivers for 5.5. am i doing something wrong?

[HROAdmin26]

If they've posted a different package for each RHEL update, then the driver is likely different and compiled against a specific kernel.

You will need an existing RHEL 5.5 install, compile tools, and kernel source to compile the module for 5.5

Driver source code is at the bottom of the page and includes a README section.

[seraph973]

Hi, thanks for the reply. i am a new linux user and have no idea how to do this.

Based on your message, do i need a pc with a RHEL 5.5 already installed? is there any other way i can do this? any site that compiles it for me? i dont even know how to compile. thanks

[Rubberman]

Here is a link to the v1.1 driver file for CentOS/RHEL 5: http://www.support-highpoint-tech.co....2.09.0522.tgz

I looked at my kernel configuration (CentOS 5.5) and I only see built-in kernel support for their 3xxx series controllers. That means you will have to build the driver and install it AFTER the operating system is installed, or need to build the kernel module on another compatible system, put it on a thumb drive or floppy, and install it when you start the installation process. This is assuming that you don't have a bootable hard drive in your system. Personally, I do not like using a RAID device for my system drive / boot drive. They are more trouble than they are worth. Having them for user files, databases, and such isn't a bad idea. So what I do is keep a bit-image copy of the system drive, and clone that to a backup hot-swap/quick-swap identical drive. If the system drive goes belly-up, I shut down the system, pull out the old drive, plug in the new one (about 5 seconds + shutdown time - I spend most of the time getting the key out of my desk), and start the system back up. At worst I'll have to run yum to update some packages.

[HROAdmin26]

Since I had a RHEL 5.5 X86 VM laying around, I compiled this driver against the default kernel.

Kernel => 2.6.18-194.el5

It's a large module (~760KB) and zips down to ~300KB. Unfortunately this forum's limit on .zip's is 97KB. If you send me a PM with an e-mail address, I will send it to you.

Message upon trying to load on a machine without the actual card:

Dec  5 23:14:38 rhel-55 kernel: rr26xx: module license 'Proprietary' taints kernel.
Dec  5 23:14:38 rhel-55 kernel: rr26xx:RocketRAID 26xx controller driver v1.2 (Dec  5 2010 23:13:37)
Dec  5 23:14:38 rhel-55 kernel: rr26xx:no controller detected.

[seraph973]

Hi. thanks for sharing the file. i tried loading it and red hat says that the drivers i have are not compatible for this release (5.5)

I tried downloading the RHEL 5.2 32bit and using the v5.2 drivers (both i386 and x86_64) on highpoint's site. it loads them but says that it cannot find the specific drivers to make it work. then asks me to manually select or back. etc.

i am at a dead end now. can any one help.

[Rubberman]

Please let us know the following:

1. Do you have a current Red Hat support license?
2. What EXACT version of RHEL 5 are you running (you say 5.5).
3. Are you running 32-bit or 64-bit (x86_64)?

I am running CentOS/RHEL 5.5 with all development tools and kernel code on my workstation and can build a driver (.ko module) for you if necessary.

[seraph973]

1. Do you have a current Red Hat support license?
- yes
2. What EXACT version of RHEL 5 are you running (you say 5.5).
- I have 5.5. but i downloaded 5.2 from the redhat site since my device does not support 5.5 yet.
3. Are you running 32-bit or 64-bit (x86_64)?
- 32bit.

I load the i386 drivers from usb floppy disk, then it goes through with installation, asking for language, keyboard language, then when i input local CDROM as installation method, it says "no driver found" then if i select the floppy to load again the drivers that i have, it just cycles that same screen.

[Rubberman]

A driver for 5.2 should work with 5.5 just fine. I would strongly recommend that you try to install 5.5 (a lot of fixes since 5.2) instead.

[seraph973]

hi, that's the thing. After i load the drivers, it still does not work. I tried all version of the driver for 5.5. Same thing for 5.2.

It just wont detect. It's not a hardware fault since i tried installing windows the other day and it was fine. I had since replaced the HDD with blank ones