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Date:      Mon, 28 Aug 1995 10:17:44 -0700 (PDT)
From:      "Rodney W. Grimes" <rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com>
To:        gibbs@freefall.FreeBSD.org (Justin T. Gibbs)
Cc:        rashid@haven.ios.com, hackers@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: S.O.S -2.1Stable and ASUSP54TP4
Message-ID:  <199508281717.KAA01839@gndrsh.aac.dev.com>
In-Reply-To: <199508281509.IAA07007@freefall.FreeBSD.org> from "Justin T. Gibbs" at Aug 28, 95 08:09:22 am

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> 
> >		Hi there folx,
> >
> >	After having a lot of problems with different
> >	motherboards under FreeBSD I've switched to the
> >	"editor's choice" - ASUS P54TP4 mb.,which was
> >	recommended here by Jordan :)
> >	Few problems went away ( like random reboots and
> >	stuff), but oneremains consistent:
> >
> >	the freaking system loks each and every day and
> >	I think this is because of .... something related
> >	to HD activity/driver/adapter/whatever.
> >
> >	The system is P90,Adaptec 2940 PCI _SCSI adapter,
> >	SMC EtherPower.
> >
> >
> >	The symptoms:
> >
> >	system locks at random times w/o any messages at the console/
> >	log files. Locks means the system becomes unreachable neither
> >	from the local net nor from the console
> >	After I hit "reboot" switch, system reboots up to the fsck
> >	level and it starts complaining that it can't read partition
> >	information off the second HDD ( Seagate Barracuda 4 Gb) (!).
> >
> >	If one hits "reboot" again and goes to the Adaptec BIOS and runs
> >	disk utilities --> media check from there - the BIOS (!) complains
> >	that it can not  talk to the second HD.
> 
> It sounds like your Barracuda is overheating.

I agree with that assement of the facts given here.  But would like a
few ``details'' filled in.

a) When the lock up occurs are any drive select lights on solid?

b) Do you have an LED hooked to the controller and what state is it when
   the lock occurs?

c) Have you any process that core on occasion, or system panics of any
   form?  [Looking for memory related problems which usually manifest
   themselves as random signall 11's if they occur in user land, and
   kernel panics if they occur in the kernel]

d) And my most famous question I always ask, have your _triple_ checked
   that your scsi bus is properly terminated and built using high quality
   double shielded scsi-ii rated cables?  [Applies to external cables,
   internal cables should be 110 Ohm 26AWG flat ribon cable.]  Also make
   sure you are using ACTIVE termination, at fast scsi-II speeds anything
   less is dangerous.

e) Back to the Barracuda and heat problems, what is the case temperature
   of the drives while operating (give them 4 hours to stabalize under
   your worse load before taking a measurement).  Also make sure not
   to perturb the normal conditions for those 4 hours.

-- 
Rod Grimes                                      rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com
Accurate Automation Company                 Reliable computers for FreeBSD



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