Date: Tue, 2 Apr 1996 09:22:23 -0800 From: nate@sneezy.sri.com (Nate Williams ) To: "Brett Glass" <Brett_Glass@ccgate.infoworld.com> Cc: Michael Smith <msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au>, hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Cannot boot after install Message-ID: <199604021722.JAA29670@sneezy> In-Reply-To: <9603018283.AA828378286@ccgate.infoworld.com> References: <9603018283.AA828378286@ccgate.infoworld.com>
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[ Been off the air on a business trip. Don't expect rapid replies as my email machine is 3000 miles away, and the lag is no fun. ] > > Note that there are some interesting comments in the ATA spec I was > > referring to regarding power-saving modes. Basically, the "lowest" a > > drive is allowed to go without an explicit command should still respond, > > as per normal, to commands, however response may be delayed by up to 30 > > seconds. If your drive is responding with an error condition (indicating > > that it's gone into 'sleep' mode), it is violating the spec. ... > However, FreeBSD literally locks up until it sees a response from > the drive. This is a problem with FreeBSD. It should not busy-wait in > the kernel, forsaking all other tasks, until it gets a response. This is, > after all, a multitasking OS! ;-) > > The kernel hack I did (turning off the power-saving mode) is appropriate > for desktop machines; in fact, for them, it's a good idea. But it's NOT > appropriate for laptops and other low-power applications. The kernel needs > to be fixed so that the drive *can* spin down without locking up the entire > machine. FWIW, the same problem occurs on my laptop occasionally when it goes into APM mode. Most of the time it'll come up fine, but occasionally it'll lockup tight and I have to power-cycle the box. This *is* a problem, but unless someone dives in (not me) and figures it out it will continue to to crop up in FreeBSD. Nate
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