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CDROM on SoundBlaster16 not recognized

Hi:
      I would appreciate very much if anybody could please give me a
hand with the setup. Linux can't detect the CD-ROM. My configuration
is:

Pentium MMX 200 MHz
100 Mb RAM
4 HD IDE (2Gb, 2Gb, .05Gb, 0.5Gb) --> on controllers #1 and #2
AHA PCI to SCSI interface + 3 HDs (1Gb, 1Gb, 2Gb).
SoundBlaster16 PnP w/standard IDE controller interface (I guess)
controlling a HITCHI-CDR-7930 CD-ROM.

In DOS, and Win95 the CD-ROM is viewed as a regular ATAPI? device.
Win95 uses the "standard" driver without problems. In DOS I use a
regular CD-ROM driver without problems.

The settings are:
SB16:
      address = 220h
      IRQ=5
      DMA (L)=1
      DMA(H)=5

      On board IDE controller IRQ=10

CD-ROM: address = 168h

I have tried feeding boot commands at boot time without any success.
If I try to install modules by autoprobing, the CD-ROM goes
undetected. If I try to install modules by hand, all of them but the
Generic CD-ROM Atapi fail. This one gives me a message of "insmod
cdrom succeeded" but the CD-ROM does not appear in my list of hardware
nor can I access it to proceed with the installation.

Could it be that Linux can only detect 2 IDE (EIDE) controllers max?
What if I install from the HDD and later on try to force Linux to
recognize the CD-ROM?

BTW I am using Caldera's Open Linux Base v1.1

      TIA
                  Peter

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jlms

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globus082597

ASKER

Hi, tx for your answer, but I don't think the problem is PnP related. You see, the on board IDE controller is standard (IRQ=10, address=168h), hence if I use a regular module or kernel with support for IDE controllers, and manually specifiy the settings, I should be able to see it, PnP or not. But I can't. Furthermore, since this happens at installation time, I can't even install because I can't access the CDROM. I don't know if the usage of isapnptools is viable during installation. As to regards to disabling PnP is not an option, because I run WinNT, OS/2 and Win95 on the same machine (too many changes!). I was thinking more in terms of somebody developing a CDROM module for a SoundBlaster w/regular IDE interface. Do you know if this is happening?
TIA
Peter

jlms

I am sorry, but if your Sound Blaster is Plug and Play you have to do as I told you. There is not native PnP support in Linux (yet). It can have a normal IDE CDROM interface and that will be detected, but first you need Linux to detect the Sound Blaster card.

I didn't think about the implication (you can not install Linux from the CD of course!), so make an Installation from your hard disk (I hope you have space), your README and how-to files should explain the procedure but basically it consists in copying the distribution directory to your hard disk to a DOS partition, then during the installation you say it is an installation from the hard disk. After you have Linux up and running then you have to try isapnp or similar tools for PnP to work.

I know, is not easy, I personally have two PnP cards and I made enough research and finally decide to get rid of the PnP capabilities of the cards, I run W95 also without problems.