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Date:      Thu, 3 May 2001 13:57:17 +1000 (EST)
From:      "Aaron Hill" <fbsdlist@futureuse.net>
To:        bill@carracing.com
Cc:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: ida0: soft error ?
Message-ID:  <57746.203.11.225.5.988862237.squirrel@www.futureuse.net>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0105131302280.82290-100000@mail.carracing.com>
References:  <Pine.BSF.4.21.0105131302280.82290-100000@mail.carracing.com>

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> Hello,

Hello.


> I have a copmpaq 2500 with a smart-2/p array controller and 5 9gig
> drives.

I've got an older Compaq but also with the SMART-2/P. I've currently got a 
dead drive in that machine and so I'm also seeing numerous soft errors.

 today the controller reported that one of the drives had
> an 'iminent failure' that was going to happen to one of them. I
> replaced that drive with another drive that has not previously given
> problems, and since installing it, I get tons of ida0: soft error. from
> what I did see in the archives, a soft error appears to be when the
> controller tries to write to the disk and is unsuccessful the first
> time, but a 2nd try works. Is this the case? if so, is it due to the
> new drive rebuilding and does that error go away after the rebuilding
> process?

As I understand it you get a soft error when your system makes a request of 
the drive array and to fulfill the request the adapter has to use the RAID 
function instead of reading directly from disk. So you get an error, but 
calling it a soft error means that something is wrong but the array is 
still functioning.

The soft errors will go away after the array has been rebuilt onto the new 
disk.


> If it doesnt go away after the rebuilding process, where do I
> look to diagnose the problem?

Do you have a Compaq SmartStart CD? If so boot off that and running the 
Array Diagnostic Utility.

However when you reboot the server you will probably be told by the array 
adapter at initialisation that array X needs to be rebuilt. If you choose 
the Automatic Recovery option that it presents you can happily boot back 
into FreeBSD and the OS will run while the array is rebuilt - albeit with 
some soft errors.


Aaron Hill




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