From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jul 27 02:32:42 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CB99D16A41A for ; Fri, 27 Jul 2007 02:32:42 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bkc@dreamfire.com) Received: from dreamfire.com (dreamfire.com [192.220.72.206]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 97E5E13C45A for ; Fri, 27 Jul 2007 02:32:42 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bkc@dreamfire.com) Received: (qmail 26085 invoked by uid 18638); 27 Jul 2007 02:32:42 -0000 Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 19:32:42 -0700 From: Bruce Caruthers To: FreeBSD Questions Message-ID: <20070726193242.A6883@dreamfire.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5.1i Subject: ICH8R and SATA drives at boot X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Bruce Caruthers List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2007 02:32:42 -0000 After much googling and poring through the Intel site, I'm stumped, so I hope you don't mind my asking here, even though it is technically not a FreeBSD question, since this is before it even gets to the loader... My system: * Intel DG965WH mobo * Pentium 4 (631, HT, EM64T) 3GHz * FreeBSD 6.2R/amd64 (w/Marvell patch) * Kingston KVR800D2N5K2/2G RAM (2x1GB) * ICH8R wRAID5 (only using RAID-1) * Intel Matrix Storage Manager option ROM v.6.1.0.1002 * 4x Hitachi Deskstar 320GB HDT725032VLA360 SATA300 -- set up as 2 pairs of RAID-1 * Pioneer DVR-109 DVD+/-RW During boot, it takes about one minute for every drive I have attached to the SATA ports before I get the listing of detected drives and RAID arrays ("Press Ctrl-I to ..."). When I had 2 drives, it took 2 minutes, when I added an additional 2, it became 4 minutes. And it seems precisely one minute per drive, which leads me to believe it is some sort of query timeout. (Reminds me a lot of an unterminated SCSI chain.) I have tried disabling all other potential boot devices (optical, network, USB, removables, etc.) in case the BIOS was probing for them, but the timing remained the same. All cables are solid to the tug, and it all works fine in FreeBSD, so far (no errors in the logs or to console, although it hasn't really been stressed yet). Is this normal? I'm thinking it isn't, since I cannot seem to find anyone complaining about it on any message boards. Or is this kind of startup time considered normal nowadays? 4+ minutes of hardware booting, followed by 25 seconds of FreeBSD booting seems ridiculous... Thanks for any advice or pointers! -bkc