Dell Server error and solution

Posted by Vivek Gite [Last updated: February 27, 2007]

An anonymous frustrated reader asks:

Why am I getting a 'no floppy controllers found' error message - /var/log/messages file on my RedHat (RHEL) HP BL20P Blade server ? Log attached:

…
Feb 27 05:14:01 oradb9 kernel: Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
Feb 27 05:14:27 oradb9 kernel: floppy0: no floppy controllers found
…

First of all this problem is not specific to any server vendor. This message will be displayed on any system connected without a diskette / floppy drive

All you need to do is blacklist / disable floppy driver or module.

Debian / Ubuntu Linux user

Add your driver /block device to /etc/modprobe.d/aliases file.
# vi /etc/modprobe.d/aliases
Add following line
alias block-major-2 off
Or comment out line
# alias block-major-2

Reboot the system.

Redhat enterprise Linux user (RHEL)/CentOS/Fedora Core Linux user

Open /etc/modules.conf file
# vi /etc/modules.conf
Append following line to file:
alias block-major-2 off

Save close the file. My complete file looks as follows:

alias eth0 tg3
alias eth1 tg3
alias scsi_hostadapter sata_svw
alias usb-controller ehci-hcd
alias usb-controller1 ohci-hcd
alias block-major-2 off

Now rebuild the initial ramdisk:
# mkinitrd -f -v /boot/ initrd-2.6.9-42.0.8.ELsmp.img 2.6.9-42.0.8.ELsmp

Reboot the server.

This is the only way to disable floppy drive, AFIK.

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