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Date:      Mon, 18 Jan 1999 15:00:48 -0600 (CST)
From:      "Daniel M. Eischen" <deischen@iworks.interworks.org>
To:        rpj@fep.hirshfields.com
Cc:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Will FreeBSD *ever* fix their 2940U drivers ?
Message-ID:  <199901182100.PAA17330@iworks.interworks.org>

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> Like the subject line says, will FreeBSD ever fix their 2940U driver.
> 
> I have had nothing but nightmares getting FreeBSD's 2940U, 2940AU, and 2940UW
> controllers to work in PC's that have, what, I believe the TX or LX chipset ???
> 
> On newer PC's I can tell exactly what chipset the MB is, but on these older
> DEC PC's, Celebris 590's, I can't tell _exactly_ what chipset it is.
> 
> I get either "Read error" (which after a year found the problem and made a patch
> for so it boots like it should), or the controller card is reconized, but then
> times out. Ugh! Ugh!
> 
> What ticks me off is:
>         I have one 2940U from about 1996, and it works with FreeBSD!
>         I have one 2940AU from about 1997 and it works with FreeBSD!
> 
> About 9 months ago, I bought 10 2940AU's, guess what? FreeBSD hangs and times out on boot.
> (Would anyone like to buy 10 2940AU's cheap cheap cheap ?)
> 
> Just bought some brand new 2940U's (because they work right?), guess what, it now hangs
>    and times out on boot.
> 
> Never did get 2940UW to work either. Same story, it is reconized, hangs, and times out.
> 
> 
> Only in the newer HX (I believe, would have to open the case up to see) does the 2940UW
> with FreeBSD, does it work in.
> 
> Why does  uh-em, Linux reconize and boot in the same machine ? No Read error, no time outs
> Why does NetBSD reconize and boot the same machine? No Read error, no time outs
> Others state that even Win95 works.

That is really strange, especially when you consider that the Linux and
the NetBSD aic7xxx drivers are based off of the FreeBSD aic7xxx driver.
The Linux aic7xxx driver is habitually more "quirky" than the FreeBSD
aic7xxx driver.

You also never mention what version of FreeBSD you are referring to.
The aic7xxx driver has been steadily improved and with the incorporation
of CAM (Common Access Method) into FreeBSD 3.x releases, is very
robust.

> Don't even mention "termination" and all that crap. That's not the problem. 

You'd be surprised at how many people say that, and cabling and
termination actually *does* turn out to be the problem!

>     I've got 6 machines I would like to use Ultra SCSI in. Guess I can forget it using
> FreeBSD anyways. I would think with enough postings to this newsgroup over the _years_,
> that this problem would be solved by now. I don't think it ever will be. 

There are a lot of happy FreeBSD users using the aic7xxx driver
in production systems.

>     After 2 solid years of FreeBSD and this 2940U stuff on approx. 20 PC's, running a Point
> of Sale program on them, I am good and ready to dump it for Linux or Solaris x86 for this 
> reason alone.

Well, I wouldn't expect any better out of Linux.  If you do get better
results from the Linux aic7xxx driver, then you're probably not using
a version of FreeBSD that is using the matching (or better) aic7xxx
driver.

BTW, I'm using 2940UWs in both HX (Tyan Tomcat S1652D) and a LX
(ASUS P2L97-DS) chipset motherboards without any problems.  Yes,
even the onboard 7880 works. 

DE

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