DVD-RAM crashing system
... bought a Dell Poweredge 600 box with RH 7.3 (2.4.18-4 #1) pre-installed, and SCSI hard disks. Added a Matsushita DVD-RAM LF-D311 atapi dvd-ram (that, along with a cd-rom, are the only IDE devices).
Now, when I do a full backup (as opposed to a differential; I'm using Microlite's BackupEdge, a Super-Tar), the machine (sometimes) hangs with the error message:
"Serverworks OSB4 in impossible state.
Disable UDMA or if you are using Seagate then try switching disk types on this controller. Please report this event to osb4- [email protected]
OSB4: continuing might cause disk corruption."
RH support advised me to remove "ide0=ata66 ide1=ata66" from the kernel line in /boot/grub/grub.conf, add "ide-nodma" and reboot. No joy. Note the following kernel messages at boot-up:
Jul 18 02:31:52 gemach kernel: Kernel command line: ro root=/dev/sda9 hda=ide-scsi ide=nodma Jul 18 02:31:52 gemach kernel: ide_setup: hda=ide-scsi Jul 18 02:31:54 gemach kernel: ide0: BM-DMA at 0x08b0-0x08b7, BIOS settings: hda:pio, hdb:pio Jul 18 02:31:55 gemach kernel: ide1: BM-DMA at 0x08b8-0x08bf, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:pio Jul 18 02:31:55 gemach kernel: hda: MATSHITADVD-RAM LF-D311, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive Jul 18 02:31:55 gemach kernel: hdc: GCR-8481B, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive Jul 18 02:31:35 gemach rc.sysinit: Setting hard drive parameters for hdc: succeeded Jul 18 02:31:59 gemach kernel: hdc: ATAPI 48X CD-ROM drive, 128kB Cache Jul 18 02:31:59 gemach kernel: hda: driver not present Jul 18 02:31:59 gemach kernel: hda: DMA disabled Jul 18 02:31:59 gemach kernel: hdc: DMA disabled Jul 18 02:31:59 gemach kernel: hdc: DMA disabled
According to the RH technician,
"Unfortunately this may be beyond a software resolution. On the machine I last saw this error on (it was not a Dell) the chipset would not accept commands that disabled DMA properly. By issuing the normal commands to disable DMA, then checking in various parts of the /proc filesystem, you would find parts of the kernel that believe DMA to be disabled, and other parts that believe DMA enabled- thus an 'impossible state'."
Anyone out there with tips on how to resolve this? Perhaps I can force the kernel to think that DMA has been disabled?
Thanks in advance, and please cc: me at [email protected].
Signature · 5 lines
_________________________________________ Nachman Yaakov Ziskind, EA, LLM [email protected] Attorney and Counselor-at-Law http://yankel.com Economic Group Pension Services http://egps.com Actuaries and Employee Benefit Consultants
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fredag 18. juli 2003, 22:06, skrev Nachman Yaakov Ziskind:
Quoted 2 lines
Anyone out there with tips on how to resolve this? Perhaps I can force the kernel to think that DMA has been disabled?
No tips, I'm afraid, but don't even *think* about doing that.
As the technician said, the problem is with the chipset not accepting commands properly; fortunately, the kernel appears to catch the situation and avoid (potential) severe damage.
Forcing the kernel to act as if DMA is fully disabled when in fact it isn't sounds like a very bad idea indeed; the best you could probably hope for is to have the machine crash without losing any data.
My suggestion is this: As the hardware is obviously broken, and disabling DMA would cause a horrendous performance drop anyway, you should get a new chipset. Return the one you have as broken.
If that isn't an option, for whatever reason, you might try switching to a lower-speed DMA mode using hdparm. Something like "hdparm -Xudma0 /dev/hdx" might help, if you're lucky.
- - Svein Ove Aas
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Quoted 3 lines · Svein Ove Aas
My suggestion is this: As the hardware is obviously broken, and disabling DMA would cause a horrendous performance drop anyway, you should get a new chipset. Return the one you have as broken.
Update to 2.4.20. That will put IDE disks into MWDMA2 on the Serverworks OSB4 and avoid the mistrigger with CD-ROM errors. The later serverworks (CSB5, CSB6) is fine btw but can hit the CD-ROM mistrigger too
Alan Cox wrote (on Fri, Jul 18, 2003 at 11:54:46PM +0100):
Quoted 8 lines · Svein Ove Aas
Quoted 3 lines
My suggestion is this: As the hardware is obviously broken, and disabling DMA would cause a horrendous performance drop anyway, you should get a new chipset. Return the one you have as broken.
Update to 2.4.20. That will put IDE disks into MWDMA2 on the Serverworks OSB4 and avoid the mistrigger with CD-ROM errors. The later serverworks (CSB5, CSB6) is fine btw but can hit the CD-ROM mistrigger too
I just did. Happiness is a machine that reboots remotely. Emboldened by my success, I started a backup. Works like a charm, too. I hope my luck holds up!
How sweet it is.
Thanks to all who responded.
Signature · 5 lines
_________________________________________ Nachman Yaakov Ziskind, EA, LLM [email protected] Attorney and Counselor-at-Law http://yankel.com Economic Group Pension Services http://egps.com Actuaries and Employee Benefit Consultants