Celejar wrote: > On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 13:00:11 -0400 > Dan Ritter <d...@randomstring.org> wrote: > > > Celejar wrote: > > > On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 11:15:40 -0400 > > > https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Flashing_BIOS_from_Linux#Using_a_FreeDOS-provided_Disk_Image_+_USB_stick_on_Linux > > > > > > and made a FreeDos installer USB stick and put DFT on it. It actually > > > runs (although it skips the opening menu that comes up when booting the > > > disk image itself (via PXE or the UBCD image)), but it fails to find > > > any disks on the system :(. I don't know if that's a problem with > > > the way I'm running it, or some problem with my system configuration > > > (UEFI / BIOS, etc.) I tried changing the SATA controller mode from RAID > > > to IDE, but it didn't help. > > > > A disk behind a weird SATA controller that sometimes thinks it's > > a RAID controller? That's going to be problematic. > > This is an HP Z440 workstation. I don't know much about these things, > but this is apparently standard HP design: > > https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02961221#AbT1 > http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04823811 (p. 108)
OK, it's an Intel FakeRaid. This will work optimally with Debian in AHCI mode. But I suspect that we now know why the DFT utility can't see it: because DOS can't see it, because DOS doesn't have any SATA support. The best that can be done is providing a virtualized interface, and that won't let you interrogate the disk. > > Let's go back to: what are you trying to accomplish? Do you have > > a new disk that you're trying to qualify in some way, or an old > > disk that may have failed and you want to send in for warranty > > replacement, or what? > > A "refurbished" HGST Ultrastar, almost certainly a server pull, > purchased on eBay. Originally, I just wanted to verify the health of > the disk, and to do so "by the book" (I can always just run badblocks > and call it a day), but now I'm intrigued, I suppose, by the > challenge ;/ I think you've come to the end of this road. Do run badblocks and check it out that way. And have smartctl run a long test. -dsr-
