UDMA ICRC error reading fsbn 78165297

[popo]

Howdy Crew,

Can anyone suggest a solution to this ?

Original Question:
-----------------------

Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 09:13:02 +1030
From: alex <lex@adelaide.on.net>
To: alpha@freebsd.org
Subject: UDMA ICRC error reading fsbn 78165297

Hi all,

I have installed a Promise TX2 Ultra ATA/100 controller into my Alpha pws
500au.
The kernel seems to probe and attach a driver to the device:

/var/run/dmesg.boot

....
atapci1: <Promise TX2 ATA100 controller> port
0x8100-0x810f,0x8110-0x8113,0x8120-0x8127,0x8130-0x8133,0x8140-0x8147 mem
0x80914000-0

However, further into the process of booting, when the ATA driver is
attached to ad0 I get these errors:

Timecounter "alpha" frequency 499864662 Hz
ad0: UDMA ICRC error reading fsbn 78165297 of 0-3 (ad0 bn 78165297; cn 77544
tn 15 sn 0) retrying

ad0: UDMA ICRC error reading fsbn 78165297 of 0-3 (ad0 bn 78165297; cn 77544 tn 15 sn 0) retrying
ad0: UDMA ICRC error reading fsbn 78165297 of 0-3 (ad0 bn 78165297; cn 77544 tn 15 sn 0) retrying
ad0: UDMA ICRC error reading fsbn 78165297 of 0-3 (ad0 bn 78165297; cn 77544 tn 15 sn 0) retrying
ad0: UDMA ICRC error reading fsbn 78165297 of 0-3 (ad0 bn 78165297; cn 77544 tn 15 sn 0) falling back to PIO mode
ad0: 38166MB <WDC WD400JB-00ENA0> [77545/16/63] at ata3-master PIO4

I'm worried about the line "falling back to PIO mode". Does this mean that
ad0 is running at ATA33 ?

I'm not sure if or how the ATA disk and ATA controller are related to
causing the ATA disk to go into PIO mode.

Can anyone sugest a solution to get the disk to usemode rather than PIO mode ?


Reply from FreeBSD Alpha guru:
---------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 08:53:34 -0500 (EST)
From: Andrew Gallatin <gallatin@cs.duke.edu>
To: alex <lex@adelaide.on.net>
Cc: alpha@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: UDMA ICRC error reading fsbn 78165297

No, it means its running in PIO mode like the message says.

Why? Well, alphas are electrinically noisy, and physically cramped.
The 500au in particular was designed by some sort of sadist who wanted
things to look pretty and didn't give a damn how things worked on the
inside. If I had a $1.00 for every drop of blood I ever lost by
skinning my knuckles inserting or removing drives or pci cards from
miatas, I'd be rich.

Rant aside, ATA cables are VERY sensative to EMI noise. What's
happening to you is that the cable is either badly twisted, running
too close to an EMI source, or both. This is causing the transfers
across the cable between the controller and the disk to be corrupted
(that's the ICRC error you're seeing). This is NOT the fault of the
software, rather its a real hardware problemn with your setup. The
software is saving you from serious disk corruption.
powersupply, other pci cards). This is much easier said than done on
a miata like yours. You might also consider purchasing the highest
quality cables you can find (I have no suggestions as to brand..).
Maybe serial ata has better sheilding and would do better. I dunno.
I do know that it took me 3 sets of cables and considerable fiddling
to get ata33 to work on a UP1000.

Alternatively, you could use atacontrol to force a slower mode like
udma66 or udma33 which the cable might be more capable of handling.
I have an old promise card in my miata which seems to handle udma33
OK.

Good luck. You'll need it.

Drew

I suggest moving things around inside and making sure that the cables
are kink-free and don't run close to a source of EMI noise (cpu,
powersupply, other pci cards). This is much easier said than done on
a miata like yours. You might also consider purchasing the highest

 

[Ness]

Maybe you should post this in the hardware forum. This really has nothing to do with cases or cooling.

 

[popo]

Originally posted by: ness1469
Maybe you should post this in the hardware forum. This really has nothing to do with cases or cooling.

You wona make a bet! If Compaq new how to make cases correctly for their miata boxes ( Alpha 500au) I wouldn't be having this problem!

- aW

 

[Ness]

No, really. It has nothing to do with cases. This is a hardware issue.

The problem here is that you have a case that doesn't accomadate your hardware configuration. Any idiot could tell you that you either get a new case and try to deal with it using a less cramped one, or realize that THIS IS A HARDWARE ISSUE and that you need to rip everything out of there and put it in piece by piece, paying careful attention to what you are doing. This has NOTHING to do with case modification, cooling or how to do this or that with a case. In fact, you barely asked a question. The solution you seek lies in the adjustment of your hardware, and therefore, that makes this A HARDWARE ISSUE.


The answer cannot be solved with us saying something like "Hey, slap a few blowholes in the side and throw in a cold cathode". Therefore, IT IS A HARDWARE ISSUE.



The way I see it, Compaq is a multi-million dollar corporation. I think they know a thing or two about making cases, and your argument in the situation is flawed.



Thank god for you I didn't take that bet. Otherwise You'd be crying to your mommy about how I took all your money. Maybe now you can use the money and take some spelling lessons.

 

[popo]

Originally posted by: ness1469
No, really. It has nothing to do with cases. This is a hardware issue.

The problem here is that you have a case that doesn't accomadate your hardware configuration. Any idiot could tell you that you either get a new case and try to deal with it using a less cramped one, or realize that THIS IS A HARDWARE ISSUE and that you need to rip everything out of there and put it in piece by piece, paying careful attention to what you are doing. This has NOTHING to do with case modification, cooling or how to do this or that with a case. In fact, you barely asked a question. The solution you seek lies in the adjustment of your hardware, and therefore, that makes this A HARDWARE ISSUE.


The answer cannot be solved with us saying something like "Hey, slap a few blowholes in the side and throw in a cold cathode". Therefore, IT IS A HARDWARE ISSUE.



The way I see it, Compaq is a multi-million dollar corporation. I think they know a thing or two about making cases, and your argument in the situation is flawed.


What a pin-head! Stick to playing games and fiddling with DirectX wanker!

Thank god for you I didn't take that bet. Otherwise You'd be crying to your mommy about how I took all your money. Maybe now you can use the money and take some spelling lessons.

 

[Ness]

OH NO! NOW YOU ARE GONNA L337 H4x0R m3@! Ph34r!


Dude, seriously. Pull your head out of your rear, and grab the pole that's in there with it on your way out.



Learn to quote right, and I might believe you know what you are talking about.


-"Pinhead"