Very Computer

Hello,

I just installed RedHat 5.2 on a 686, and aside from having to upgrade
Xfree86 so it would recognize my graphics card, I've had no problems :
CDROM, ZIPdrive, dual-boot with W98, fine, right out of the box... except
for the floppy!

During installation, it boots from the floppy, but after that, my linux
won't mount the floppy. I get this :

# mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
mount : the kernel does not recognize /dev/fd0 as a block device
               (maybe 'insmod driver'?)

It doesn't work any better when I force a filesystem, and it refuses to
format the disk. In fact, anything to do with fd0 results in the same error
message (anything I've thought to try, anyway...)

It works fine in W98, though...

I'm having great fun configuring my linux, but this particular problem has
me stumped! And most information sources I've found (LDP, docs, man pages)
tend to assume your floppy drive works...

I hope someone out there can spare the time to give me a few pointers.
Thanks in advance,

Matt

Good for you.  Did you recompile your kernel?  My guess is you've left
out something like "CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD".  If you didn't, try 'modprobe
floppy' as root.  If it is module for some reason, you probably don't
want it to be so you may want to recompile and stick it in the
kernel.  If you do want it as a module, make sure there's a line like
'alias block-major-2  floppy' in /etc/conf.modules or
/etc/modules.conf (I can't recall which one Redhat uses).
-ckm

Thanks for the answer, Chris.

Unfortunately, it's the straight install from RedHat 5.2... no floppy
modules, but floppy should be linked into the kernel, right?

I'm getting error messages in the boot sequence, regarding the floppy. I
will proceed to apply all the published RedHat upgrades for 5.2, and I'll
repost with those error messages if they don't go away!

I assume FDC compatibility problems would be reported in the motherboard
section of the hardware-compatibility docs?

Again, thanks.

--
Matt

Many thanks to people on comp.os.linux.* for their help!
Here is a solution :
With RedHat 5.2 straight out of the box, mounting floppy gave :
  mount : the kernel does not recognize /dev/fd0 as a block device
           (maybe 'insmod driver'?)
As many suggested, I checked if floppy was a module, which was not the
case.
I then checked dmesg and found the following :
  Floppy drives : fd0 is 1.44M
  reset set in interrupt, calling 001700bc
  floppy0: no floppy controllers found
(ouch :( )
Finaly, I did what I should have done before bothering everybody with my
problems : I installed the recommended upgrades from RedHat.
In fact, just upgrading the kernel from 2.0.36.0.7 to 2.0.36.3, changed the
lines in dmesg to :
  Floppy drives : fd0 is a 1.44M
  FDC is a post-1991 82077
And now the floppy drive works!
For future reference (I'll send this info the RedHat, too) the motherboard
is an Abit BH6, and the FDC, as far as I can tell, sits on a Winbond
W83977TF (definitely post-1991, anyway! :) )
In conclusion, the only installation problems I've had were graphics card
and FDC, and both seem to stem from the hardware being newer than the
distrib I'm using, and freely available upgrades on the RedHat site quickly
and efficiently solved both problems.
I'm sold on the Linux!
Thanks and see you all soon when I do something dumb again!
--
Matt

Quote:> Hello,

> I just installed RedHat 5.2 on a 686, and aside from having to upgrade
> Xfree86 so it would recognize my graphics card, I've had no problems :
> CDROM, ZIPdrive, dual-boot with W98, fine, right out of the box... except
> for the floppy!

> During installation, it boots from the floppy, but after that, my linux
> won't mount the floppy. I get this :

> # mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
> mount : the kernel does not recognize /dev/fd0 as a block device
>                (maybe 'insmod driver'?)

> It doesn't work any better when I force a filesystem, and it refuses to
> format the disk. In fact, anything to do with fd0 results in the same
error
> message (anything I've thought to try, anyway...)

> It works fine in W98, though...

> I'm having great fun configuring my linux, but this particular problem
has
> me stumped! And most information sources I've found (LDP, docs, man
pages)
> tend to assume your floppy drive works...

> I hope someone out there can spare the time to give me a few pointers.
> Thanks in advance,

> Matt