Hello. The scenario: PCI bus with 2 cards (sata_via) Each card has 2 SATA ports connected. Each disk does 40MB/s in hdparm -t read test. First card has the sda and sdb Second card has the sdc and sdd verified by watching the led blinking on the card ok - accessing two ports at same time but each port on different card: cat /dev/sda > /dev/null & cat /dev/sdc > /dev/null problem - accessing two ports at same time and both ports on same card: cat /dev/sda > /dev/null & cat /dev/sdb > /dev/null side effect of the problem: due to heavy traffic on one port the reset of the other port fails with timeout and port is disabled logged error command at the initial problem (is it DMA read ext and DMA write log?): ata2.00: exception Emask 0x2 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x3000400 action 0x2 frozen ata2.00: cmd 25/00:68:b8:83:13/00:01:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 cdb 0x0 data 184320 in res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x6 (timeout) ata2: port is slow to respond, please be patient (Status 0xd0) ata2.00: exception Emask 0x2 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x3000400 action 0x2 frozen ata2.00: cmd c8/00:60:70:50:08/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 cdb 0x0 data 49152 in res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x6 (timeout) ata2: port is slow to respond, please be patient (Status 0xd0) logged EH sequence failure: ata2: port is slow to respond, please be patient (Status 0xd0) ata2: device not ready (errno=-16), forcing hardreset ata2: hard resetting port ata2: port is slow to respond, please be patient (Status 0x80) ata2: COMRESET failed (errno=-16) ata2: hard resetting port ata2: port is slow to respond, please be patient (Status 0x80) ata2: COMRESET failed (errno=-16) ata2: hard resetting port ata2: port is slow to respond, please be patient (Status 0x80) ata2: COMRESET failed (errno=-16) ata2: hard resetting port ata2: COMRESET failed (errno=-16) ata2: reset failed, giving up ata2.00: disabled ata2: EH complete sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=0x04 driverbyte=0x00 tried does not work: - multiply the ATA_TMOUT values by 10 and later by 100 against vanilla - increase retry counters some lines from dmesg below libata version 2.21 loaded. sata_via 0000:00:0d.0: version 2.3 ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:0d.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11 sata_via 0000:00:0d.0: routed to hard irq line 11 scsi0 : sata_via scsi1 : sata_via scsi2 : sata_via ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x0001b800 ctl 0x0001b80a bmdma 0x0001a400 irq 11 ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x0001b400 ctl 0x0001b40a bmdma 0x0001a408 irq 11 ata3: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x0001b000 ctl 0x0001b00a bmdma 0x0001a410 irq 11 ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310) ata1.00: ATA-7: Maxtor 6L250S0, BANC1G10, max UDMA/133 ata1.00: 490234752 sectors, multi 16: LBA48 NCQ (not used) ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133 ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310) ata2.00: ATA-7: Maxtor 6L250S0, BANC1G10, max UDMA/133 ata2.00: 490234752 sectors, multi 16: LBA48 NCQ (not used) ata2.00: configured for UDMA/133 scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access ATA Maxtor 6L250S0 BANC PQ: 0 ANSI: 5 sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 490234752 512-byte hardware sectors (251000 MB) sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00 sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 490234752 512-byte hardware sectors (251000 MB) sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00 sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA sda: sda1 sda2 sda3 sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0 scsi 1:0:0:0: Direct-Access ATA Maxtor 6L250S0 BANC PQ: 0 ANSI: 5 sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] 490234752 512-byte hardware sectors (251000 MB) sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00 sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] 490234752 512-byte hardware sectors (251000 MB) sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00 sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA sdb: sdb1 sdb2 sdb3 sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0 ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKB] enabled at IRQ 10 PCI: setting IRQ 10 as level-triggered ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:0e.0[A] -> Link [LNKB] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10 sata_via 0000:00:0e.0: routed to hard irq line 10 scsi3 : sata_via scsi4 : sata_via scsi5 : sata_via ata4: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x00019800 ctl 0x0001980a bmdma 0x00018400 irq 10 ata5: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x00019400 ctl 0x0001940a bmdma 0x00018408 irq 10 ata6: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x00019000 ctl 0x0001900a bmdma 0x00018410 irq 10 ata4: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310) ata4.00: ATA-7: Maxtor 6L250S0, BANC1G10, max UDMA/133 ata4.00: 490234752 sectors, multi 16: LBA48 NCQ (not used) ata4.00: configured for UDMA/133 ata5: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310) ata5.00: ATA-7: Maxtor 6L250S0, BANC1G10, max UDMA/133 ata5.00: 490234752 sectors, multi 16: LBA48 NCQ (not used) ata5.00: configured for UDMA/133 scsi 3:0:0:0: Direct-Access ATA Maxtor 6L250S0 BANC PQ: 0 ANSI: 5 sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] 490234752 512-byte hardware sectors (251000 MB) sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00 sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] 490234752 512-byte hardware sectors (251000 MB) sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00 sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA sdc: sdc1 sdc2 sdc3 sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk sd 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0 scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access ATA Maxtor 6L250S0 BANC PQ: 0 ANSI: 5 sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] 490234752 512-byte hardware sectors (251000 MB) sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] Write Protect is off sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00 sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] 490234752 512-byte hardware sectors (251000 MB) sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] Write Protect is off sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00 sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA sdd: sdd1 sdd2 sdd3 sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI disk sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0 The card information: 00:0d.0 RAID bus controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6421 IDE RAID Controller (rev 50) Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6421 IDE RAID Controller Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- Latency: 32 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11 Region 0: I/O ports at b800 [size=16] Region 1: I/O ports at b400 [size=16] Region 2: I/O ports at b000 [size=16] Region 3: I/O ports at a800 [size=16] Region 4: I/O ports at a400 [size=32] Region 5: I/O ports at a000 [size=256] [virtual] Expansion ROM at 30100000 [disabled] [size=64K] Capabilities: [e0] Power Management version 2 Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-) Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME- 00: 06 11 49 32 07 00 90 02 50 00 04 01 00 20 00 00 10: 01 b8 00 00 01 b4 00 00 01 b0 00 00 01 a8 00 00 20: 01 a4 00 00 01 a0 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 11 49 32 30: 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0b 01 00 00 40: 33 03 f1 44 06 af 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 50: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 10 00 05 00 20 00 60: 00 00 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ff ff 70: 00 00 00 00 01 f0 00 00 01 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 80: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 f2 1f 00 10 b7 1f 90: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 a0: 0b f2 c9 35 10 ac c0 00 a8 a8 a8 a8 ff 00 b6 b6 b0: 0f 0f 0f 0f 34 00 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 c0: 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 d0: 02 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 e0: 01 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 50 01 49 32 06 11 49 32 f0: 00 00 70 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00:0e.0 RAID bus controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6421 IDE RAID Controller (rev 50) Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6421 IDE RAID Controller Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- Latency: 32 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 10 Region 0: I/O ports at 9800 [size=16] Region 1: I/O ports at 9400 [size=16] Region 2: I/O ports at 9000 [size=16] Region 3: I/O ports at 8800 [size=16] Region 4: I/O ports at 8400 [size=32] Region 5: I/O ports at 8000 [size=256] [virtual] Expansion ROM at 30110000 [disabled] [size=64K] Capabilities: [e0] Power Management version 2 Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-) Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME- 00: 06 11 49 32 07 00 90 02 50 00 04 01 00 20 00 00 10: 01 98 00 00 01 94 00 00 01 90 00 00 01 88 00 00 20: 01 84 00 00 01 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 11 49 32 30: 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0a 01 00 00 40: 33 03 f1 44 06 af 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 50: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 10 00 05 00 10 00 60: 00 00 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ff ff 70: 00 00 00 00 01 f0 00 00 01 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 80: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 80 b6 1f 00 70 bb 1f 90: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 a0: 0b f2 c9 35 10 ac c0 00 a8 a8 a8 a8 ff 00 b6 b6 b0: 0f 0f 0f 0f 34 00 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 c0: 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 d0: 02 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 e0: 01 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 50 01 49 32 06 11 49 32 f0: 00 00 70 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 Thanks for everything and anything. PS: to me it seems that the kernel treats both ports on one card as paralelly accessible SATA ports but the PCI/DMA makes it only one port a time and this missed fact is causing the problem. So the question is this correct and where should I start looking for the port to pci slot mapping to group ports and where to add some kind of locking - first/second port. (if nobody else has that already fixed somewhere) Btw. how about 3 port and 4 port cards? - 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