Intel sw raid signature not found?

["Jane Liu" <janliu@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I'm trying to test the isw extension using ICH5-R SATA controllers. I have tried both RAID 0 and RAID 1, and so far haven't been able to discover any BIOS-configured arrays. From my debug prints it looks like the metadata handler couldn't find the config signature. I calculated the number of sectors and superblock offset by hand, and they seem to be correct. I also dumped the disk content at that offset, and it's all null characters. So now I'm wondering if:

- I'm using an unsupported controller
- I'm using unsupported BIOS 
- the metadata handler is looking in the wrong place
- well, something else is wrong

Here's some details on my setup:
dmraid-1.0.0-rc2
Asus P4P800 mobo, ICH5-R controller hub
SuSE 9.1 upgraded to 2.6.7 kernel with 2.6.7-udm1 patches
device-mapper.1.00.19

Below is the output from running "dmraid -v -ay"(with some debug prints). I have a RAID 1 set up across /dev/sda and /dev/sdb.

Failed to find sysfs mount point
Carrying on with /dev/
checking for iswraid at /dev/sdb
checking signature:
total sectors: 0x000000000950e4c1
isw_sboffset: 0x00000012a1c97e00
looking for: Intel Raid ISM Cfg Sig. 
found: 
----
checking for iswraid at /dev/sda
checking signature:
total sectors: 0x000000000950e4c1
isw_sboffset: 0x00000012a1c97e00
looking for: Intel Raid ISM Cfg Sig. 
found: 
----
checking for iswraid at /dev/hda
checking signature:
total sectors: 0x0000000003effc10
isw_sboffset: 0x00000007dff81c00
looking for: Intel Raid ISM Cfg Sig. 
found: ÃÃÃâÃQtÂÃÂâÃÂW]5mÂqOÃ7Â~S}ÃÃDvn@âcÃs ÂÃA8 ÃfyÃ0
ÃÃyÃNân5ÃÂMâÃÃÃw ÂÂkx"ÃÃ{tÂ
ÃÃGe!Å`1ÃÂÃ~ÅmÃCÃ-h@ÃÃ5ÃfJÂhÂÃâ uYÃÃÃw~tÃâÃÃÃ2ÃnÃ?Ã4
	Ââ)ggÃpRTqKÃÃTÃÃÂqÃÃâÂÃÂÂÂ6@ÅÂÃ9Ã_Â7ÂÅÃÃ@MÅÂeÂÂÆ2ÅmÂR VÂÂ'âd|5)ÃÃ#vËÂââÂ^e0Â8ÅDB+ÃâÃ#ÂâOHÃ46IÃÃGV1
(ÅÅÂâ`YÃ>ÃÃÃM,U(HÃÃTâÂ]ÃyÃÃ?u
Ã+âÃÃââNM_!
C`gÃ.eAÂÃfX
----
No Software RAID disks

I also dumped out contents of /dev/sda at various places, and saw some strings containing "Raid ISM" between offset 21110000 and 21120000. They didn't exactly match the signature string, tho.

All replies most appreciated. Please let me know if more info is needed.

Thanks,
Jane