Bug#1035101: Failed to detect HD if Intel RST-RAID is active

[Cyril Brulebois]

Hallo Thomas,

and thanks for your report.

Thomas Viehweger <patchesT...@web.de> (2023-04-29):
> Detect hard drives: [E]
>
> The Hard disk was not detected because Intel RST was configured in
> RAID mode.
>
> Tried Ubuntu 23.04 installer which gives the correct hint.
>
> After configuring Intel RST to AHCI mode, the harddisk was detected
> and installation was successful.
>
> It would be nice if this installer could check the RST mode, too.

Apparently we have that option enabled in the regular linux package:

debian/config/kernelarch-x86/config:CONFIG_INTEL_RST=m

but the relevant module isn't shipped in any udebs:

/lib/modules/<ABI>/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/intel/intel-rst.ko

Would you be willing to test an unofficial amd64 netinst image that
would ship that extra module, to see if the installer (1) sees the disk
and (2) can do something with it?

(Also putting the kernel team in the loop.)


Tschüss,
--
Cyril Brulebois (ki...@debian.org) <https://debamax.com/>
D-I release manager -- Release team member -- Freelance Consultant

[Thomas Viehweger]

> Apparently we have that option enabled in the regular linux package:
>
> debian/config/kernelarch-x86/config:CONFIG_INTEL_RST=m
>
> but the relevant module isn't shipped in any udebs:
>
> /lib/modules/<ABI>/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/intel/intel-rst.ko
>
> Would you be willing to test an unofficial amd64 netinst image that
> would ship that extra module, to see if the installer (1) sees the disk
> and (2) can do something with it?

Hi,

I am able to do one test...

[Cyril Brulebois]

Hi,

Thomas Viehweger <patchesT...@web.de> (2023-04-29):

> I am able to do one test...

OK, great!

I've just rebuilt an amd64 netinst image, bundling the extra module inside
(/lib/modules/6.1.0-7-amd64/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/intel/intel-rst.ko)
and I've verified that this module loads fine in a VM.

Whether that works and actually makes the disk visible is for you to report!
(Bonus points if the disk can actually be used, but I realize you might not
want to reinstall entirely, and only check whether the disk detection is
working…)

I've uploaded the test image here, it will go away after 15 days to avoid
hogging disk space on that shared machine:
https://people.debian.org/~kibi/bug-1035101/


Cheers,

[Thomas Viehweger]

>
> OK, great!
>
> I've just rebuilt an amd64 netinst image, bundling the extra module inside
> (/lib/modules/6.1.0-7-amd64/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/intel/intel-rst.ko)
> and I've verified that this module loads fine in a VM.
>

Hi,

I made an installation test, but no change. In the shell of the installer lsmod does not list intel-rst as loaded.

I think that there is more necessary than just providing the module. Don't know what the Ubuntu installer does.
At least a hint in the installation guide would be nice to switch off the RST RAID mode in the BIOS if the HDD is not detected.

[Cyril Brulebois]

Control: clone -1 -2
Control: retitle -2 installation-guide: investigate adding some hint about Intel RST-RAID
Control: reassign -2 installation-guide

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for testing.

Thomas Viehweger <patchesT...@web.de> (2023-05-02):

> I made an installation test, but no change. In the shell of the
> installer lsmod does not list intel-rst as loaded.

Have you tried a manual modprobe, just in case?

> I think that there is more necessary than just providing the module.
> Don't know what the Ubuntu installer does.
> At least a hint in the installation guide would be nice to switch off
> the RST RAID mode in the BIOS if the HDD is not detected.

Having no affected hardware, I thought the module addition could maybe
help a little, and thought it'd be easy to check, hence the suggestion.
Hardware visibility (or lack thereof) from the operating system is some
extremely unpleasant business…

I'm cloning this bug report against the installation guide so that it
can be augmented with some information about this. Let's keep the
original report against installation-reports; someone willing to work
on that can reassign to the most relevant component once that's been
determined.