From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Dec 15 03:35:44 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 938AE1065670; Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:35:44 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bf1783@googlemail.com) Received: from ey-out-2122.google.com (ey-out-2122.google.com [74.125.78.25]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A26078FC0A; Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:35:43 +0000 (UTC) Received: by ey-out-2122.google.com with SMTP id 4so91907eyf.9 for ; Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:35:42 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=googlemail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:in-reply-to:references :date:message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type; bh=jF2Cx2SUeLSfYMEe5CPUdoDuEolsDT4e11FjTAxfeDs=; b=HW7rib8+6OIeViKOSY9n3Mm9cJSuVCmxNfjyiSfOcKPMIxhoiLj692l0wBxFoBKYYU QDDaHa9D9saBmlCat962GF0/PYhzWAL1B4V+AQksjKh7jTEIcsWJ4UNE7WdxX7R4X4XC cK8vUQ72R9Y3JR7at8FsLUORaRLUNZB0BGxEQ= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=googlemail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type; b=v2sSzD861RQ13HP+hp6ubUVvq14YICE/KQ87mqiWWtF6BeSieTN5QN+atv0/zjyxtu rJr/gOrXh3e18ecMjuN9IZgRBjdsIbQx7HdGIcj8X+ecm0U1AqZrd0u8jow3K0Kwx0gz 7Y0sn95WGDNusxAI8jA/386qM3lVh1wxwRJmo= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.216.90.1 with SMTP id d1mr2568107wef.136.1260848142386; Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:35:42 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <6201873e0912141436j24de325dm45aac38a89bd047c@mail.gmail.com> References: <4B25D1ED.5060509@FreeBSD.org> <4B25DA75.5080807@FreeBSD.org> <4B25EC42.4090604@FreeBSD.org> <4B26A45B.4020302@FreeBSD.org> <6201873e0912141436j24de325dm45aac38a89bd047c@mail.gmail.com> Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:35:42 -0500 Message-ID: From: "b. f." To: Adam Vande More Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Cc: mav@FreeBSD.org, Doug Barton , jhb@FreeBSD.org, freebsd-current@freebsd.org 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: Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:35:44 -0000 On 12/14/09, Adam Vande More wrote: > On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 2:47 PM, Doug Barton wrote: > >> b. f. wrote: >> > On 12/14/09, Doug Barton wrote: >> >> 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. This isn't surprising, because, as mentioned before, AHCI is largely concerned with the workings of host controllers, and not with most storage devices. It is reassuring to see that the specs agree with our drivers with respect to the NCQ. > > 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. > As Adam says, a brief look at the web shows that people have long been complaining about the fact that the BIOS of these machines does not allow users to employ AHCI. If, as you say, Dell hasn't been willing to fix this, then you are left with only a few options: 1) try to find a replacement BIOS ( maybe someone is working on coreboot support for this model? : http://www.coreboot.org/Welcome_to_coreboot ) 2) employ a driver that circumvents the crippled BIOS, and enables AHCI. With regard to 2), there have been a number of hacks for Linux that enable AHCI on these and related machines, with varying degrees of success. See, for example: http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-ide@vger.kernel.org/msg09698.html (and follow-ups!) http://tartarus.org/ds/quirk-ich-force-ahci.patch http://www.codon.org.uk/~mjg59/tmp/hack_ahci http://mjg59.livejournal.com/85504.html Maybe a knowledgeable person, like mav@ or jhb@, could exploit some of these ideas in FreeBSD to allow you and others in similar predicaments to use AHCI on your machines? Regards, b.