On Thu, 4 Mar 2010 15:58:02 -0500 (EST), David Goodenough wrote: > I found Host Protected Area on Google, and it said I could turn it off > using hdparm, but when I try it says:- > > hdparm -N /dev/hda > > /dev/hda: > The running kernel lacks CONFIG_IDE_TASK_IOCTL support for this device. > READ_NATIVE_MAX_ADDRESS_EXT failed: Invalid argument > > Do we need another option turned on in the kernel?
Make sure you really know what you're doing if you disable detection of a system-protected area. If it really is a system-protected area, it's protected for a reason, and you ought not to let Linux use it. I'm thinking way back to the IBM PS/2 model 9577 that I used to have. This machine has a microchannel bus. It had a "system partition" on the (SCSI) hard disk that contained what used to be on the "reference diskette" and "advanced diagnostic diskette" on older PS/2 models. It contained things such as the advanced BIOS routines (BIOS routines designed to be called from protected mode -- intended for use by OS/2), the BIOS setup program, microchannel configuration utilities, diagnostic and testing routines, etc. If you wipe that out, the machine cannot boot *anything* EXCEPT a valid reference diskette -- a diskette containing what the system partition should contain. I had to backup the system partition to diskettes (using IBM's internal backup utility) prior to upgrading to a bigger hard disk, then boot the reference diskette just created and re-create the system partition on the new hard disk after installing it. If I didn't follow that special procedure, my machine was a brick. Things are done differently now, of course, but the point is "don't mess with a system protected area unless you really know what you are doing". Maybe this is something else, but be sure first. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/637009979.16829621267737634756.javamail.r...@md01.wow.synacor.com
