Installing Ubuntu 9.10 on Dell M6400 with Raid

[Stephen]

Intel raid is a firmware based soft raid

So it won't work as is

Linux just has no drivers

Likely never will

On 11/6/09, Matthew A Coulliette <matthewlug at cox.net> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I was trying to install Ubuntu 9.10 on my new Dell Precision M6400, that
> I bought from the Dell Depot.
>
> As soon as I got it I installed 2 Western Digital 320gb Scorpio Sata
> drives. I used the onboard Intel Matrix Storage Manager (v8.0.0.1039)
> ICH9M-E to mirror the drives, (Raid 1). I gave the new volume a name,
> "WDscorpioV01". So far, so good.
>
> I downloaded the new Ubuntu 9.10 installation cd for amd64. I ran the
> installation cd and was able to install 94% of the OS. Then, I got an
> error message, "The 'grub' package failed to install into '/taget/'.
>
> I tried installing 9.10 several times varing a few settings each time,
> always with the same error about not being able to install grub.
>
> I then tried installing 9.04 and it installs okay, however, when the
> system reboots, it just sits there with a blinking cursor and does not
> boot into the new system.
>
> I decided to try installing 9.10 again, and during the partitioning
> portion, I noticed that partitioner was seeing a 320gb hard disk. This
> is where I believe the core of the problem is. It should only be seeing
> a 298gb hard disk, since I am using hardware raid.
>
> Next, I re-entered the Intel Raid Controller and deleted the raid
> volume. Then, I re-entered the bios and changed the hard drive
> configuration mode from Raid to S-ATA.
>
> Finally, I tried the install again onto the first Sata drive, (without
> hardware raid). I only partitioned the first drive and left the second
> drive unpartitioned. (I was going to setup software raid, but that
> option is not available on the normal install cd. It is available on the
> 'alternate' install cd). On step 8 of 8, I clicked the 'Advanced...'
> menu and set it to install the boot loader into /dev/sda1. The
> installation was succesful and finished without any errors. Although, I
> am glad to know 9.10 runs on my new computer, this piece of success
> really does not help me.
>
> I decided to try installing 9.10 from the 'alternate' install cd next. I
> went through the installation process as usual and when I got to the
> partitioning section I setup software raid. I finished the installation
> and rebooted into the new system successfully. This is a useable
> configuration for me, although, I would prefer using hardware raid
> instead of software raid.
>
> If anybody knows how to setup hardware raid with ubuntu 9.10 (karmic
> koala), I would love to hear about it.
>
> MatthewMPP
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Sent from my mobile device

A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from
rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.

Stephen