Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2006 20:55:10 +0200 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?S=F8ren_Schmidt?= <sos@freebsd.org> To: Rich Wales <richw@richw.org> Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Sata controller headache Message-ID: <452D3E0E.5060206@freebsd.org> In-Reply-To: <20061011171404.637123C36B@whodunit.richw.org> References: <Pine.BSF.4.64.0609280855160.1594@helix.fantasyland.com> <20061003053303.9249A3C36B@whodunit.richw.org> <20061011171404.637123C36B@whodunit.richw.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Rich Wales wrote: > Earlier, I wrote in -current: > > >> I've been seeing the same kinds of errors [as Paul Bliss was having] >> with a Promise SATA300 TX4 controller and a pair of Seagate 300GB >> SATA drives. Apparently, people have been having similar problems >> with SATA drives on Promise controllers for quite some time now, in >> both FreeBSD and Linux systems. Lots of reports and requests for >> help, but no one so far has admitted to having a clue as to what is >> causing it. >> > > I wanted to let people know that I managed to fix (or, at least, work > around) my problem by adjusting the BIOS settings for my (old "Slot A" > Athlon system) motherboard. Specifically, I disabled PCI master burst > mode, and although this slowed down disk I/O significantly, it made > the instabilities w/r/t the Promise card go away completely. > > I'm not sure whether the fundamental problem is flaky PCI bus design > in some motherboards, or overly picky bus expectations by Promise, but > this experience suggests to me that people who are having timeouts and > hanging errors with Promise SATA controllers might want to try playing > with the PCI-related BIOS settings on their motherboards and see if > that gives them relief. If anyone is having trouble with a Promise > card in a recent-design motherboard with normal BIOS settings, of > course, that would strongly point to Promise as the guilty party. > As I told you (in private mail) some of the Promise chips does get close to the edges of the PCI spec, but usually its only a problem on motherboards that haunted as well with bugs in that area. > Whether anything can be done to relieve this problem in the device > driver is a question I'm not in a position to answer. > Thats a bridge I'd rather not cross in this life :) -Søren
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?452D3E0E.5060206>