Linux crashed

[WireChief]

Well, you had me concerned enough about using the newer ATA/66 capable ribbon cable, so I decided to ask Western Digital's Technical support if this new type of cable would cause any problems with the older drive and they assured me that it would not, so guess it shouldn't really hurt to use it. But you definetely raised concerns on it and you are not the only one who has made that suggestion, a friend of mine said he heard on TechTV that it was not a good idea to use the newer cable,, so just how much truth there is to it causing problems, well I guess its user choice and let the best cable win..thanks for your suggestion.

[JimH]

Hi,

Interesting, what the tech told you about using the ATA66 cable with the old drive. I repair and build systems part-time and have seen this cause problems myself when users have installed them on non-ATA66 hard drives. If it isn't causing you any problems then you must be alright with your hardware. As much variety as there is in the hardware available now it probably only effects certain configurations.

[paradox]

Haha, when I built my best friends computer, NT at the time didn't support ATA-66 without pre-loaded drivers. I of course didn't know this at first and couldn't install NT, we called Western Digital and they said it was NT, and Microsoft tech told me it was the ATA-66...well then I called Western Digital back and they said that MS was full of bullshite(as much as I appreciated hearing that) I went ahead and swapped the cables and viola! So I don't put much worth into what WD techs say....I dont' put much worth into what most techs say...I swear some companies pick up random people off the street and say, want to be a phone tech?

Aragorn

[WireChief]

Upon further reflection on Western Digitals reply, how could I expect them not to say its ok, arent they the ones that started the ATA/66 spec and probabably are responsible for that newer cable? how foolish of me. First chance I get Im gonna replace the cable, then I can feel satisfied it is not contributing to my intermittent crash problems. I went back to the root login screen and didnt crash so I have to think that fundamentally my system is ok.

[paradox]

I doubt that your system is messed up, your not really doing anything that will get you in trouble. I'd say it hit a bad sector or something like that...and it gave you a spook...I am sure it is fine...Although....I'd still set up Lilo, GRUB, or whatever bootloader you want....better than a floppy!

Aragorn

[johnqpublic]

I tend to agree with Aragorn.Believe your system is ok.Maybe you should reinstall but this time put Lilo in your MBR to get away from booting with floppies.Do make a boot disk or two just in case you need them!With SuSE you will get ATA-66 after you enable it in; KDE Control Center->Yast2 Modules->Hardware->System Tuning,mark and save then reboot and your done.

[JimH]

I thought he was using a 2.2 kernel? Does SUSE include the ATA66 patch in their 2.2 kernels?

[johnqpublic]

If I understood correctly Wirechief has SuSE7.1 in which case you can use 2.4.0 or 2.2.18 kernel or both.I may be wrong in what distro he is using though.

[WireChief]

I am using Suse Linux 7.1 with kernal 2.2.18 it is installed on a ATA33 4gig WD hard drive, Windows is installed on the ATA66 13 gig.. I am getting the yellow (!) on the windows drive.