[9fans] install failing to detect SATA disk

[erik quanstrom]

I'm trying to install Plan9 on my Thinkpad T410. I could boot using the
latest Plan9.iso image and the install process gets to the diskpart step
(the step after the configfs step) and it complains about not seeing any
hard disks.
I have Linux installed in one of the partitions and it shows the following
sata controller
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series
Chipset 6 port SATA AHCI Controller [8086:3b2f] (rev 06)
I'm new to Plan 9. Any suggestions on how to debug this issue?
I see two modes for SATA - AHCI and Compatibility. The above behavior is
when SATA is in the AHCI mode. In the Compatibility mode, the install fails
earlier - boots from CD, but can't access it after that.

could you send the output of
grep . /dev/sd*/ctl

thanks!

- erik

[Deepak Chawla]

sorry.. very new to plan9

how to I open a new terminal to run the command?

I'm trying to install Plan9 on my Thinkpad T410. I could boot using the
latest Plan9.iso image and the install process gets to the diskpart step
(the step after the configfs step) and it complains about not seeing any
hard disks.
I have Linux installed in one of the partitions and it shows the

following

sata controller
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series
Chipset 6 port SATA AHCI Controller [8086:3b2f] (rev 06)
I'm new to Plan 9. Any suggestions on how to debug this issue?
I see two modes for SATA - AHCI and Compatibility. The above behavior is
when SATA is in the AHCI mode. In the Compatibility mode, the install

fails

earlier - boots from CD, but can't access it after that.

could you send the output of
grep . /dev/sd*/ctl
thanks!
- erik

[erik quanstrom]

Post by Deepak Chawla
sorry.. very new to plan9
how to I open a new terminal to run the command?

first a bit of terminology. the mouse buttons in plan 9 are
B1, B2, B3 from left to right. the right most button is always
B3 even if there is no middle button.

hold b3 down in the grey background and a menu will appear.
release with "new" highlighted. goto one the top left corner,
press and hold b3 and sweep to bottom right corner, then release b3.

- erik

ps. here's a more complete reference:

http://www.quanstro.net/newbie-guide.pdf

[Deepak Chawla]

No /dev/sd* directory. I only found a /dev/sdctl.

On a side note, I got plan 9 installed on a VBox VM - had to install an
older version of VBox and use IDE controller for the virtual disk.
Mouse worked during install but not after that.

Post by erik quanstrom

Post by Deepak Chawla
sorry.. very new to plan9
how to I open a new terminal to run the command?

first a bit of terminology. the mouse buttons in plan 9 are
B1, B2, B3 from left to right. the right most button is always
B3 even if there is no middle button.
hold b3 down in the grey background and a menu will appear.
release with "new" highlighted. goto one the top left corner,
press and hold b3 and sweep to bottom right corner, then release b3.
- erik
http://www.quanstro.net/newbie-guide.pdf

[Deepak Chawla]

Got mouse back on the VBox VM - had to uncheck "Enable absolute pointing
device" under Settings->Systems->Motherboard.

Back to the Plan 9 install issue on native h/w.. does Plan 9 support SATA
controllers? My VBox VM also needed the HDD to be on the IDE controller.

Post by Deepak Chawla
No /dev/sd* directory. I only found a /dev/sdctl.
On a side note, I got plan 9 installed on a VBox VM - had to install an
older version of VBox and use IDE controller for the virtual disk.
Mouse worked during install but not after that.

Post by erik quanstrom

Post by Deepak Chawla
sorry.. very new to plan9
how to I open a new terminal to run the command?

first a bit of terminology. the mouse buttons in plan 9 are
B1, B2, B3 from left to right. the right most button is always
B3 even if there is no middle button.
hold b3 down in the grey background and a menu will appear.
release with "new" highlighted. goto one the top left corner,
press and hold b3 and sweep to bottom right corner, then release b3.
- erik
http://www.quanstro.net/newbie-guide.pdf

[erik quanstrom]

Post by Deepak Chawla
Back to the Plan 9 install issue on native h/w.. does Plan 9 support SATA
controllers? My VBox VM also needed the HDD to be on the IDE controller.

it does support ahci controllers. vbox causes problems for a lot of oses,
and that's probablly a bigger project.

i'm going to guess this is a power management issue. the ahci driver
was written before the standard, and thus has been a little slow in
catching up.

could you try downloading 9atom, which is quite close to the distribution
(http://ftp.quanstro.net/other/9atom.iso.bz2)? it has a few power
management wiggles that may fix your issue.

- erik

[Peter A. Cejchan]

Yes, I can recommend Erik' s 9atom, too, it solved my problems with
installation onto a SATA-II HD some time ago...

Regards,
++pac

Post by erik quanstrom

Post by Deepak Chawla
Back to the Plan 9 install issue on native h/w.. does Plan 9 support SATA
controllers? My VBox VM also needed the HDD to be on the IDE controller.

it does support ahci controllers. vbox causes problems for a lot of oses,
and that's probablly a bigger project.
i'm going to guess this is a power management issue. the ahci driver
was written before the standard, and thus has been a little slow in
catching up.
could you try downloading 9atom, which is quite close to the distribution
(http://ftp.quanstro.net/other/9atom.iso.bz2)? it has a few power
management wiggles that may fix your issue.
- erik

[erik quanstrom]

9atom successfully detected the SATA drive, the unpartitioned space in it
and used it for the installation.

that is good news. it's a lot easier to fix the other stuff once
the machine is booting. :-)

- erik

[Deepak Chawla]

Good news:
9atom successfully detected the SATA drive, the unpartitioned space in it
and used it for the installation.

Bad news:
It ended up corrupting my Linux root partition which was after the
unpartitioned space. Fortunately I had a back of the root partition and I
could quickly recover it. Having some issues booting (rootfs is being
mounted ro). Once I fix this I'll check if the 9atom installation is broken
because it might be assuming it has some space in the next partition. I'll
let you know how it goes.

Post by Peter A. Cejchan
Yes, I can recommend Erik' s 9atom, too, it solved my problems with
installation onto a SATA-II HD some time ago...
Regards,
++pac

Post by erik quanstrom

Post by Deepak Chawla
Back to the Plan 9 install issue on native h/w.. does Plan 9 support

SATA

Post by Deepak Chawla
controllers? My VBox VM also needed the HDD to be on the IDE controller.

it does support ahci controllers. vbox causes problems for a lot of oses,
and that's probablly a bigger project.
i'm going to guess this is a power management issue. the ahci driver
was written before the standard, and thus has been a little slow in
catching up.
could you try downloading 9atom, which is quite close to the distribution
(http://ftp.quanstro.net/other/9atom.iso.bz2)? it has a few power
management wiggles that may fix your issue.
- erik