I was having some issues installing 11.1. I am new to Linux so I dont have any background knowledge. When I tried to do the data check on the cd it asked for me to insert a cd even though the dvd was already in the drive. the md5 checked out ok prior to trying to install. So I figured maybe it was a driver issue. I have the current firmware already installed. So I grabbed one of my old IEDI cd/dvd and hooked it up and it now it is running fine. So my question is how to get my new SATA drive to run the DVD correctly. Thanks!!!
Now during the install it says there is no hard drive. It is also a SATA hard drive 
This can happen if the installation cannot detect your SATA disk controller and therefore does not load the necessary driver, just as you suspected (similar to XP and Vista installation, except that they don’t even try - you must supply the SATA driver on separate media).
Do you know the chipset in the machine? Or the motherboard (it will be in the specs)? If you only have a make/model of machine, you may get the spec from the manufacturer’s support site. If you are running Windows, you can download/install the free SiSoft Sandra tool (a great apps to have, btw); it will definitely tell you. Sometimes you can deduce the chipset from Windows msinfo32.exe, but that is iffy.
Another trick I’ve used - this is an advanced method, but I’ll throw this in as I don’t know your tech comfort level - if you have an idea of what the chipset might be (e.g., you think you have an nvidia based mobo): On the DVD menu, in the Boot Options, type:
manual=1
That will take you into a DOS-gui type set of screens; you are underneath the installation shell. Navigate through Expert to find the Modules sections. You can see which modules (drivers) have been detected so far, and you can also view all modules available by category; there is one for disks. Often the modules are identifiable by their names (e.g., nvidia’s SATA driver is named “sata_nv”). You can ask it be loaded there, and then re-start the installation. Or write down the module name, reboot, and in Boot Options do:
insmod=<module name>
That will force the kernel to load the module. Note that you can load more than one, in that case you enter the complete argument once for each module (i.e., insmod=module1 insmod=module2 insmod=module3).
It said the chipset was an AMD Athlon 64/Opteron hyper Transport Technology Configuration. The MoBo is an XFX Geforce 8200. All of this is brand new as well. One thing I noticed was it said the SMBIOS/DMI was inaccurate. I also remember seeing something to this regards when I did a hardware check in Yast. If I was trying the other way that you said, could you give me a little more direction on to where I am typing in the commands. Thanks!!
What is the “it” that said those things? And how did you see hw info in YaST? That is not the chipset by the way, that is the processor platform.
Is this the board? XFX GeForce 8200 Review :: XFX GeForce 8200 Layout :: Motherboards.org. If so, then the chipset in an nvidia 8200 using an MCP78 bridge (the bridge is where all the device controllers are).
If so, please do this . . . boot from the DVD, when the bootsplash graphical screen displays, hit the Escape key. That will drop the splash, but the text should be more easily read that using “Text Mode”. Watch the log looking for where the hardware is detected and kernel modules are loaded - do you see a “sata_nv” or anything else with “sata” in its name? Actually, take note of all the module names you see (there won’t be that many). If it difficult to see this, you can alternatively use the following in the Boot Options:
linuxrc.debug=1,wait
That will drop the splash and show more messages, and will stop the kernel at intermediate points requiring you to hit Enter to proceed. Report back what you found.
I found something else that may work for you, so try this before my suggestions above. In the Boot Options, type:
pci=nomsi
If that does not work, go into the bios and there will most likely be a controller setting with options like “sata” and “ahci”. Try changing that, saving it, and rebooting. If the change did not work, try it again but this time using the boot option above.
The “pci=nomsi” command in the boot options worked! What exactly is that command doing and where did you find the info?
The notrious “it” was Sandra, which had it down in the notes. Sorry for saying Yast, should have said the openSUSE installer firmware check. I just reran it to see what it said, with the CD in the EIDE Drive, it still had some failures:
0S/2 memory hole test
The memory map has a hole between 15mb and 16mb
DMI information check
No SMBIOS nor DMI entry point was found
HPET congiguration test
Failed to locate HPET base
Then I reran it using the pci=nomsi code and had the same failures.
Thank you so much for the help!!!
So just to be clear, you are now booting OK, right?
MSI stands for “Message Signaled Interrupts”. I wrote a short explanatory summary in another thread not long ago, search on that string and my username and you’ll find it. 
I included a link to the howto from Linus’s team when msi was added to the kernel, which explains it in-depth.
Yes it is booting up fine now! Hooked up and pulling stuff off of the repositories as we speak. BUT in failsafe mode it will not find the hard drive when it is going through its start up. It asks if I want to fall back on it again y/n. When I hit yes it did not find it again. Is their a permanent fix for this with out having to type in the command string? I will read up on what you said in the morning. Thanks again!
Great! 
Re failsafe mode: It is failing for the same reason the regular boot was failing until you added pci=nomsi. Failsafe is a bit of a misnomer - what it does is use kernel arguments which work around most of the common booting problems, but certainly not all. The msi problem in some bios’s is one of those. So on your machine the failsafe boot stanza needs to have pci=nomsi added (although after you have become more familiar with linux, you may just dispense with the failsafe stanza altogether, as you will probably know those kernel arguments and, besides, if the machine is working w/o using them, you probably never will need to).
Re making pci=nomsi permanent: It may already be. When a kernel argument is added to Boot Options at the DVD menu, the installer (at least used to) add that to the grub (the boot loader) boot stanza in its control file. Do this: Press Alt-F2 to bring up a (KDE) run dialog box, and type:
kdesu kwrite /boot/grub/menu.lst
If you are using Gnome, it’s:
gnomesu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
Now you have the grub control file open in a text editor as root. Find the regular boot stanza and in the kernel line check if pci=nomsi is added; if not, just add it there. Like this:
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.25.18-0.2-default root=/dev/sda1 splash=silent showopts vga=0x317 **pci=nomsi**
Do the same on the (much longer) kernel line in the failsafe stanza. That should take care of it.
Enjoy.
It was already there:
title openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.7-9
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-pae root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500AAJS-22VTA0_WD-WMART2077603-part3 pci=nomsi resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500AAJS-22VTA0_WD-WMART2077603-part2 splash=silent showopts vga=0x31b
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.7-9-pae
But in the middle, I am guessing that is fine.
Then I placed it in the failsafe as well.
Is there somewhere that has all of the boot commands listed? Also, is there anything I should be working on for the failures that came up in the firmware test that I posted earlier. Thanks!!!
It was already there … But in the middle, I am guessing that is fine…Then I placed it in the failsafe as well.
Then you’re good to go.
Is there somewhere that has all of the boot commands listed?
Not sure what you are asking.
Also, is there anything I should be working on for the failures that came up in the firmware test that I posted earlier.
If you are referring to the Sandra reports, no.
That info came from the Firmware test in the beginning of the openSUSE installer. I was just wondering if those failures will cause any problems.
As far as the “boot command list”. I was looking maybe for some direction to learn what would be the different commands to place in the boot options. Or maybe this is too vast of a question to be asking. Your help has been great!!
OK, right. I forgot about that firmware test being added; it’s new. IIRC that’s written by Intel. So a quick explanation . . .
- OS/2 means nothing unless you’re using OS/2 (an old IBM PC OS).
- DMI is for system management extensions; n/a to PC’s
- HPET is re a hardware timer; your processor doesn’t have it.
“Boot options” - the actual term is “kernel arguments”. Sometimes called “cheat codes”. There are a couple dozen more commonly used, but many more possible - for a particular kernel, depends on how the kernel was configured when compiled. There is a SDB article on those commonly used in openSUSE, but it is by no means inclusive. Once your machine is working properly, probably not worth more of your time. Especially not to learn what they are from a technical standpoint.
Mingus725, Thanks you!! You’ve been great, I owe you a beer if you are ever around Ft Bragg!
You’re very welcome!
btw, I’m a native of San Fran. Been to Ft. Bragg many times.
This request for help is for 11.1 on a 64 bit machine.
I am unable to play video DVD or audio CD. The error I see is “unable to mount audio disc, cannot find /dev/sr1” If I use the first drive, it cannot find /dev/sr0 either. I looked for a firefox plugin for totem, but didn’t find it.
I just saw your post. Please allow me to suggest that you start a new thread for your problem, and it sounds like it should be in either the “applications” or “hardware” sub-forums. With a new thread you will get better visibility and therefore faster/better help.
I believe I found what you were talking about, good read! I sent you a message on Yahoo. I was unsure if you actually use that or not, just trying to have a quick conversation on a few other small topics if you did not mind.
hallo,
I have entered the detail in the boot.menue. But there is no effekts. I have a new Laptop with Intel 945PM Chipset. What must I do in the bios concretly?
My DVD player can also read blue ray disc.
I have a additional question:
Why is the the dvd mounted as “root”
5900 0.6 0.0 2264 672 ? S 00:10 0:00 /bin/mount -t iso9660 -o nosuid,nodev,uid=1000,utf8 /dev/sr0 /media/KNOPPIX
This entry has no
Is this coorect. I cannot read some Information from the DVD.
This entry has no effect for me:
title openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.7-9
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-pae root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-FUJITSU_MHZ2320BH_G2_K60LT88298J2-part6 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-FUJITSU_MHZ2320BH_G2_K60LT88298J2-part5 splash=silent showopts vga=0x314 pci=nomsi
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.7-9-pae
I need your help!
Thanks!
Klemi