installing 5.4 on RAID1 using Promise TX2200

[Stefan Foulis]

I just got an Promise TX2200 "RAID" Controller and 2x250GB SATA  
Drives for my new webserver.
As soon as I define a raid of some sort, the installation cd just  
reboots the system. I think that happens at the stage where the  
kernel should be loaded.

I've used the TX2000 with IDE drives before. There I had similar  
problems. I learned that the BIOS on the controller should not be  
used to define the array.
What I did back then:
  - do not define the array with the Controller BIOS
  - boot from the install cd, start the live-filesystem
  - use atacontrol to define the array
  - install freebsd to the new ar0 device (I'm not sure anymore if  
that device just turned up or I had to reboot first)
  - everything works fine

This doesn't seem to work with the TX2200 anymore. I can define the  
mirror from the live-filesystem, but the ar0 device does not turn up.  
Once I try boot from the installation cd again, I end up in the  
endless reboot cycle.

The default FreeBSD kernel can handle the controller though. If  
install freebsd on a seperate harddisk, there are no problems  
utilizing the mirrored disks with atacontrol. The system boots  
normally. I can format and mount the filesystem, recover from  
removing one of the disks etc.

Does the installation CD use a different kernel than a default system?

I tried installing using /stand/systinstall (after booting the other  
installation on the seperate hd). But I could not get it to install  
correctly. It would just overwrite the existing installation...

Any pointers?

- Stefan