Linux SATA Drivers for Compaq 6710 Laptop

[John Collier]

Well, now I have learned something new. I was mistakenly under the impression that all SATA hardware would be mutually compatible.

This is one of the reasons that I LOVE these forums!

Thanks for clarifying that for me Stuart.

[Menelaos Maglis]

I have successfully installed Debian 4.0r0 (Etch) on a 6710b model with no problem with SATA.

$lspci reveals:
SATA controller: Intel Corporation Mobile SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03)

I have problems with suspend to ram (to disk works fine) and the video driver. A new xserver-xorg-video-intel package is available in unstable and it does work (may have issues). This is meant to be a business laptop for me, so Debian unstable is not a preferred choice.

I will soon try SLED-10-SP1-x86_64 to verify HP's claims that is "certified". A claim that I could not find anywhere on novell site...

Fedora Core 7 and Ubuntu-7.04 did not manage even to install on this laptop.

My overall experience with the laptop is that it is far from Linux capable.

[sledgeas]

I would totaly not agree on that:
Ubuntu Feisty 7.04: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/HP6710b

Gentoo 2007.0: http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_HP_Compaq_6710b

Foresight 1.3 is also running on my HP 6710b

[ultiPOS]

HP also claims to support SuSe.

HP Technical Support is like a stuck grammophone, insisting that HP does not support Linux - amazing.

Well, if several distros will run on the 6710b, then is there "anyone" or "someone" out there who can modify, adapt, tweak, tune, alter, convert, make over, modify, redo, refashion or tailor an existing supported driver so that Red Hat will work?

Clive

[noldi]

Hi,

I'm also thinking about getting this notebook but need to be sure that Fedora 7 "can be
made to work in reasonable time" (especially the Disk driver).

Do I understand this correctly: when running
it in EIDE Compatibility-Mode, it should work
anyway with the PATA-Drivers? - Also: if it
runs on SuSe, it should not be too hard to
run on F7 . .

I'm writing this on an nx7010 with FC 4 on
it happily for years now and never had a
problem with it (except that it is not meeting my expectations anymore;-).

Even without HP support supporting it . .

[Gene Campbell]

I'm considering getting a HP 6710b. X3100 graphics, Intel 965GM Express Chipset.

This thread is worrying me a bit. I have years of experience with Gentoo and other distros. I don't mind tinkering a bit, because the price is right for this T7500 WSXGA+ machine. But, I want a generally feeling I will have a working machine in the end.

Do what's the latest? Did you get your SATA controller sorted? What about the suspend?

[ultiPOS]

Hi there
On August 14 thread....

1) Could not get Fedora 7 to work. Fedora gets to the point of recognising that it has encountered a "foreign" HDD controller and asks you to choose the appropriate driver. None of the available listed drivers will recognise the drive controller.

2) EIDE - not sure how to switch the HP to this mode - have not tried it.

Red Hat just hangs at the HDD detection stage. Fedora has given the most intelligent 'feedback' so far.


On August 16 Thread.....
1) The HP 6710 seems an OK machine. Good price/performance combination. I upgraded to a 160Gb and kept the 80Gb with Vista for when I need to test business apps that become certified for Vista.

2) I have basically given up with Linux on this HP. I may need to resort to my old trusty Toshiba and carry 2 x laptops around ;-((

3) Have not got SATA to work at all. Unable to comment on suspend for either video or HDD. Once the SATA issue is overcome, the next one will be the video and LAN drivers and suspend/resume. Based on the demand for drivers for this machine, this may all prove to hard (or what?)

Clive (ultiPOS)

[Gene Campbell]

Might be getting a loaner to play with. I'll report back.

[noldi]

Hi all,

after changing a BIOS Setting
(F10 -> System Configuration -> Device Configurations -> SATA Native Mode) to "Disable", I could install Fedora 7 without any further issues.

It is using the "ata_piix" driver for SATA Disks.

Now I have to get rid of the very noisy fan somehow . . .

Best Regards,

Arnold

[Gene Campbell]

That's great news!

But, too late for me. I went with a Dell.