Right, I tried flashing the BIOS, as suggested, and /still/ can't enable SMART

[D.A.M. Revok]

on the Promise U100 controller without blowing the system - terminally.

I give up.

According to what I can figure-out from the programmers' comments, it 
/isn't possible/ to correct that with the Promise chip, because of some 
peculiarity they engineered-in,... BUT...

When the motherboard's BIOS initializes the chip I /can/ enable SMART, 
but then...

I can't boot without having my boot-system on /dev/hde, rather than 
/dev/hda...

Fuck it.

I /think/ that if the BIOS can initialize the Promise chip, that it is 
(theoretically) possible for the kernel to initialize the chip to 
function correctly, but if Promise /won't allow/ paid-for chips to 
function in a way that gives us the reliability-system we paid-for, then 
the simplest solution is:

1. note it in the config helpfile ( Promise-controller-section ) to NEVER 
cat /proc/ide/hde/identify
smartctl -e
smartctl -a
hdparm -I ( capital i )
&c.
unless the Promise-BIOS is enabled in the motherboard's BIOS settings ( 
this will reduce systems trashed due-to-ignorance in linux )

2. cease buying Promise chip-based systems for reliable-systems running 
linux, until they decide that customers are good, IF they decide 
customers are good...

3. maybe see what the mobos BIOS does and see if the kernel-driver could 
do that to get SMART to be useable on these chips irregardless ( 
love-that-word ) of the BIOS's settings

Thanks for helping me understand, and as Jeff Dunteman says...

   Keep on hacking

      -me

-- 
http://www.drawright.com/
 - "The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" ( Betty Edwards, 
check "Theory", "Gallery", and "Exercises" )
http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/iep/seven_habits.html
 - "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" ( this site is same 
principles as Covey's book )
http://www.eiconsortium.org/research/ei_theory_performance.htm
 - "Working With Emotional Intelligence" ( Goleman: this link is 
/revised/ theory, "Working. . . " is practical )
http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadershop/1978-5.html
 - Corps Business: The 30 /Management Principles/ of the U.S. Marines ( 
David Freedman )