Kevin Lombardo wrote:

>hello-
>
>i am installing FC4 on a Dell Precision 450. this machine contains a
>(Promise) FastTrak S150 TX2 SATA RAID controller. i have the drives
>set up as RAID 0.
>
>running the FC4 install goes fine, and i specify to install grub on
>mbr on /dev/sda which is the array. however, when rebooting, grub
>doesn't even start.
>
>i made a grub boot disk and booted to the command shell, and it seems
>that the hdd's aren't listed, so i am assuming grub can't see them. i
>typed in root( and then hit tab and no drives were available.
>
>i'm not sure why, because the bios should be loaded. if i install
>another OS on the array, it will boot from the array.
>
>is this just a grub issue, or can i not have my kernel on a SATA RAID
>controller? will another linux bootloader work?
>  
>
This thead:  
http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/2004-February/013178.html 
seems to indicate that Promise RAID controllers aren't true hardware 
RAID and need a software driver (in the form of a kernel module) in 
order to be used under Linux.  grub doesn't have support for non-"true 
hardware" RAID devices, afaik.

-- jeremy