From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Dec 14 22:36:58 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C1BEA106566B; Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:36:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from amvandemore@gmail.com) Received: from mail-pz0-f185.google.com (mail-pz0-f185.google.com [209.85.222.185]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8AE9A8FC08; Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:36:58 +0000 (UTC) Received: by pzk15 with SMTP id 15so2528979pzk.3 for ; Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:36:58 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:in-reply-to:references :date:message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type; bh=FWBpyhN5xXb0Ol2/XMCfOmvBTle/6DKhPcBTa1kc3kQ=; b=eeIiYizGj3SzguHkGDIWgafHzMF5vaz41n5S+qxe+LgHeE5D+gjIDXrYeTuZU1wPJD wFlHo7UBsO63w9am2vxWxi/f5nZpqGFp2wUI+TALLEEwdsf3FOA+YUdXIJ370w335dgT mVenbR+YKQ3n0QUJO2k7tMAshB9lAk8kSOBkc= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type; b=gF8fN/vFPAWhk+Hk12qp8yqpPN/0wShAR036k8zop6bT7YbPONNlq57bdM53kKqs4N ilwOrp0kQm1mr6OKa5OTyKLOjxHSynIMogrm9EVdL4tJGtgxif2zhargIK7N10TrgA0n 7hF+Sh7k7ZoOabyQNIoph0csAuPVf4tfnP1YA= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.142.196.1 with SMTP id t1mr3621052wff.71.1260830214749; Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:36:54 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <4B26A45B.4020302@FreeBSD.org> References: <4B25D1ED.5060509@FreeBSD.org> <4B25DA75.5080807@FreeBSD.org> <4B25EC42.4090604@FreeBSD.org> <4B26A45B.4020302@FreeBSD.org> Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:36:54 -0600 Message-ID: <6201873e0912141436j24de325dm45aac38a89bd047c@mail.gmail.com> From: Adam Vande More To: Doug Barton Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org, "b. f." Subject: Re: AHCI/ATA_CAM for dummies? X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:36:58 -0000 On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 2:47 PM, Doug Barton wrote: > b. f. wrote: > > On 12/14/09, Doug Barton wrote: > > I believe what they meant in the Intel document was that in order to > > use certain features supported by AHCI, such as NCQ, the disk drive > > must also support them. Your disk drive seems to support NCQ. > > Ok, I believe you. :) This is clearly not my area. > > > So this does not seem to explain why ahci(4) fails to attach to your > > SATA controller. I suspect that your bios or motherboard fails to use > > AHCI mode. Maybe there is a later bios revision, > > There is no later BIOS available, at least not from Dell. This is a > Latitude D620 laptop. And as I said previously, there are no BIOS > options that mention anything even remotely similar. There are two > hard drive related options. One is related to making it "slower and > quieter" vs. "faster and noisier." Guess which one I picked. :) The > other is related to power management (DPMI). > > I did look up the spec sheet on the hard drive last night, and > although it does mention SATA and NCQ it does not explicitly mention > AHCI. > > http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/50C8DBC2A315A4C786256F400065B756/$file/7K100_SATA_FINAL_DS.pdf > and > http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Travelstar_7K100 > if you're interested. > > I also didn't see any mentions of jumpers on the drive to enable AHCI, > which I was kind of hoping for since that's pretty easy to remove. > > > or some jumper > > settings on the board that will allow it to be enabled. You may have > > to talk to the manufacturer. > > I would be willing to dive into that if someone could give me clear > guidance that one exists. I'm not really eager to open the > case otherwise. > > > Of course, there is a small chance that > > there is a problem with our drivers. Have you tried a live CD of a > > Linux distro, to see AHCI works with another OS? > > No, but I'm happy to do so. Any suggestions on what distro is most > likely to succeed, and what to look for? I have used Ubuntu for a > project in the past with good success but I'd be willing to try > anything that folks think will work. > > In any case I do appreciate your time on this. I run -current on > purpose to try out new features, help get them fleshed out from a > "regular user" perspective, and to expose bugs (often my own of > course). Better performance and cool new toys don't hurt either ... > A bit of research leads to believe you are SOL on ahci/NCQ for this system unless you're able to hack a BIOS. I believe both drive and controller are capable of running it, but Dell has disabled it as an option for some reason. -- Adam Vande More