On Nov 12, 2007 4:01 AM, Tejun Heo <htejun@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Mikael Pettersson wrote: > > First, a workaround for a HW erratum affecting 2nd-generation > > chips like the SATA300 TX4 was included in kernel 2.6.24-rc2. > ... > Alright, if it's fixable, no problem. I just wanted to remind that > running the link at 3Gbps isn't worth if it continues to cause problems. I appreciate the replies and ensuing discussion. I will test 2.6.24-rc2 as soon as possible and let you know the results. At that time I'll also have more runtime on the 1.5Gbps forced 2.622 and will be able to follow-up. Would you (Tejun, Mikael) prefer that I mail linux-ide or you directly? I checked for a linux-ide FAQ and didn't find one.. :) Mikael : > > Secondly, Stratford's system is seriously overloaded: > > ... > > - problems began when two Promise 300 TX4 cards and > > more disks were added > > On several occasions we've traced people's problems to > > overtaxed system components (cooling, PSU, PCI busses). Tejun: > Agreed, I've seen my share of those issues. Especially, SATA links seem > very dependent on power quality and very weird things happen when the > power isn't good enough. Easy way to debug this is connect half of the > drives to a separate PSU and see what happens. While I agree that the configuration is "seriously overloaded" (I believe I described it as "admittedly somewhat insane" ;D) I haven't experienced any port-resets or timeouts on my new TX4 300s, coming up on a week of runtime with the 1.5Gbps-only 2.6.22 patched kernel. Also, the problems did not generally extend to the two pre-existing TX4 150s on the same PCI bus, even when the TX4 300s were having problems. If hardware overheating/PCI overload/PSU problems were the cause, it seems like a very lucky coincidence that stepping the TX4 300s to 1.5Gbps mode also resolves it. :D The system's 23 drives are spread across 3 good quality power supplies. As indicated in my initial mail, I have swapped the PSU on the new drive with a new one, specifically a 430 watt cooler master PSU which by my kill-a-watt gives me ~250 watts of headroom even during spin-up. While my building power is notoriously lousy, I find a building-power or PSU-power-quality explanation somewhat unlikely, especially in light of the consistent performance of the two TX4 150s and the night-and-day performance of 1.5Gbps patched 2.6.22 vice unpatched 2.6.22 on the two TX4 300s. Of course, when you're dealing with 23 hard drives in a desktop.. who knows! Thanks for the replies! :D ___ids - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-ide" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
