(SOLVED) PCLOS not seeing SATA DVD writer

[besonian]

I'm running LXDE 2010 - right up to date - but I suspect this problem is not to do with the DE, hence putting it here.

I've just changed my motherboard and processor. I was running on an old Abit NF7 (SocketA) with 1gb DDR RAM, and an AMD Athlon Thunderbird 2400+ processor. I moved everything from that to a new Asrock AM2 etc. mobo with 1.5gb DDR2, a 64bit Sempron 3400+ processor. Everything works beautifully and significantly faster - which was the object. One problem is PCLOS does not see my SATA DVD writer. It's there in the BIOS, correctly identified. The lights come on on boot-up and the tray opens etc. But in the PCC>Local Disks there's no icon where you normally configure your CD/DVD. I remember reading something a while back about PCLOS not mounting optical drives by default. Is that at the root? And if so - or even if not so - can someone tell me how sort it out? It's particularly puzzling as I've just put a SATA DVD writer into another machine which PCLOS (same version) recognized immediately.

[Old-Polack]

I'm running LXDE 2010 - right up to date - but I suspect this problem is not to do with the DE, hence putting it here.

I've just changed my motherboard and processor. I was running on an old Abit NF7 (SocketA) with 1gb DDR RAM, and an AMD Athlon Thunderbird 2400+ processor. I moved everything from that to a new Asrock AM2 etc. mobo with 1.5gb DDR2, a 64bit Sempron 3400+ processor. Everything works beautifully and significantly faster - which was the object. One problem is PCLOS does not see my SATA DVD writer. It's there in the BIOS, correctly identified. The lights come on on boot-up and the tray opens etc. But in the PCC>Local Disks there's no icon where you normally configure your CD/DVD. I remember reading something a while back about PCLOS not mounting optical drives by default. Is that at the root? And if so - or even if not so - can someone tell me how sort it out? It's particularly puzzling as I've just put a SATA DVD writer into another machine which PCLOS (same version) recognized immediately.

The first item I would check is the cabling connected to the optical drive; both power and data. Then I would check to see what SATA controllers are present. I've had boards with two different controllers for different SATA connections, so needed two sets of modules loaded to see all the SATA devices. If all of your controllers are identical, whichever module is loaded to see the hard drives should also allow seeing the optical drive. However, if your hard drives are IDE/PATA, the module for that controller will be totally different from the one for the SATA optical drive, so you need to use modprobe to load the correct module for the SATA controller.

[besonian]

Thank you, OP for your customary good sense. The two hard drives are indeed IDE. I'll do as you suggest and report back. (I had already checked the cabling to the DVD)
 
And this may be worth mentioning. The machine boots the live CD via that device. In PCC>Local Disks the usual icon appears when running that way. I went into that, confirmed the mount point and that fstab should be appropriately modified. It all sounded like I'd cracked it. But reboot and boot again from the installed OS and still there's nothing despite the fact that fstab now contains the appropriate entry. But I guess, that might go to back up what you're saying.

[Old-Polack]

Thank you, OP for your customary good sense. The two hard drives are indeed IDE. I'll do as you suggest and report back. (I had already checked the cabling to the DVD)
 
And this may be worth mentioning. The machine boots the live CD via that device. In PCC>Local Disks the usual icon appears when running that way. I went into that, confirmed the mount point and that fstab should be appropriately modified. It all sounded like I'd cracked it. But reboot and boot again from the installed OS and still there's nothing despite the fact that fstab now contains the appropriate entry. But I guess, that might go to back up what you're saying.

From the liveCD, did you check to see which module was being used? It's at the bottom of the right hand pane, when the device is selected in the left pane. I do have my optical drives listed in my fstab, because I don't want them auto mounted. If you do wish them to be auto mounted by HAL, they should not be listed in your fstab. Either way, the correct module has to be loaded for the drive to be used.

[besonian]

OK - I've checked the module via the live CD - it's sata_nv
And sata_nv is in my modprobe -

install ide-controller /sbin/modprobe ide_generic; /bin/true
install usb-interface /sbin/modprobe ehci_hcd; /sbin/modprobe uhci_hcd; /sbin/modprobe ohci_hcd; /bin/true
install scsi_hostadapter /sbin/modprobe sata_nv; /sbin/modprobe pata_amd; /bin/true
alias eth1 forcedeth
alias pci:v000010DEd000003EFsv00001849sd000003EFbc06sc80i00 forcedeth

Where do I go from here OP?

[pmpatrick]

Check to make sure the module is actually loading by running in a terminal:

$ lsmod

You may want to post the output here.

[Old-Polack]

OK - I've checked the module via the live CD - it's sata_nv
And sata_nv is in my modprobe -

install ide-controller /sbin/modprobe ide_generic; /bin/true
install usb-interface /sbin/modprobe ehci_hcd; /sbin/modprobe uhci_hcd; /sbin/modprobe ohci_hcd; /bin/true
install scsi_hostadapter /sbin/modprobe sata_nv; /sbin/modprobe pata_amd; /bin/true
alias eth1 forcedeth
alias pci:v000010DEd000003EFsv00001849sd000003EFbc06sc80i00 forcedeth

Where do I go from here OP?

1. Did you leave the line in fstab?

2. What happens when you place a DVD disk in the tray?

3. Is the module shown in the results of; lsmod |grep nv

[besonian]

I've cracked it! I looked in lsmod - and I have to blow my own trumpet and way it was before I read your input, pmpatrick, thank you for that - and saw no mention of sata at all, although the pata module was listed. Thinking I'd little to lose apart from my own sanity, I then added 'sata_nv' to modprobe.preload in the hope of forcing it. I rebooted and eureka - there was the optical device in PCC>Hardware and PCC>Local disks. I checked lsmod once again and now the module is entered there. And it plays DVD's. Thank you OP for telling me what to look for. But I'm still interested as to why that module wasn't in lsmod. It should have been, surely? And as it wasn't, is there, could there be something rocky about this install?

But thank you, guys for your help.

[Old-Polack]

I've cracked it! I looked in lsmod - and I have to blow my own trumpet and way it was before I read your input, pmpatrick, thank you for that - and saw no mention of sata at all, although the pata module was listed. Thinking I'd little to lose apart from my own sanity, I then added 'sata_nv' to modprobe.preload in the hope of forcing it. I rebooted and eureka - there was the optical device in PCC>Hardware and PCC>Local disks. I checked lsmod once again and now the module is entered there. And it plays DVD's. Thank you OP for telling me what to look for. But I'm still interested as to why that module wasn't in lsmod. It should have been, surely? And as it wasn't, is there, could there be something rocky about this install?

But thank you, guys for your help.

Nothing wrong, and you did just what you should have done. The module should have been loaded with the modprobe.conf entry, but sometimes it helps to have the line in modprobe.preload also, as it then loads at the very beginning of the boot process. Now that you have both entries, you should have no further problems with the drive being seen on any future boot ups.

Ya done did good! 

[besonian]

OP - I take that as a compliment!! Thank you.