TCB doesn't accept kernel parameters on boot prompt

[Gullible Jones]

On my Aspire 3680 laptop (which uses SATA drives), I get the message "ata_piix: no native ports found" from the kernel, and /dev/sdX is seen as /dev/hdX.

Normally (e.g. on Slackware) this is easily solved by appending hda=none hdb=none hdc=none hdd=none to the boot prompt. However, that doesn't work at all on Tiny Core. It seems that kernel parameters aren't accepted on boot.

That's really, really not good. Some systems require kernel parameters (e.g. noapic) in order to prevent kernel panics, for instance.

[tobiaus]

there are lots of boot parameters that tc accepts, incliding a number that are specific to tc: http://tinycorelinux.com/faq.html#bootcodes

try using other codes, such as sda=none (if there is such a code) and look up sata on the forum.

[^thehatsrule^]

TC uses both hdX/sdX (configured in the kernel).  If hdX are used, it means that they are being seen as IDE.  It could be that your drives are set to IDE compatibility - there may be a change in your BIOS that you can set to something like "native mode", or AHCI, etc.

TC's kernel does accept regular upstream boot options: hda=none hda=noprobe seems to work here (just disables it - dmesg reports it is obsolete and will be removed soon)

[Gullible Jones]

I can't set my drives to pure SATA mode because the BIOS option doesn't exist - it's a cheap, trashy Acer laptop.

I'll try hdX=noprobe I guess...

[Gullible Jones]

Okay, that prevents my drives from being detected... At all. No hdX, no sdX, naught.

Sigh... Is there some way to force the ata_piix module to see my drives? Loading it early perhaps? I need my DMA

(When Intel SATA controllers are used with IDE drivers in IDE emulation mode, PIO is used instead of DMA... In other words, any hard drive IO operations *crawl*.)

[^thehatsrule^]

Sounds like Intel's combined mode - this might help: http://linux-ata.org/faq.html#combined

[Gullible Jones]

Yep, it's combined mode. The issue:

1. As of kernel 2.6.26 the combined_mode quirk is no longer supported.
2. hdX=none doesn't work, because the ata_piix driver thinks I don't have a SATA controller. (This is distinctly abnormal, and hasn't happened on any other Linux distro.)
3. I can't recompile the kernel.
4. I can't change the option in the BIOS, because I'm using a cheap Acer laptop with drives locked in IDE emulation mode.

So basically, unless issue #2 can be fixed, I'm SOL.

[Gullible Jones]

Does anyone know how I can get around this "no native ports" bug?

Anyone?

Beuler?

[Gullible Jones]

Tried adding piix.intel_via_libata=1 as a boot option, since that seemed to work for some people... Nope, didn't do anything.

Anyone?

[Gullible Jones]

Edit: fixed in 2.0rc1. Woo hoo!