[ltp] Redhat 8.0 install on X60s -- hard drive invisible

[tim prince]

Adrian Walker wrote:
> Hi All --
>
> Apologies up front for what may be a naive question.
>
> I have a Thinkpad X60s, and it runs Vista.  (Not entirely 
> satisfactory, but that's a Microsoft story)
>
> I have removed the Vista hard drive, and replaced it with a new 
> internal drive that is identical, but presumably blank, or minimally 
> formatted.
>
> Now, I'm trying to install RedHat 8.0 Linux from CDs, using a USB 
> external CD drive.
>
> The first few screens are OK, but then the install process stops, 
> saying that it cannot find the hard drive.
>
> Some older versions of RedHat yield similar errors.
>
> Advice and pointers much appreciated!
>
It's hardly surprising that such an old distro has problems.  It's even 
possible that the drive controller is a type that wasn't supported so 
long ago (since you don't say).  SuSE 9.3 (which I'm running now) is the 
oldest distro which works with current BIOS on T40.  9.1 (no wireless) 
and 9.2 worked with the original BIOS.  I'd be running SuSE 10.2 or 10.3 
if they worked as well, even on my old TP.   If I had an X60, I'd try 
64-bit linux.  I've heard that X60 is difficult to work with, but 
running an obsolete distro isn't the way to solve the problem.  I like 
RH7.4/8 for my old 32-bit P4, but I'd never try it on recent hardware.  
RH4.4 is the oldest RH I would run on 64-bit capable hardware.  Current 
hardware is supported better by RH5.

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