Dissaster Iminant -=- HELP

[Dave_Bechtel]

--Could be either a kernel bug, motherboard IDE bug, or the HD's fault.

--Please post results of ' dmesg '. (You can edit-out anything that's not related to the IDE and HD stuff.) I'd like to know what kind of HD hdc is (manufacturer, model, and RPM), as well as what chipset is on the mobo IDE.

My edited dmesg looks like this:

Kernel command line: auto BOOT_IMAGE=Linux ro root=341 hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scs
i hdd=scsi hde=scsi hdf=scsi hdg=scsi hdh=scsi apm=power-off nomce idebus=66

ide: Assuming 66MHz system bus speed for PIO modes
SIS5513: IDE controller at PCI slot 00:00.1
SIS5513: chipset revision 208
SIS5513: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
SIS5513: SiS730 ATA 100 (1st gen) controller
    ide0: BM-DMA at 0xff00-0xff07, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA
    ide1: BM-DMA at 0xff08-0xff0f, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:DMA
hda: Maxtor 4D080H4, ATA DISK drive
hdb: ST380011A, ATA DISK drive
blk: queue c02f8600, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
blk: queue c02f8748, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
hdc: GENERIC DVD DUAL 4XMax, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
hdd: DVD-ROM DVD-16X3H, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
hda: attached ide-disk driver.
hda: host protected area => 1
hda: 160045200 sectors (81943 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=9962/255/63, UDMA(100)
hdb: attached ide-disk driver.
hdb: host protected area => 1
hdb: 156301488 sectors (80026 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=9729/255/63, UDMA(100)
ide-cd: passing drive hdc to ide-scsi emulation.
ide-cd: passing drive hdd to ide-scsi emulation.
hdc: attached ide-scsi driver.
hdd: attached ide-scsi driver.
Partition check:
 hda: hda1 hda2 hda3 hda4 < hda5 hda6 hda7 hda8 hda9 hda10 >
 hdb: hdb1 hdb2 hdb3 hdb4 < hdb5 hdb6 hdb7 hdb8 hdb9 hdb10 hdb11 >

--Also, you might want to put "idebus=66" as a kernel parm in lilo, and see if it makes a difference. (the "append=" line.)

--Finally, check with your motherboard mfr and see if there's a flash update available for your chipset; sometimes those can fix things like DMA errors.

(As far as HD mfrs go, I've had Good luck with:

Maxtor, Seagate;

and Bad luck with:

Western Digital, Hitachi)

--Just so you know, SMART is enabled on my box; and all my HD's that are over 5400RPM have fans on them.

--Also, all my IDE cables are 80-pin and rated for (at least) ATA-100, or ATA-133. If you have a 40-pin cable on hdc (common for 2ndary controllers that are usually only connected to cdrom drives), that could be the problem right there.

O K - this doesn't make any sense, someone explain why this works

Attempt was made to copy needed files off the hdc device (this includes, from my fstab file above, my Win98 install, and files, and my Linux "storage" area partitions) - the Win98 partition wasn't having problems, but when attempting to copy off stuff, my system hung - as it has before... The backspace trick did nothing, and the magic keys did nothing as well - a hard reset was the only way to get the system back.

As a try, I disabled the DMA on hdc device, all my other devices, including hda, have had DMA enambed from day one - rebooted and checked hdparm to ensure DMA is disabled on hdc, and it was...

I then tried to copy off my Win98 files, and it worked. On a roll, I went after the Linux storage (hdc2) - more than 15gig of files, started the copy, and it completed in around 1.5 hours of "constant" running - w/o a hitch... WHAT GIVES?????????

Why did DMA cause (assumption) this problem, especially when it was ALWAYS on all this time, and NOW, disabling it resolves the problem??? The same fstab file was unchanged, only DMA was disabled on this device... Could DMA have been the ONLY culprit on this issue all along??? How??? Why??? And why, now, without anything changing, is it not working, when all along it was working, without problems???

I was able to copy all my files (sound files, taking approximatelly 14gig) off the drive, after DMA was disabled, and when viewing and playing these "copied" files on to the hda device, I can play them, ReZound was able to load them, XMMS was able to play them, even speach 102, without problems, and I was able to "burn" the Cdrom#7, with this troublesome speach102 w/o problems....

Someone explain to me what was going on, and why DMA (could) be the problem, when all along it wasn't a problem????

Thanks for any information on this, I can't fathom why,
Cuddles
PS -=- "smart" was disabled on BIOS from day one, and Knoppix is not enabling it, from what I can tell.

[Cuddles]

output from dmesg: (complete)

root@Polaris:/home/cuddles# dmesg
Linux version 2.4.22-xfs (root@Knoppix) (gcc version 2.95.4 20011002 (Debian prerelease)) #1 SMP Fr Okt 3 20:36:25 CEST 2003
BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
 BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009fc00 (usable)
 BIOS-e820: 000000000009fc00 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
 BIOS-e820: 00000000000f0000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
 BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 0000000020000000 (usable)
 BIOS-e820: 00000000ffff0000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
0MB HIGHMEM available.
512MB LOWMEM available.
On node 0 totalpages: 131072
zone(0): 4096 pages.
zone(1): 126976 pages.
zone(2): 0 pages.
Kernel command line: auto BOOT_IMAGE=Linux ro root=301 hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi hde=scsi hdf=scsi hdg=scsi hdh=scsi apm=power-off nomce
ide_setup: hda=scsi
ide_setup: hdb=scsi
ide_setup: hdc=scsi
ide_setup: hdd=scsi
ide_setup: hde=scsi
ide_setup: hdf=scsi
ide_setup: hdg=scsi
ide_setup: hdh=scsi
Local APIC disabled by BIOS -- reenabling.
Found and enabled local APIC!
Initializing CPU#0
Detected 1466.305 MHz processor.
Console: colour dummy device 80x25
Calibrating delay loop... 2922.90 BogoMIPS
Memory: 515168k/524288k available (1262k kernel code, 8732k reserved, 534k data, 132k init, 0k highmem)
Dentry cache hash table entries: 65536 (order: 7, 524288 bytes)
Inode cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
Mount cache hash table entries: 512 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
Buffer cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
Page-cache hash table entries: 131072 (order: 7, 524288 bytes)
CPU: L1 I Cache: 64K (64 bytes/line), D cache 64K (64 bytes/line)
CPU: L2 Cache: 256K (64 bytes/line)
CPU:     After generic, caps: 0383fbff c1c3fbff 00000000 00000000
CPU:             Common caps: 0383fbff c1c3fbff 00000000 00000000
Enabling fast FPU save and restore... done.
Enabling unmasked SIMD FPU exception support... done.
Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK.
Checking for popad bug... OK.
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
mtrr: v1.40 (20010327) Richard Gooch (rgooch@atnf.csiro.au)
mtrr: detected mtrr type: Intel
CPU: L1 I Cache: 64K (64 bytes/line), D cache 64K (64 bytes/line)
CPU: L2 Cache: 256K (64 bytes/line)
CPU:     After generic, caps: 0383fbff c1c3fbff 00000000 00000000
CPU:             Common caps: 0383fbff c1c3fbff 00000000 00000000
CPU0: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 1700+ stepping 00
per-CPU timeslice cutoff: 731.10 usecs.
SMP motherboard not detected.
enabled ExtINT on CPU#0
ESR value before enabling vector: 00000000
ESR value after enabling vector: 00000000
Using local APIC timer interrupts.
calibrating APIC timer ...
..... CPU clock speed is 1466.2929 MHz.
..... host bus clock speed is 266.5987 MHz.
cpu: 0, clocks: 2665987, slice: 1332993
CPU0<T0:2665984,T1:1332976,D:15,S:1332993,C:2665987>
Waiting on wait_init_idle (map = 0x0)
All processors have done init_idle
PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfb470, last bus=1
PCI: Using configuration type 1
PCI: Probing PCI hardware
PCI: Probing PCI hardware (bus 00)
PCI: Using IRQ router VIA [1106/0686] at 00:07.0
Applying VIA southbridge workaround.
PCI: Disabling Via external APIC routing
isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.4
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
Initializing RT netlink socket
Starting kswapd
VFS: Disk quotas vdquot_6.5.1
vesafb: framebuffer at 0xd0000000, mapped to 0xe080d000, size 3072k
vesafb: mode is 1024x768x16, linelength=2048, pages=1
vesafb: protected mode interface info at c000:f910
vesafb: scrolling: redraw
vesafb: directcolor: size=0:5:6:5, shift=0:11:5:0
Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 128x48
fb0: VESA VGA frame buffer device
pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size 1024 blocksize
Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00beta4-2.4
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
VP_IDE: IDE controller at PCI slot 00:07.1
VP_IDE: chipset revision 6
VP_IDE: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
VP_IDE: VIA vt82c686b (rev 40) IDE UDMA100 controller on pci00:07.1
    ide0: BM-DMA at 0xd000-0xd007, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA
    ide1: BM-DMA at 0xd008-0xd00f, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:DMA
hda: HDS722540VLAT20, ATA DISK drive
hdb: SONY DVD-ROM DDU1611, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
hdc: SAMSUNG SP0802N, ATA DISK drive
hdd: OPTORITECD-RW CW5201, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
hda: attached ide-disk driver.
hda: host protected area => 1
hda: 80418240 sectors (41174 MB) w/1794KiB Cache, CHS=5005/255/63
hdc: attached ide-disk driver.
hdc: host protected area => 1
hdc: 156368016 sectors (80060 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=9733/255/63
ide-cd: passing drive hdb to ide-scsi emulation.
ide-cd: passing drive hdd to ide-scsi emulation.
hdb: attached ide-scsi driver.
hdd: attached ide-scsi driver.
Partition check:
 hda: hda1 hda3
 hdc: hdc1 hdc2
ide: late registration of driver.
Promise Fasttrak(tm) Softwareraid driver 0.03beta: No raid array found
Highpoint HPT370 Softwareraid driver for linux version 0.02
Guestimating sector 80389004 for superblock
Guestimating sector 156344324 for superblock
driver for Silicon Image(tm) Medley(tm) hardware version 0.0.1: No raid array found
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
scsi0 : SCSI host adapter emulation for IDE ATAPI devices
  Vendor: SONY      Model: DVD-ROM DDU1611   Rev: GYS1
  Type:   CD-ROM                             ANSI SCSI revision: 02
  Vendor: OPTORITE  Model: CD-RW CW5201      Rev: 160E
  Type:   CD-ROM                             ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0 at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
Attached scsi CD-ROM sr1 at scsi0, channel 0, id 1, lun 0
sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 0x/40x cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.12
sr1: scsi3-mmc drive: 52x/52x writer cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
Initializing Cryptographic API
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP
IP: routing cache hash table of 4096 buckets, 32Kbytes
TCP: Hash tables configured (established 131072 bind 65536)
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0.
RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
Freeing initrd memory: 144k freed
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
Journalled Block Device driver loaded
kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
EXT3 FS 2.4-0.9.19, 19 August 2002 on ide0(3,1), internal journal
EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 132k freed
Adding Swap: 489972k swap-space (priority -1)
EXT3 FS 2.4-0.9.19, 19 August 2002 on ide0(3,1), internal journal
spurious 8259A interrupt: IRQ7.
Real Time Clock Driver v1.10e
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
usb-uhci.c: $Revision: 1.275 $ time 20:50:29 Oct  3 2003
usb-uhci.c: High bandwidth mode enabled
PCI: Found IRQ 5 for device 00:07.2
PCI: Sharing IRQ 5 with 00:07.3
usb-uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0xd400, IRQ 5
usb-uhci.c: Detected 2 ports
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
PCI: Found IRQ 5 for device 00:07.3
PCI: Sharing IRQ 5 with 00:07.2
usb-uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0xd800, IRQ 5
usb-uhci.c: Detected 2 ports
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
usb-uhci.c: v1.275:USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver
Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
usb.c: registered new driver usb-storage
USB Mass Storage support registered.
Serial driver version 5.05c (2001-07-08) with MANY_PORTS SHARE_IRQ SERIAL_PCI ISAPNP enabled
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
hub.c: new USB device 00:07.2-2, assigned address 2
parport0: PC-style at 0x378 [PCSPP,EPP]
usb-uhci.c: interrupt, status 2, frame# 635
parport0: Printer, HEWLETT-PACKARD DESKJET 940C
parport_pc: Via 686A parallel port: io=0x378
Linux agpgart interface v0.99 (c) Jeff Hartmann
agpgart: Maximum main memory to use for agp memory: 440M
agpgart: Detected Via Apollo Pro KT133 chipset
agpgart: AGP aperture is 64M @ 0xe0000000
PCI: Found IRQ 10 for device 00:07.5
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:07.5 to 64
usb_control/bulk_msg: timeout
scsi1 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
  Vendor: SanDisk   Model: ImageMate II      Rev: 1.30
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi1, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
SCSI device sda: 15681 512-byte hdwr sectors (8 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
 sda: sda1
WARNING: USB Mass Storage data integrity not assured
USB Mass Storage device found at 2
ip_tables: (C) 2000-2002 Netfilter core team
ip_conntrack version 2.1 (4096 buckets, 32768 max) - 292 bytes per conntrack
blk: queue c0334b60, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
NET4: Linux IPX 0.47 for NET4.0
IPX Portions Copyright (c) 1995 Caldera, Inc.
IPX Portions Copyright (c) 2000, 2001 Conectiva, Inc.
lp0: using parport0 (polling).
lp0: console ready
0: nvidia: loading NVIDIA Linux x86 NVIDIA Kernel Module  1.0-5336  Wed Jan 14 18:29:26 PST 2004

I "know" the new hard drive (the 80gig, connected as hdc) is a Samsung - can't recall what the 41 gig is, the one as hda, and the main system device...


Hope this helps,
Cuddles

[Dave_Bechtel]

Cuddles - any word on the HD / DMA issue? How are things running?

[Cuddles]

Dave,

Where things are at currently (update)

I disabled DMA on the Samsung (80gig) hdc device, and was able to copy off more than 15gig of data, and sound files, from the device, onto my "home" or hda device, the files copied without a hitch, and the copied files were "intact" and usable, completely able to be loaded into ReZound, and I also was able to burn more than 18 CD Audio discs (all without any problems)...

Since "stripping off" the files on the hdc device, the 80gig Samsung, I have not used it any further... I am not sure if the problem is resolved, nor do I "trust" the drive at this point, to place "important" files onto the device...

So, I guess I have a 80 gig device, that is running on my system, but don't dare use it, unless I can run something on my booted system, as it is at the moment, and feel a little more confident about it.

Cuddles

[fingers99]

I'd try copying redundant stuff over to it and interacting with it: maybe try (using CDRW media!) to recreate the original issue.

[Dave_Bechtel]

--Per my previous post, I recommend the following:

o Check with your motherboard mfr and see if there's a flash update available for your chipset; sometimes those can fix things like DMA errors.

o Enable SMART; and put a fan on the HD if it's more than 5400 RPM (likely.)

--Check to make sure that an 80-pin cable is connected to the drive, and rated for (at least) ATA-100, or ATA-133. If you have a 40-pin cable on hdc (common for 2ndary IDE controllers that are usually only connected to cdrom drives), that could be the problem right there.

--If none of this solves the DMA problem, return the drive and get another brand; this is what I had to do. (Hitachi Deathstar replaced with Seagate.) It's never good to have "known / suspected unreliable" devices on the system - computers are unstable enough as it is these days.

Dave,

Where things are at currently (update)

I disabled DMA on the Samsung (80gig) hdc device, and was able to copy off more than 15gig of data, and sound files, from the device, onto my "home" or hda device, the files copied without a hitch, and the copied files were "intact" and usable, completely able to be loaded into ReZound, and I also was able to burn more than 18 CD Audio discs (all without any problems)...

Since "stripping off" the files on the hdc device, the 80gig Samsung, I have not used it any further... I am not sure if the problem is resolved, nor do I "trust" the drive at this point, to place "important" files onto the device...

So, I guess I have a 80 gig device, that is running on my system, but don't dare use it, unless I can run something on my booted system, as it is at the moment, and feel a little more confident about it.

Cuddles