Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Wed, 30 Sep 1998 23:20:33 +0100 (BST)
From:      Andrew Gordon <arg@arg1.demon.co.uk>
To:        Karl Denninger <karl@Denninger.Net>
Cc:        current@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Long SCSI probes (was Re: Long IDE probes?)
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.3.96.980930231258.20359B-100000@server.arg.sj.co.uk>
In-Reply-To: <19980930113836.A4061@Denninger.Net>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Wed, 30 Sep 1998, Karl Denninger wrote:
> 
> What I don't understand is the reason for the long probes (that is, more
> than a second or two) in any of the disk devices.
> 
> IDE by definition is probed by the BIOS before boot.  Either the disk is
> there or it is not, and you don't get out of POST and to Boot until that's
> determined.  Therefore, a long wait there is COMPLETELY pointless.
> 
> SCSI devices similarly are probed by the adapter BIOS.  Again, there is no
> reason for the long wait that I can fathom.

Note that the SCSI bus is reset before probing; SCSI devices vary wildly
in their reaction to this.  I have a tape drive that, if there is a tape
in the slot, engages in considerable tape movement (presumably to detect
the tape format/capacity) - this device requires (pre-CAM) SCSI_DELAY=23
to survive rebooting with a tape loaded.  Even disc drives vary from
near-instantaneous to several seconds response time.


To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.3.96.980930231258.20359B-100000>