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1997-04-19
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Slackware FAQ, last revised: 14 May 1996
These are questions people ask me quite often. Hopefully now that they're
answered here that won't be the case. :^)
-----
Q: After installation, my ethernet, CDROM drive, and/or other hardware that I
thought Linux supported doesn't work. Why?
A: Probably because the kernel you're running doesn't contain the support.
To fix the problem, you'll have to install a kernel that does. There might
a suitable kernel in the /kernels directory on the CDROM, or you can compile
a custom kernel for your machine. This isn't too difficult -- see the
instructions below about compiling a new kernel.
You can also try loading the device driver in the form of a kernel module.
There are drivers for nearly all the hardware supported by Linux in the
/modules directory on the CDROM, or in your /lib/modules directory if you've
installed the modules.tgz package. Take a look at your /etc/rc.d/rc.modules
file for examples of how to load these.
-----
Q: Why can't Linux install on my EIDE hard drive?
A: If you are using any of the various "Disk Manager" programs included with
many EIDE drives, you won't be able to use the drive for Linux until you
remove it. These programs are a hack to let DOS use more than 512MB, and
render the drive unusable for any other OS. (Not just Linux... even OS/2
has trouble with these)
The usual method for fixing the problem is to back up everything on the
drive, wipe the boot record (FDISK /MBR), reformat, and then reinstall
everything.
NOTE: Some of the newer 1.3.x kernels claim to be able to work around some
of these programs, so you might want to give one of those a try to see if
they work.
-----
Q: When I installed Slackware, the system could see my CD-ROM just fine. But,
when I try to boot using LILO or the bootdisk the system doesn't find the
CD-ROM drive anymore! How can I fix this?
A: The problem is probably that you used a bootkernel disk with support for your
CD-ROM drive, but didn't install a kernel with support.
If you're ready to try compiling a kernel, you can easily solve this problem
by compiling a custom kernel (see the section about compiling a Linux kernel)
or, you can load the CDROM driver in the form of a kernel module. You can
do this by editing the /etc/rc.d/rc.modules file to load the module for your
CDROM drive the next time you boot.
Here's the section of the file that loads CDROM drive modules:
# These modules add CD-ROM drive support. Most of these drivers will probe
# for the I/O address and IRQ of the drive automatically if the parameters
# to configure them are omitted. Typically the I/O address will be specified
# in hexadecimal, e.g.: cm206=0x300,11
#
#/sbin/modprobe aztcd aztcd=<I/O address>
#/sbin/modprobe cdu31a cdu31a_port=<I/O address> cdu31a_irq=<interrupt>
#/sbin/modprobe cm206 cm206=<I/O address>,<IRQ>
#/sbin/modprobe gscd gscd=<I/O address>
#/sbin/modprobe mcd mcd=<I/O address>,<IRQ>
#/sbin/modprobe mcdx mcdx=<I/O address>,<IRQ>
#/sbin/modprobe optcd optcd=<I/O address>
# Below, this last number is "1" for SoundBlaster Pro, or "0" for a clone.
#/sbin/modprobe sbpcd sbpcd=<I/O address>,1
#/sbin/modprobe sonycd535 sonycd535=<I/O address>
#/sbin/modprobe sjcd sjcd=<I/O address>
To use one of these, edit out the '#' in front of the line for your CDROM
drive. If you know the I/O address and/or IRQ for your board, fill it in on
the line. For example, you might change the sbpcd line to look like this if
you've got a SoundBlaster CDROM at 0x300:
/sbin/modprobe sbpcd sbpcd=0x300,1
If you need to access your CDROM drive so that you can get the modules
package installed, use the same bootkernel disk you installed the system
with to get into your machine. Use a command like this on the LILO prompt,
but replace the root device name with the one you used on your machine:
mount root=/dev/hda1
Once you're logged in, install the modules package:
installpkg /cdrom/slakware/a*/modules.tgz
-----
Q: Why isn't my Sony CDU-31/33a detected by Linux anymore? It used to work!
A: From the source code:
+ * WARNING - All autoprobes have been removed from the driver.
+ * You MUST configure the CDU31A via a LILO config
+ * at boot time or in lilo.conf. I have the
+ * following in my lilo.conf:
+ *
+ * append="cdu31a=0x1f88,0,PAS"
+ *
+ * The first number is the I/O base address of the
+ * card. The second is the interrupt (0 means none).
+ * The third should be "PAS" if on a Pro-Audio
+ * spectrum, or nothing if on something else.
You can also use this option with Loadlin:
C:\LOADLIN\LOADLIN C:\LINUX\VMLINUZ root=/dev/hda1 cdu31a=0x1f88,0,PAS
Or, on the bootkernel LILO: prompt. Examples:
LILO: ramdisk cdu31a=0x1f88,0,PAS
LILO: mount root=/dev/sda1 cdu31a=0x1f88,0,PAS ro
-----
Q: I can't get the kernel to see a CDROM connected to a Soundblaster 16 IDE!
A: First, be sure you're using the proper kernel -- the one needed in this
case is the IDE/ATAPI CDROM type, not the SBPCD type. Then, if you still
have problems, use the secondary IDE channel (IRQ 15 0x170), and make sure
the drive is set as master (jumper in the back) and not as slave (a common
default).
-----
Q: I can't get the disks made by RAWRITE to boot!
A: First, check that you're using the right size image. If you use an image
meant for a 1.44 MB floppy on a 1.2 MB floppy (or vice-versa) you'll likely
see the message "LI" and the boot process will hang.
Another possibility is a BIOS problem -- a user has reported to me that
RAWRITE fails on his machine unless he first does "dir a:" on an MS-DOS
floppy. Apparently this is caused by the BIOS improperly initializing
address 0000:0526 (number of sectors) to 11h instead of 12h. Using "dir"
on the device fixes that value. The affected machine in this case was using
"Mr. BIOS" from Unicore Software.
-----
Q: I was able to install fine, but the installed system won't boot!
A: Slackware uses stripped down kernels to do the actual installation -- in
other words, the kernels don't have any more drivers than needed to control
only the device needed to complete the installation. The kernels that are
installed to the system are more full featured, with more ethernet, mouse,
filesystem, and other drivers. Sometimes this can lead to hangs at boot
time when the kernel misidentifies an piece of hardware that's unusual or
at a non-standard port/IRQ.
When this happens, you need to try a different kernel. First, use the
bootdisk that worked during installation to get your system started. To
do this, boot the disk and enter something like this at the LILO prompt:
mount root=/dev/sda2
(if /dev/sda2 is your root Linux partition, otherwise use the appropriate
device name for your system)
Once you've got the system running, install or compile a different kernel.
Try to include only the device drivers you need for your hardware.
Instructions on compiling the kernel can be found in your kernel source
directory (if you installed the kernel source, that is). The kernel
source is usually found in /usr/src/linux.
Briefly, this is the method for building a new kernel:
cd /usr/src/linux
make config (then answer the questions about what you need)
make dep ; make clean ; make zImage
If the zImage is successfully built, see an answer below which explains
how to install it with LILO or Loadlin, or make a new bootdisk from it.
Once you've done that, you might want to clean up /usr/src/linux by cd'ing
into it and doing another 'make clean'.
Good luck! If you can handle this, you're well on your way to becoming a
Linux guru.
-----
Q: Why do I get "network unreachable" under Slackware?
A: There are a couple of possibilities. For most users, things work right out
of the box. However, if you're running into this problem here are two
workarounds you can try: