I have a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 running an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
processor. My IDE  controller is unsupported by pre 2.6.18rc4 Linux
kernels. I would like to use Debian on here. My question is this:
Since the Debian-Installer uses a kernel that cannot detect my cd-rom
drives, how am I supposed to install it? Once installed, I will have
no problem updating my kernel to one that supports my drives, I just
can't seem to get it installed.

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Request for Question Clarification by maniac-ga on 01 Sep 2006 18:03 PDT

Hello Ted_roddy,

Hmm. I found
  http://www.epinions.com/pr-MB_GIGABYTE_GA-8IPE1000G_ATX_RET_Motherboard/display_~reviews
which is a review at Epinions that indicates that the user there was
able to bring up Debian Sarge on his system. Unfortunately, that
review doesn't indicate how they got the system set up.

Separately, I found some other references indicating problems with
Debian and that motherboard / IDE combination (unfortunately, mostly
in Spanish) without any apparent solution.

Can you describe which Debian version you are using and the problems
you are seeing on your system?

As an alternative, it may be possible to bring your system up with
Knoppix (a debian based "live cd"). See
  http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html
for more information and a CD image to download and try out.

Thanks
  --Maniac

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Clarification of Question by ted_roddy-ga on 03 Sep 2006 01:37 PDT

That is not my motherboard, my motherboard is a GA-965P-DS3. Kernel
2.6.18rc4 added support for my IDE controller, making it possible to
see my cd-rom drive. I had planned on using a Debian Etch beta 3
installer, which uses a 2.6 kernel, but it is pre-2.6.18rc4, so it
cannot see my cd-rom drive. The current Knoppix disc uses a 2.6.17
kernel, and will not boot because it cannot detect my CD.

I hadn't though of it yet, but all I need is a way to install Debian
without using a CD. Once installed, I can update my kernel to add
support for my IDE controller. I have looked into installing from a
USB stick, which seems to be the answer.

Here are some links:

http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.i386/apas02.html#howto-getting-images-usb
http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.i386/ch04s04.html
http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.i386/ch05s01.html#usb-boot

Another solution I've found is to get a Gentoo LiveCD that uses
2.6.18rc4, which I would have to create myself, and install Debian
with debootstrap. But that is entirely too much trouble, so I'm hoping
the USB stick idea works.

- Ted Roddy

There are lots of ways to install Debian without cd-rom.
http://www.debian.org/releases/woody/i386/ch-rescue-boot.en.html#s-install-drive
You can try install Debian by hard driver or net install....