karmic alpha6 alternate: Failure to detect Via VT6420 SATA controller

Bug Description

Karmic alpha6 alternate CD does not see my VT6420 SATA controller.

This is on an Asus A7V880 board with a Via KT880 chipset. Sitting on the VT6420 controller is a WDC WD1600JD-00G 150GB SATA drive.

Everything else seems to be detected just fine and the controller and attached disk is also detected on a Jaunty alternate CD but not with Karmic.

~# cat /proc/version*
Linux version 2.6.31-10-generic (buildd@palmer) (gcc version 4.4.1 (Ubuntu 4.4.1-4ubuntu1) ) #34-Ubuntu SMP Wed Sep 16 00:23:19 UTC 2009
Ubuntu 2.6.31-10.34-generic
~#

lspci -vvnn says:

00:0f.0 RAID bus controller [0104]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VIA VT6420 SATA RAID Controller [1106:3149] (rev 80)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:80ed]
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 64
Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 10
Region 0: I/O ports at efa0 [size=8]
Region 1: I/O ports at ef9c [size=4]
Region 2: I/O ports at ef90 [size=8]
Region 3: I/O ports at ef98 [size=4]
Region 4: I/O ports at ef80 [size=16]
Region 5: I/O ports at e800 [size=256]
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

dmesg on the Karmic alternate CD does not see any SATA:

makholm@collusion:/media/stuff$ grep ata dmesg.karmic
[ 0.708340] pata_via .&checktime(0000,00,0,':')f.1: version 0.3.4
[ 0.708383] pata_via .&checktime(0000,00,0,':')f.1: PCI INT A -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 20
[ 0.708617] scsi0 : pata_via
[ 0.708836] scsi1 : pata_via
[ 0.711375] ata1: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x1f0 ctl 0x3f6 bmdma 0xfc00 irq 14
[ 0.711379] ata2: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x170 ctl 0x376 bmdma 0xfc08 irq 15
[ 0.889503] ata1.00: ATAPI: _NEC DVD_RW ND-3500AG, 2.16, max UDMA/33
[ 0.889745] ata1.01: ATA-5: IC35L080AVVA07-0, VA4OA50K, max UDMA/100
[ 0.889748] ata1.01: 160836480 sectors, multi 16: LBA
[ 0.904320] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33
[ 0.928435] ata1.01: configured for UDMA/100
[ 1.104574] ata2.00: ATA-7: Maxtor 5A320J0, RAMB1TV0, max UDMA/133
[ 1.104577] ata2.00: 632672208 sectors, multi 16: LBA48
[ 1.104828] ata2.01: ATA-7: Maxtor 5A320J0, RAM51VV0, max UDMA/133
[ 1.104832] ata2.01: 632672208 sectors, multi 16: LBA48
[ 1.120419] ata2.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 1.136399] ata2.01: configured for UDMA/133
[ 1.173114] Write protecting the kernel read-only data: 1828k
makholm@collusion:/media/stuff$

Where as the Jaunty installer does:

makholm@collusion:/media/stuff$ grep ata dmesg.jaunty
1.231253] sata_via .&checktime(0000,00,0,':')f.0: PCI INT B -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 20
[ 1.231318] sata_via .&checktime(0000,00,0,':')f.0: routed to hard irq line 10
[ 1.231458] scsi0 : sata_via
[ 1.231578] scsi1 : sata_via
[ 1.231618] ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xefa0 ctl 0xef9c bmdma 0xef80 irq 20
[ 1.231621] ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xef90 ctl 0xef98 bmdma 0xef88 irq 20
[ 1.432019] ata1: SATA link down 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
[ 1.644008] ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
[ 1.809678] ata2.00: ATA-6: WDC WD1600JD-00GBB0, 02.05D02, max UDMA/100
[ 1.809681] ata2.00: 312581808 sectors, multi 16: LBA48
[ 1.809692] ata2.00: applying bridge limits
[ 1.825665] ata2.00: configured for UDMA/100
[ 1.862780] pata_via .&checktime(0000,00,0,':')f.1: version 0.3.3
[ 1.862794] pata_via .&checktime(0000,00,0,':')f.1: PCI INT A -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 20
[ 1.863014] scsi2 : pata_via
[ 1.863083] scsi3 : pata_via
[ 1.865514] ata3: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x1f0 ctl 0x3f6 bmdma 0xfc00 irq 14
[ 1.865517] ata4: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x170 ctl 0x376 bmdma 0xfc08 irq 15
[ 2.044915] ata3.00: ATAPI: _NEC DVD_RW ND-3500AG, 2.16, max UDMA/33
[ 2.045151] ata3.01: ATA-5: IC35L080AVVA07-0, VA4OA50K, max UDMA/100
[ 2.045154] ata3.01: 160836480 sectors, multi 16: LBA
[ 2.060348] ata3.00: configured for UDMA/33
[ 2.084429] ata3.01: configured for UDMA/100
[ 2.256542] ata4.00: ATA-7: Maxtor 5A320J0, RAMB1TV0, max UDMA/133
[ 2.256545] ata4.00: 632672208 sectors, multi 16: LBA48
[ 2.256793] ata4.01: ATA-7: Maxtor 5A320J0, RAM51VV0, max UDMA/133
[ 2.256795] ata4.01: 632672208 sectors, multi 16: LBA48
[ 2.272397] ata4.00: configured for UDMA/133
[ 2.288407] ata4.01: configured for UDMA/133
[ 2.353610] Write protecting the kernel read-only data: 1532k
makholm@collusion:/media/stuff$

Forgot to mention that booting with all_generic_ide=1 does not help.

same problem here with karmic alpha6 server i386 cd;
cannot install karmic because it doesn't recognize the SATA controller (so it doesn't recognize disks)
The problem does not show in karmic alpha6 livecd: if I select "Run ubuntu without any changes to the disks" it loads the sata_via module, so the controller and disks are recognized.

Sorry if we didn't use the "ubuntu-bug" command, but it's not usable from server/alternate cd.

This bug prevent users to install from server/alternate cd.

obviously sata_via is not in the list of modules that the installer asks you to select when it alerts you that it can't find any hard drive, and it's not loadable with modprobe sata_via.
my controller is a VT6420 not a VT6420A, but the driver is the same.
Later I will try the server daily build, but I think nothing would change.

I added debian-installer because I think it could be a misconfiguration of the server/alternate installer (which does not include or does not load the sata_via module).
I'm not sure if it's related to the kernel (linux) because the problem does not appear using the alpha6 livecd (which should have the same kernel version).

same issue with current daily build (22 september 2009).

Just to confirm; Karmic Live CD works for me too.

Looks like sata_via was built into the kernel for Jaunty but enabled as a module for Karmic. One fix would be to set CONFIG_SATA_VIA=y in Karmic like it was in Jaunty or alternatively add sata_via to the ubuntu-karmic/debian.master/d-i/modules/sata-modules file. This should be resolved with a patch to the kernel. Closing the debian-installer task and marking linux task as Triaged. Thanks!

working around the problem (loading sata_via.ko from an external drive) I succeeded to install.
It then worked because sata_via.ko is present in version 2.6.31-10-generic or 2.6.31-11-generic by default, but not in 2.6.31-9 included in the installer (at least in the alternate/server one).
to work around if you have a working karmic install, just copy sata_via.ko from /lib/modules/2.6.31-10-generic/kernel/drivers/ata and copy it to a disk. Then, when the installer asks you to select the driver, press "ctrl+alt+F2", activate the command line and copy the driver from the external media to the local /lib/modules/*/kernel/drivers/ata.
then press ctrl+alt+F1 to switch back to the installer, press esc and repeat the find disks step.
If you don't have a working karmic install, use the file attached in the following post.

http://kernel.ubuntu.com/git?p=ubuntu/ubuntu-karmic.git;a=commit;h=d678fee33e91c17e2f663fbb1bce8bdc5eee6657

This bug was fixed in the package linux - 2.6.31-11.38

---------------
linux (2.6.31-11.38) karmic; urgency=low

[ Stefan Bader ]

* [Upstream] acerhdf: Limit modalias matching to supported boards
- LP: #435958

[ Tim Gardner ]

* [Config] Added sata_via to d-i/modules/sata-modules
- LP: #434827
* SAUCE: (drop after 2.6.31) Disable iwl-1000 series wireless adapters
- LP: #439285
* [Upstream] i915: Fix i2c init message
- LP: #409361
* [Config] Add sym53c8xx.ko to virtual sub-flavour
- LP: #439415

[ Upstream Kernel Changes ]

* sched: Disable NEW_FAIR_SLEEPERS for now
- LP: #436342

* ACPI video: ignore buggy _BQC
* ACPI video: work-around BIOS AML bug in _BQC
- LP: #428910
* ALSA: hda - Added quirk to enable sound on Toshiba NB200
- LP: #438318

-- Tim Gardner <email address hidden> 2009年10月01日 13:52:09 -0600

I hit this bug while installing on a ASRock 4coredual-vsta motherboard (http://www.asrock.com/MB/overview.asp?Model=4CoreDual-VSTA).

I was using the Karmic beta CD currently on Ubuntu.com. Since sata_via is so widely used, please add this to the "known issues" so it's easier for others to know what to do.

In my case, I used the same ISO to install Karmic on a virtual machine (using virtual box), then copied the sata_via.ko module to the proper place on the installer (as suggested above in the comments for this bug report).