From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Aug 13 16:45:26 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1540B37B401 for ; Wed, 13 Aug 2003 16:45:26 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mail.kungfoohampster.com (71.152.171.66.subscriber.vzavenue.net [66.171.152.71]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 4EDFA43FA3 for ; Wed, 13 Aug 2003 16:45:25 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from freebsd@kungfoohampster.com) Received: (qmail 90742 invoked by uid 80); 13 Aug 2003 23:46:10 -0000 Received: from 192.168.1.254 ([192.168.1.254]) by tools.kungfoohampster.com (IMP) with HTTP for ; Wed, 13 Aug 2003 18:46:10 -0500 Message-ID: <1060818370.3f3acdc2abf6b@tools.kungfoohampster.com> Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 18:46:10 -0500 From: "Kung Foo Ham[p]?ster" To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 3.2.1 / FreeBSD-4.8 X-Originating-IP: 192.168.1.254 Subject: Re: Adaptec 2400A update X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 23:45:26 -0000 Jason Sopko was kind enough to send me this information in regards to my Adaptec 2400A issue... (this is being posted with his permission, of course) -Adam ----- Forwarded message from Jason Sopko ----- Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 17:38:44 -0400 From: Jason Sopko Subject: Re: Adaptec 2400A update To: I saw your posting on the FreeBSD Questions list here: http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions/2003-July/014524.html I might have a solution for you. I had a very similar problem happening to me, and I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. This sounds absurd, but the problem could be your hard disks. I worked with Adaptec to diagnose the problem, and eventually pinpointed the problem to be the Western Digital disks that I was using (there is now a Knowledge Base article on Adaptec's site because of this). I noticed by the serial numbers of your disks (output of raidutil) that you're also using Western Digital disks. Western Digital decided that it would be a good idea to implement new technology into their ATA disks to reduce noise (without telling anyone of couse). The side effect of this new technology is that it breaks compatibility with ATA RAID controllers, including the Adaptec 2400A. If you go to this URL: http://support.wdc.com/kb.asp and select 'Search Our Knowledgebase' and then search by 'Answer ID' for '913' you'll find the following: IMPORTANT: Information for customers using a RAID configuration. Question: Why do EIDE drives disappear from the IDE RAID array or system after a short period of error-free operation? Affected drives: - WD drives with capacities between 40GB & 120GB - WD drives between 120GB and 200GB capacity with manufacturing date codes earlier than 3/25/03 Answer: Problem: WD EIDE drives are dropped from an IDE RAID array or system after several days or weeks of error-free operation. Solution: The problem is a result of a feature that reduces idle acoustic noise in desktop drives. This feature may cause a timeout likely (though not exclusively) in an IDE RAID environment. To disable the feature, you can run a simple Western Digital utility to turn off a single bit in the drive?s run-time configuration. Disabling of this feature will NOT impact normal system operations. No firmware or hardware changes are required. - IDE Upgrade Utility (Non-3Ware controller cards) For all configurations other than 3Ware controller cards, download the IDE Upgrade Utility for the Desktop PC. You'll find the same thing on Adaptec's Knowledge Base in Answer ID '8888'. I've found that it affected my 60GB Western Digital ATA disks. Unfortunately, their 'fix' did not work, but replacing the disks with 60GB IBM (Hitachi) ones did solve the problem. Personally, I'll never buy another Western Digital product again. I hope you find a solution to your problem, good luck. ///Jason ----- End forwarded message -----