Comment 85 for bug 228302

Igor, Andy &others,

I've done some investigation and found that it's not necessary to build ata_generic.ko as a module. From the kernel-parameters.txt documentation I noticed it says the following:

"Module parameters for modules that are built into the kernel image
are specified on the kernel command line with the module name plus
'.' plus parameter name, with '=' and value if appropriate [...]"

Therefore, the parameter we should use is: ata_generic.all_generic_ide=1

So, this is how to get it working:
1. Add "blacklist pata_ali" to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
2. Run "sudo update-initramfs -u"
3. Add "ata_generic.all_generic_ide=1" to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX line in /etc/default/grub
4. Run "sudo update-grub"
5. Reboot (preferably using the recovery option so that you can see the verbose boot information).

WARNING: the above instructions may render your system unbootable (as it did for myself). If that happens, you will need to boot from a live CD, chroot into your installation and undo the blacklisting of the pata_ali module. If you're not comfortable with this risk, then don't follow the steps above.

Unfortunately, this still doesn't solve the problem for me, as the ata_generic driver refuses to work with my hard drive (spewing DMA errors). If I can find some way to make the kernel assign the pata_ali to ATA port 1 (my hard disk) and ata_generic to ATA port 2 (CD-ROM), perhaps that would work. If anyone has suggestions, let me know.

[1] http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt