Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Tue, 22 Mar 2005 15:55:38 +0100
From:      Anthony Atkielski <atkielski.anthony@wanadoo.fr>
To:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Anthony's drive issues.Re: ssh password delay
Message-ID:  <772682460.20050322155538@wanadoo.fr>
In-Reply-To: <LOBBIFDAGNMAMLGJJCKNMEODFAAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com>
References:  <1589026462.20050322120848@wanadoo.fr> <LOBBIFDAGNMAMLGJJCKNMEODFAAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Ted Mittelstaedt writes:

> OK, well then that increases the chances that it is a driver issue
> and reduces the chances that it is a hardware issue.  Assuming your
> termination is correct, that would increase chances it is a driver
> issue even more.

That's rather what I've thought all along.

> Going to each single disk is what you really need to do now in order
> to make a definite finger point to the driver.

To each single disk?  What do you mean?

I tried a build of the kernel again today, to exercise the machine.  For
quite a while it behaved, but then the SCSI errors popped up again.  At
least it didn't crash.

> I have been working on a Compaq Professional workstation from time
> to time to setup a test workstation over the last week.  It has a
> problem where under heavy use it will corrupt files written and read
> from the disk.  This system was always a Windows box before, using
> a 1GB Seagate disk drive.  (don't ask why Compaq would supply a 1GB disk
> it is rediculous)  Here are some relevant bits of the dmesg
> that might interest you:
>
> .
> .
> CPU: Pentium Pro (199.31-MHz 686-class CPU)
>   Origin = "GenuineIntel"  Id = 0x619  Stepping = 9
>
> Features=0xf9ff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV>
> .
> .
> ahc0: <Adaptec 2940 Ultra SCSI adapter> port 0x1000-0x10ff mem
> 0x40080000-0x40080fff irq 11 at device 18.0 on pci0
> aic7880: Ultra Single Channel A, SCSI Id=7, 16/253 SCBs
> .
> .
> da0 at ahc0 bus 0 target 0 lun 0
> da0: <QUANTUM FIREBALL SE8.4S PJ09> Fixed Direct Access SCSI-2 device
> da0: 20.000MB/s transfers (20.000MHz, offset 15), Tagged Queueing Enabled
> da0: 8191MB (16777215 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 1044C)

Looks familiar.

> Now I can say one thing with certainty with this machine - Compaq has
> definitely modded the Adaptec microcode used on the controller here.
> Why do I know this? I know it because I tried removing the 2940 card
> from this machine and plugging it into another non-Compaq machine, and
> the card would not boot the disk in that system. However, a
> non-Compaq-labeled 2940 card works fine in that system.

Compaq has a terrible reputation for screwing around with standard
hardware and firmware.  I've always felt that they could still build
good servers even without all their home-baked junk, but they apparently
felt differently.  I like commodity hardware and firmware.  It's very
hard today to justify custom stuff just to gain perhaps a few scant
percent of performance under highly specific conditions.

> I had assumed the problem with this system was bad ram.  But, I think I
> am going to try pulling that Quantum disk out of there and
> using a different one.

You think something on the drive itself is different?

> Then why did you say it was done differently in your earlier post?

With reference to what?  I note that your description of technical
support organizations and mine were independently in agreement.

-- 
Anthony




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?772682460.20050322155538>