From owner-freebsd-questions Wed Dec 30 20:28:01 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id UAA17235 for freebsd-questions-outgoing; Wed, 30 Dec 1998 20:28:01 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from Kitten.mcs.com (Kitten.mcs.com [192.160.127.90]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id UAA17218 for ; Wed, 30 Dec 1998 20:27:57 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from font@Jupiter.mcs.net) Received: from Jupiter.mcs.net (font@Jupiter.mcs.net [192.160.127.88]) by Kitten.mcs.com (8.8.7/8.8.2) with ESMTP id WAA05095 for ; Wed, 30 Dec 1998 22:27:38 -0600 (CST) Received: from localhost (font@localhost) by Jupiter.mcs.net (8.8.7/8.8.2) with SMTP id WAA25995 for ; Wed, 30 Dec 1998 22:27:37 -0600 (CST) Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 22:27:37 -0600 (CST) From: Font To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Another "wd0: interrupt timeout" message data point Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG I've been getting the popular interrupt timeout messages, a la Dec 30 21:39:04 kibbeh /kernel: wd0: interrupt timeout: Dec 30 21:39:04 kibbeh /kernel: wd0: status 52 error 0 Dec 30 21:39:35 kibbeh /kernel: wd0: interrupt timeout: Dec 30 21:39:35 kibbeh /kernel: wd0: status 52 error 1 which many people have seen. Apparently it's often the case that this happens when, after a period of inactivity, a machine with APM or other power management has spun down the disk, and activity causes the disk to be spun up again. But this isn't the case all the time, or so I read; this is one of those other cases. So, I have what might be a new data point to add. The interrupt timeouts happen when my computer is active, and APM is completely disabled, but only after I have been playing with SoundBlaster 16 bit audio. The machine is an IBM Intellistation Pro M model 6898-22U, a 333 MHz Pentium II. The on-board Crystal audio is disabled and a SoundBlaster AWE32 is installed with (what I believe to be) the default correct PNP settings, and the 2.2.8-RELEASE-based kernel is recompiled to reflect this. I have the port for amp compiled, which I use to play the occasional mp3 from the command line. During play of the mp3, frequent pauses (every minute or three) will result, and the first two times the pauses occur, the disk activity light is on, the rest of the machine pauses, then the interrupt timeout error message results. After the first two times, the interrupt timeout error may not result (but sometimes does), but the pauses still occur. The mp3 file is stored on the local disk. Sometimes, after these timeouts occur, I will be unable to perform a "df" command (even as root), and the system will not shut down properly afterwards. If, while playing the mp3 file, I continuously generate disk activity (for instance, a du -s from root, with all sources installed), the interrupt timeouts and pauses seem to occur much less often (but they still do occur). The disk drive is a Seagate ST36530A, which according to the web site, may have Ultra DMA problems. I don't know much about UDMA, and the IBM BIOS doesn't really say anything directly about UDMA, only something about read-ahead on/off and "Standard" or "High Performance" mode for the disk (not the controller). I've tried all four combinations of these settings and there seems to have been no difference in the pauses. When not playing mp3's at all, the system seems very stable. I'm thinking my next move may be to buy the OpenSound drivers and use the on-board Crystal audio, and see if there is an improvement. I don't think the pauses are occurring under Windows 95 (no Myth II Demo for FreeBSD yet), but I am not certain, plus Windows doesn't provide any diagnostic messages. I'd try it more under Windows, but the machine is busy running more important tasks... Anyway, that's my data point, and hopefully someone can use this information, or, if it enables anyone to help me to bypass the problems (so I can play mp3s again, my newfound joy at work; I was going to try to rip my whole Buzzcocks collection), I thank you in advance. dw A bug in my MUA causes news.announce.newusers font to be sent to beneficiaries and senders of UCE/SPAM. @ mcs.net Wishes are like dishes. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message