Applies to: Zorp 3.1

Issue

When upgrading an existing Zorp system to 3.1, certain Intel ICH controllers may not recognize SATA hard disks correctly. These controllers use different PCI ID, depending on their BIOS settings. As a result, the operating system sees the hard disk is visible either as an IDE or a SCSI disk (depending on the BIOS settings).

Solution

Manually correct all references to the hard disks and partitions in the system files and regenerate the initrd. The required steps are detailed below.

1. Modify the mode of operation of the controller in the BIOS to the one that recognizes the hard disk so that the system can boot.
2. Modify all references to the disks and partitions to reflect the correct operation mode of the disk. This has to be performed in the following system files:
   • /etc/fstab
   • /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf (if RAID is used)
   • the configuration file of the bootloader (/boot/grub/menu.lst or /etc/lilo.conf)
3. Regenerate the initrd by completing the following steps:
   • Set the following options in the /etc/mkinitrd/mkinitrd.conf file:
     • BUSYBOX=yes DELAY=5
   • Append the ata_piix module to the /etc/mkinitrd/modules file to ensure that it is included in the initrd.
   • Install the busybox package (apt-get install busybox)
   • Issue the following command: mkinitrd -o /boot/initrd.img-kernelversion kernelversion'
   • Verify that the /boot/initrd.img-kernelversion file has been created.
   • Re-run the bootloader if needed (e.g.: execute /sbin/lilo if lilo is used)
   • Reboot the machine and correct the settings of the controller in the BIOS.