[PLUG] IDE Driver problem

[lbrigman at fcpa.fujitsu.com]

I'm having a problem with IDE drivers but it seems to be partly due to the
way
I need to use them.

I need to boot my system without an IDE drive attached.  I plan on testing
an IDE drive
under program control.  An operator will attach a drive to the system and
through a UI, start
the proper test.  We have power control working and this test method works
for SCSI and Fibre
Channel devices.  Access to IDE drives work correctly provided the drive is
attached and powered
up when the linux kernel boots.

When loading the IDE driver manually from modprobe or insmod
it does not scan for connect drives.
The IDE driver load does scan the PCI and identifies the card
and seems setup for supporting the proper devices but no IDE scans.

The hdparm tool fails as it cannot stat any of the devices that show
registered in
dmesg output when the driver is loaded.

Two other problems that also need to be solved.  Once I get a IDE drive
connected
and registered; at the end of the test I need to removed it and connect
another device.
When I do manage to get the first drive running, changing to the next drive
always crashes
the system.

The hdparm tool seems to be the way to do this but when no IDE drives
register then
the /dev/hdx device is unavailable.

Thanks for anyone's time that is able to help me on this.
----
Larry Brigman
Fujitsu Computer Products of America
503.693.2051 lbrigman at fcpa.fujitsu.com
Coins 87-7935-2051