diff -u -r linux-2.5.44-ac3/drivers/ide/setup-pci.c linux-2.5.44-ac3-idefix/drivers/ide/setup-pci.c
--- linux-2.5.44-ac3/drivers/ide/setup-pci.c	2002-10-18 23:01:49.000000000 -0500
+++ linux-2.5.44-ac3-idefix/drivers/ide/setup-pci.c	2002-10-25 10:54:30.000000000 -0500
@@ -472,6 +472,16 @@
 		hwif->mate = mate;
 		mate->mate = hwif;
 	}
+        else if(port){
+               // if mate is NULL and port is 1
+               // then we have a secondary without a primary
+               // which can happen on some bioses
+               // to avoid a null exception later in the code
+               // we populate mate with itself.
+               // Worst case is it says the controller is already 
+               // initialized later.
+               hwif->mate = hwif;
+        }
 	return hwif;
 }