HD LED permanently on
Jo Hallel
now remains permanently on. The only time that it does behave "normally"
is if I cause the CDROM to fail. Previous advice (thanks Hal) suggested
that there may be CD applets running, but I see no evidence of this.
(Trivial, but important, as it was the first thing a mate commented on
when showing him Linux. If I can get this sorted, I may be able to
convince him to load Linux himself).
Any answers?
Thanks
Jo
David Efflandt
Are they properly jumpered as 'master' and 'slave'. Maybe the hd is
jumpered as 'single' instead of 'master' or the cdrom is 'master' instead
of 'slave'.
--
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Jo Hallel
Thanks for the reply. I've checked (the jumber settings), and the HD is
master on the primary IDE port and the CDROM is slave on the secondary.
One piece of info that may be relevant - it a CD-RW (Smart and friendly
4424A). Would this make a difference?
Jo
David Efflandt
I assume you are discussing a drive on each cable and not both drives on
the same cable.
If these are the only 2 drives you have, then the hd on the 1st IDE
channel should be jumpered as single (which may or may not be same as
master). And the CDROM on the 2nd IDE port should also be jumbered as
single or master. What drive is your cdrom now, hdc or hdd?
Master or slave refer to each IDE channel and I don't think you can have a
slave without a master (which may be your problem). This is probably why
your drive light is on all the time unless you crash your cdrom.
Jo Hallel
Thanks for the reply (again). The Quick Installation guide that came
with the device indicated that the optimum configuration on most systems
was to have the device alone as Slave on the secondary IDE port (which
it is). This works under windows. I will try (at some point) making the
device. I'll reply to myself to keep the Newsgroup informed.
Jo
Jo Hallel
>
> In windows my HD LED behaves normally. However in Linux (SuSE 6.4) it
> now remains permanently on. The only time that it does behave "normally"
> is if I cause the CDROM to fail. Previous advice (thanks Hal) suggested
> that there may be CD applets running, but I see no evidence of this.
>
> (Trivial, but important, as it was the first thing a mate commented on
> when showing him Linux. If I can get this sorted, I may be able to
> convince him to load Linux himself).
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Jo
Thanks to all who have replied regarding this problem. My HD LED is now
working properly.
It would seem that the CD-ROM does need to be Master on the second IDE
port rather than Slave. (Achieved by moving the jumper on the CD drive).
I originally discounted this as a possibility, given that Smart and
Friendly (the manufacturers) state categorically that "The optimum
configuration for the CD.SpeedWriter RW on most systems is alone as
Slave on the Secondary IDE port". This is clearly not correct for Linux.
(Incidentally, it still works OK under windows, both reading and
writing. I haven't yet tried writing under Linux).
Other issues (that may trap the unwary). Clearly, when changing from
Slave to Master on the Secondary IDE port, the Device needs to be linked
to /dev/hdc (rather than /dev/hdd). This can be done with SuSE using
YaST (which presumably just changes the link from /dev/cdrom). This
allows the CD to be mounted. However, to get YaST to recognise it (on
loading, rather than having to select installation medium), one will
also need to amend /etc/install.inf (hdd to hdc).
Thanks to those who suggested that software running and continually
trying to access either the CD to the HD might be a contributory factor,
in my case this can certainly be discounted. But it might be worth
considering for others where the above solution does not seem to work.
Jo