Installing SCSI driver in Linux Rescue

[John Wirt]

Can I make sure I have this correct?
  Use Rawrite to convert the driver file to an image file. (No other 
files are included.)
  Use Rawritewin to make a diskette from the image file.

John Wirt

Rick Stevens wrote:

>On Wed, 2006-01-18 at 22:17 -0500, John Wirt wrote:
>  
>
>>A new front has opened in my endeaver to install Grub in the Linux root 
>>("/") partition of drive 2 as part of a move to dual boot  Linux RedHat 
>>Enterprise and XP on my machine using Bootit on drive 1 as the boot 
>>manager. XP is on drive 1 and Linux is on drive 1. From Rick Stevens and 
>>others on this forum (thank you), I know the procedure and Linux 
>>commands to accomplish the necessary reinstallation of Grub.
>>
>>Last night I attempted to reinstall Grub using these commands but 
>>immediately ran into a problem. I have three Adaptec U320 drives on the 
>>machine. Two are combined into one RAID 0 drive (drive 1) and Linux will 
>>be on the third physical drive (drive 2).
>>
>>I booted to the 1st RedHat Enterprise v.3 CD, selected Linux Rescue, and 
>>got the boot: prompt (I think this was the order). Anyway I ended up at 
>>the Boot: prompt in Linux Rescue.   Fine except in the course of this 
>>boot it was clear that Linux could not find any drivers for my SCSI 
>>drives on the CD. This is not surprising. When I installed XP, I had to 
>>supply drivers. (Linux came installed on the machine by Dell.)
>>
>>The question is, how can I provide the necessary driver in booting from 
>>the Linux RedHat CD #1.
>>    
>>
>
>At the "boot:" prompt, enter:
>
>	linux rescue dd
>
>When the system asks for the driver, stick in the floppy and press
>ENTER.
>
>  
>
>>Dell has sent me the drivers that need to be installed. The driver 
>>package seems to have the solution:
>>
>>    Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
>>    For a new installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, you will need to
>>    use a device driver diskette image. Perform the following steps:
>>      1. Copy the appropriate device driver diskette image to a Linux system
>>      2. Put a floppy into the floppy drive
>>      3. At a command prompt, type "cat dd if=<image name> of=/dev/fd0". 
>>This
>>          will create your device driver diskette
>>      4. Boot to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 media
>>      5. When you receive the "boot:" prompt, type "linux dd"
>>      6. Follow the instructions onscreen to proceed
>>
>>Will this work?
>>    
>>
>
>For a fresh install, yes.  To do a rescue boot, you still need to
>specify "rescue" in the boot command:
>
>	boot: linux rescue dd
>
>  
>
>>After loading the SCSI driver, I have to run the   install-grub  command 
>>from Boot: to complete the Linux (re)installation.
>>
>>Apparently, I have to go to my friend's house and have him make the 
>>device driver diskette (my friend is a Linux technician). Then, I can 
>>load the driver from the disketter at the Boot: command.
>>    
>>
>
>Well, you really don't.  True, "dd" is a Unix/Linux-specific command,
>but there is a program under DOS that does the same thing, "rawrite". 
>Here's a link to it:
>
>    http://www.fdos.org/ripcord/rawrite/
>
>
>  
>
>>Will this work?  Since the Linux running in memory from the CD sees no 
>>SCSI drives, where  will it  put the driver? In memory? And then, boot 
>>the SCSI drives? Is this going to work?
>>    
>>
>
>Yes, the driver will be loaded in to the kernel's memory on boot.  Once
>the driver is loaded, the rescue boot will be able to see the SCSI
>drives and you should be good to go.
>
>  
>
>>The copy of Linux already installed on drive 2 has the necessary SCSI 
>>driver. The desired final configuration will be, selecting Linux from 
>>the Bootit boot menu will "boot" Grub in the root partition on drive 2, 
>>which will boot Linux on drive 2.
>>    
>>
>
>If you're certain the driver is actually there, after you do the
>"chroot /mnt/sysimage" command, look at the "/etc/modules.conf" file
>and make sure there's a line that looks like
>
>	alias scsi-hostadapter name-of-scsi-driver
>
>because that's what the mkinitrd command will use to load the
>appropriate driver into the boot ramdisk image.
>
>  
>
>>Just to be complete, the final configuration is planned to be:
>>
>>      Drive 1
>>         Part 1   MBR   XP
>>         Part 2   Windows XP
>>         Part 3   EMBR  (Extended Master Boot Record for Bootit boot 
>>manager)
>>         Part 4  Extended Partition
>>         Part 5     Volume
>>         Part 6     Volume
>>
>>      Drive 2  (simplified a bit)
>>         Part 1   MBR
>>         Part 2   Linux  /boot partition
>>         Part 3   Linux root directory
>>         Part 4   Linux swap partition
>>    
>>
>
>Your Linux tech friend may be able to help you with this.  He/she should
>understand all this weird stuff with booting and how to make it work.
>It's a bit difficult to describe in an email.
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
>- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
>-                                                                    -
>-          When all else fails, try reading the instructions.        -
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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