If you use Linux for imaging, show how you've covered all the bases when it comes to imaging the new Dell and HP ICH10 SATA controllers. If you want to put the icing on your Hardware Independent Imaging cake and support these new controllers in IDE/ATA mode, this download has the driver for you.
Adding the ATA driver ata_piix.c to Linux Automation
Attached to this article you'll find zipped up the Linux loadable module ata_piix.ko.To add this module into Linux automation, open up Bootdisk creator and add this driver to Linux automation as if it were a new network card driver. Save your changes, and rebuild. It's that simple!
Troubleshooting
If you've added the new driver into your Linux environment and you still can't image, the first thing to do is confirm your controller is configured in the BIOS to ATA mode. This generally appears on BIOS screens as the option that isn't RAID or AHCI. So, look for controller configurations like "IDE/ATA Compatability Mode", or "Legacy".
If you've done that ans you still can't image, its time to check whether the driver is actually loading. In the Deployment Console, assign your new Dell (or HP) a Linux Wait task. When your system next PXE boots into Linux you'll now have plenty time to rummage. The next thing to check is the device ID for your SATA controller on your pci bus. Type,
lspci
You should see in there your SATA controller as,
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation: Unknown device 3a00 (rev 02)
This confirms that your AHCI controller has been placed in IDE compatability mode. If you are checking this article out for a model different from the Dell 760 or HP 7900, your IDE Interface might have a different ID. Make a note of the device ID (here it's 3a00) so that you can make the appropriate changes to the commands below. If your interface is indeed in IDE mode, then you've passed the first step and its time to check the driver is actually loading. Type,
lsmod
If the driver has found a match on the PCI bus (through the vendor and device IDs) it should be loaded. Therefore, if all is well you should see the loadable kernel modules ata_piix and libata loaded (libdata.ko is required by ata_piix.ko). If not, then a match has not been found and its time to take a look at the module itself to ensure it has the support you need. Your module should be in the following path,
/lib/modules/2.6.18.8/kernel/opt/bdc
In this folder you should only see the drivers you've added through bootdisk creator. For most of us, this will be the Intel Gigabit driver e1000e.ko in addition now to our new ata_piix.ko. If the ata_piix.ko module is missing, try rebuilding the Linux environment. In this folder type,
modinfo ./ata_piix.ko | grep "3a00"
The command modinfo reveals all the version and author information for that module, in addition to any dependencies and hardware IDs it should be matched against. The grep command just filters out everything but lines with the device ID we are interested in. If you are looking at supporting a different controller, you'll need to change the device ID grepp'd for here. If the above command gives no output, then the controller you've grepp'd for is not supported in the module.
If you type,
modinfo ./ata_piix.ko
You should see that it's version 2.01 of the code (to relect its a modification of the original 2.00 code). If all this checks out and you still can't image let me know.
Kind Regards,
Ian./