Debian 5 (kernel 2.6.18) cannot boot from Supermicro X9SRL_intel c600 series chipset sata ahci controller-优快云博客

本文链接：https://blog.youkuaiyun.com/kevin_ut/article/details/17151799

本文详细解释了如何解决使用Supermicro X9SRL服务器和C600/X79系列芯片组6-Port SATA AHCI控制器时，Linux 2.6.18内核无法从服务器正常启动的问题。原因在于内核版本过旧，不支持该控制器。提供了一个工作绕过方案：通过SATA-USB电缆连接硬盘，让2.6.18内核能够检测到根文件系统所在位置。

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Environment: Supermicro X9SRL server, which uses C600/X79 series chipset 6-Port SATA AHCI Controller

Linux OS to boot: Debian 5.10 (kernel 2.6.18)

Error message: ALERT! It could not find the /dev/sda1 Kernel panic. ..

Reason:

I found the reason why native linux kernel 2.6.18 cannot boot from the server. The error message said that "It could not find the /dev/sda1". This is because the SATA/AHCI driver in 2.6.18 kernel is outdated. Our Supermicro server is using the C600/X79 series chipset 6-Port SATA AHCI Controller (dev id: 1d02). According to http://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/SATA_AHCI.html, linux kernel include a built-in ahci driver for this type of controller starting from version 2.6.19. But unfortunately 2.6.18 misses its chance.

I tried to hack into the 2.6.18 ahci driver source code. What I did was compared the ahci.c file between 2.6.19 and 2.6.18. However, there was a dramatic change in driver design right after 2.6.18. The ahci driver implementation seems very different between these two versions. Backporting the ahci driver to 2.6.18 is just too painful.

A Workaround:

Try to connect the hard drive through a SATA-USB cable. 2.6.18 kernel has a built-in USB driver, so it can detect the drive where the root file system is in.

UPDATE on Aug 24, 2014:

Or you can have another SAS/SATA controller card which has open-source driver. Then you build its driver into the 2.6.18 kernel.

Forward reference: http://blog.youkuaiyun.com/kevin_ut/article/details/38799629