Problem Installing RHEL 4 U4 AS x86_64 on Precision 490 with SATA RAID 1

[Barry Allard]

Hi,

We're trying to install RHEL 4 Update 4 AS x86_64 on a Precision 490 with
factory-configured RAID 1 SATA drives.  Both drives show up individually
instead of a single device.  The system was factory configured for RAID 1
(mirroring) and we haven't messed with it.  We extracted the two floppy
images and ran the installer with "linux dd".  Upon feeding it driver disks,
the installer complains each time that no supported hardware was detected
and presents an option to choose a driver manually.  We selected the Intel
AHCI and Intel PIIX drivers manually, but this didn't help.  Are we missing
something?

BIOS: A04
Method: Local CD-ROM
Drivers Downloaded: R131526
  intel-sata-rhel4-multiarch-3b.tar.gz
    623,495 bytes
    MD5: a26269f390430cc80063e851851824f7

    ahci-1.00c-rhel4-G-multiarch-dd.img
      Date: 07/19/2005  12:40 PM
      Size: 1,474,560
      MD5: 1c06d6957121c7d6d01df3c14e444bca
  
    ata_piix-1.02c-rhel4-G-multiarch-dd.img
      Date: 08/02/2006  02:19 PM
      Size: 1,474,560 
      MD5: f108769bfe71bde7cb3f956732c78aa7

Barry Allard
Systems Administrator
Stanford Medical Informatics (SMI)


---- ORDERED CONFIG FROM DELL WEBSITE ---- 

System Type: Dell Precision WorkStation 490 
Ship Date: 4/18/2007 
Dell IBU: Americas 
 Quantity Parts # Part Description
1  DH261  CARD (CIRCUIT), GRAPHICS, 128, NVS, 285, ULGA7
1  CJ339  MOUSE, UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS, 2BTN, WHEEL, LEAD FREE, OPTICAL,
BLACK
2  GM431  DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE, 2G, 667M, 256X72, 8, 240, 2RX4
1  JW796  KIT, SOFTWARE, OVERPACK, VU64, DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE,
ENGLAND/ENGLISH
0  149DF  INFORMATION, PREPARATION MATERIAL, DEVIATION, PRECISION
WORKSTATION, INCREASE, #2
1  5120P  CORD, POWER, 125V, 6FT, SPT2, UNSHIELDED
1  DC593  INSTRUCTION, DEVIATE CHAS L6 TO L5+
1  XJ004  PROCESSOR, 80556K, XEON WOODCREST, 5150, LGA771, BURN 2
1  YN885  ASSEMBLY, DVD+/-RW, 16X, IDE (INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS), PBDS,
BLACK
1  DJ425  KEYBOARD, 104, UNITED STATES, UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS, MULTI-MEDIA,
LITEON, BLACK
1  GR447  HARD DRIVE, 160GB, S2, 10K, 16M, BRP, WD-ODY
1  GR447  HARD DRIVE, 160GB, S2, 10K, 16M, BRP, WD-ODY 


-- ORDERED CONFIG FROM QUOTE --- 

Base Unit:  Dell Precision 490 Mini-Tower Dual Core Xeon Proc 5150 2.66GHz,
4MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz (222-3787)
 
Memory:  4GB, DDR2 ECC SDRAM Memory 667MHz, 2X2GB, Dell Precision 490/690,
Factory Install (311-6397)
 
Keyboard:  USB Enhanced Multimedia English Keyboard, Dell Precision
Workstation (310-7950)
 
Monitor:  Monitor Option-None (320-3316)
 
Video Card:  128MB PCIe x16 nVidia,Quadro NVS 285,dual DVI or VGA Graphics
Card, Dell Precision X90 (320-4761)
 
Hard Drive:  160GB Serial ATA, 10K RPM HardDrive with 16MB DataBurst Cache,
Precision 380 (341-3682)
 
Hard Drive Controller:  C4- All SATA Hard Drives, RAID1 for 2 Hard Drives,
Dell Precision 690 (341-3433)
 
Floppy Disk Drive:  No Floppy Drive, Dell Precision 490 (341-3429)
 
Operating System:  Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate x64 Edition, English
with Media, Dell Precision Workstation (420-6657)
 
Mouse:  Dell USB 2-Button Optical Mouse with Scroll for Dell Precision
(310-7958)
 
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM Drive:  16X DVD+/-RW Roxio Digital Creator Dell Edition
for VistaUltimate,Dell Precision X90 (313-4935)
 
Sound Card:  No 1394a or Sound Card selected, Dell Precision 490 (313-4164)
 
Additional Storage Products:  160GB Serial ATA,10K RPM Addl Hard Drive with
16MB DataBurstCache,Dell Precision 490/690 (341-3686)