Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2002 07:50:58 +0200 (SAST) From: Willie Viljoen <will@laserfence.net> To: Andrew MacIntyre <andymac@bullseye.apana.org.au> Cc: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Instability with offboard IDE controller, CMD-649 Message-ID: <20020331074609.D314-100000@phoenix.vh.laserfence.net> In-Reply-To: <Pine.OS2.4.32.0203310956270.59-100000@tenring.andymac.org>
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I experimented on my own with it abit, even going to using 40-conductor
cables and forcing it down to PIO mode 1. Nothing has helped.
I've tested the hard drive in another machine and it works fine, even at,
as you said, UDMA mode 5.
It seems the controller just can't handle any sort of heavy load... in
FBSD it dies when doing things like a make world, in Linux, a kernel
compile does the trick, and in Windows, playing any post-1996 game eats it
alive, even in the slowest of modes.
Try running your controller at a high load and see if it survives, if it
can handle it, then chances are mine is just a dud (which would not be
entirely surprising, in South Africa, nothing works)
Also, if anybody reading could recommend some proper hardware that won't
put me back too much financially, I'd be willing to try tinkering with
hardware configurations... I would also be willing to spend money to get
some nice hardware, but with the current situation of the South African
Rand, buying anything decent usually puts you back more than a month's
salary, easily.
Regards
Will
On Sun, 31 Mar 2002, Andrew MacIntyre wrote:
> On Fri, 29 Mar 2002, Willie Viljoen wrote:
>
> > I'd previously posted to freebsd-fs list about this problem, I keep
> > loosing data and having stability problems with a CMD-649 PCI ATA-100
> > offboard IDE controller.
>
> I'm using several of these; one of which is used to boot 4.4R on an old
> pre-UDMA chipset board. They're not getting heavy use though...
>
> {...}
>
> > I'm down to one last option, being trying to run the drives at low speed
> > with old 40-conducter cables, just to try and force this controller to
> > slow down.
>
> man ata(4) shows a sysctl which could be used to force PIO mode for
> testing. 40 wire cables should force the controller back to UDMA-33.
>
> > It claims to be ATA-100, but when booted in windows, the driver is trying
> > to run it in what it calls "UDMA mode 5", which to my best knowledge is
> > ATA-133, which neither the drive (a 40GB Seagate ST340810A 5400RPM) or the
> > controller supports.
>
> UDMA mode 5 is ATA-100.
>
> If going slower helps, keep in mind that >UDMA-33 is sensitive to cable
> length as well as cable/connector quality, so if you haven't already tried
> changing 80 wire cables it might be worthwhile.
>
> --
> Andrew I MacIntyre "These thoughts are mine alone..."
> E-mail: andymac@bullseye.apana.org.au | Snail: PO Box 370
> andymac@pcug.org.au | Belconnen ACT 2616
> Web: http://www.andymac.org/ | Australia
>
>
>
>
--
Willie Viljoen
Private IT Consultant
214 Paul Kruger Avenue
Universitas
Bloemfontein
9321
South Africa
+27 51 522 15 60, a/h +27 51 522 44 36
+27 82 404 03 27
will@laserfence.net
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