See ServerHardware for newer stuff.

Debian 3.1 (Sarge) runs the 2.4.27 or 2.6.8 Kernel.

Links to resources

Try this first?

Debian is a conservative distro. Server hardware is often way too cutting edge to use a standard install. That is especially true of SATA fakeraid, like Intel's ICH series, which is very common in servers. Some newer network cards are problematic as well.

Try using the latest daily installer, which uses the latest kernel.

Method 1:

At the boot: prompt, start the installer (maybe a daily build installer) using:

..this will add a menu of kernel choices to the installer. The default installs a 2.4 kernel and the linux26 start doesn't give you the option of installing a different kernel. "expert26" is an especially good tactic if the installer sees your SATA drives but your installed system does not.

Method 2:

Install (using daily build installer), install SataRaid when you get to the partitioner in the install sequence, and right before you're asked to reboot, switch to another shell and install the newest kernel. You'll find it here.

Hopefully this will work (example code from January 12, 2006):

mount -t proc proc /target/proc
chroot /target
cd /root
wget
http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/l/linux-2.6/linux-image-2.6.14-2-686_2.6.14-7_i386.deb
dpkg -i linux-image-2.6.14-2-686_2.6.14-7_i386.deb
exit
umount /target/proc

Use at your own risk. This kernel is from the unstable branch.

Works

Doesn't work

2.4.27 and 2.6.8 Linux Kernels of Debian don't support following hardware/drivers:

ASUS A8V-MX: 0000:00:0f.0 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc.: Unknown device 3349 | 0000:00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 07) | 0000:00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 7c)

2.4.27 recognizes the IDE drives but no SATA and onboard ethernet. 2.6.8 already has trouble recognizing the IDE drive and won't recognize standard 3Com Boomerang PCI ethernet card.

0000:02:02.0 RAID bus controller: ICP Vortex Computersysteme GmbH GDT NEWRX

gdth

compile own 2.4.31

0000:05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8050 Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 17)

sk98lin

add patch for yukon2

0000:00:14.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Ethernet Controller (rev a1) (NVIDIA nForce 430 built-in Gigabit MAC with externel Marvel 88E1111 PHY)

???

use backported 2.6.12 kernel + NVidia drivers or use 2.6.14 kernel (sid) (w/o NVidia drivers)

0000:03:01.0 RAID bus controller: Adaptec ServeRAID Controller (rev 02) (encountered in IBM eServer xSeries 306, with ServeRAID 6i installed in PCI slot)

ips

installer hangs on loading ips module; resolution: copy ips source file and header file from IBM ServeRAID support CD into your kernel source tree, make kernel, copy resulting ips.ko into /lib/modules../., make initrd image and use to replace original one

0000:00:09.0 RAID bus controller: Adaptec Serial ATA II RAID 1420SA (rev 01)

cupis

upgrade to 2.6.14 with patch from http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/9/27/14

You might want to try update-pciids.

Issues

megaraid module issues with 2.6.8

Intel RAID Controller SRCU42E has serious issues with the 2.6.8 kernel. Actually, I believe anything using the megaraid module does.

It is still a good controller, but you should install using 2.4, then download a newer kernel from kernels.org and build a custom kernel (I used 2.6.14 successfully). Trying to install 2.6.8 results in no device being found, mainly because the incorrect driver is attempting to be loaded, but the correct driver does not seem to exist. This appears to be a problem with the kernel, not Debian.

megaraid with more recent kernels

See this report 334331 for useful information about weirdness with some LSI/Megaraid SATA/RAID controllers, like those used on a few Fujitsu-Siemens rackmount boxes. I have no idea if the issue is fixed with kernel >2.6.12