If you rely on Linux for imaging, you probably have been swearing a lot since HP released their dc7900 and Dell released the Optiplex 760.
These models use the Intel's latest ICH10 SATA controller which is not supported in Linux Automation.
With the help of Alan Cox at Linux.org and Joe Doupnik at Oxford University I've patched the loadable kernel module ahci.ko which is used to communicate with this class of controllers.
To add this module, open up Bootdisk creator and add this as a driver into your Linux environment. It's that simple!
Note: My driver modifications only supports the AHCI mode of these controllers. I've seen on the Deployment Solution Forums that Linux automation natively supports these controllers in RAID mode, but as yet there is no support for these controllers in IDE compatability mode. I hope an update to the ata_piix.ko module will be forthcoming shortly to resolve this.
Troubleshooting
If you've added the new driver into your Linux environment and you still can't image, the first thing to do is confirm your controller is configured in the BIOS to AHCI mode.
Next, assign your new Dell (or HP) a Linux Wait task in the Deployment Console. When your system next PXE boots into Linux you'll now have time to rummage. The next thing to check is the device ID for your SATA controller on your pci bus. Type,
lspci
You should see in there your SATA controller as,
00:1f:2 SATA Controller: Intel Corporation: Unknown Device 3a02 (rev 02)
If that's all OK, then its time to check the driver. First, check that it's loaded by typing,
lsmod
If all is well, you should see the loadable kernel modules ahci and libata loaded (libdata.ko is required by ahci.ko). If not, its time to take a look at the module itself. Your module should be in the following path,
/lib/modules/2.6.18.8/kernel/opt/bdc
In this folder you should only see the drivers you've added through bootdisk creator. For most of us, this will be the Intel Gigabit driver e1000e.ko in addition now to our new ahci.ko. If the ahci.ko module is missing, try rebuilding the Linux environment. In this folder type,
modinfo ./ahci.ko | grep "3a02"
This should produce a single line output showing an alias line for this device ID.
If you type,
modinfo ./ahci.ko
You should see that it's version 2.01 of the ahci code (to relect its a modification of the original 2.00 code). If all this checks out and you still can't image let me know.
Kind Regards,
Ian./