-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [opensuse-kernel] PATA devices being configured with wrong
UDMA
Date: Mon, 23 May 2011 17:47:48 +1000
From: Basil Chupin
Hi Basil,
Le vendredi 20 mai 2011 16:36, Basil Chupin a écrit :
(Won't go into reasons, but it has to do with openSUSE and audio and pulseaudio and getting different results when installing the same copy of 11.4/KDE on the same system.......but let's not get into this one right now, OK? :-D .) Don't tell me about sound and pulseaudio :(
I won't ever again, I promise (until the next time) :-) .
More seriously, comparisons like this are very difficult to establish, and are often biased by personal experience.
Out of curiosity, did you try a different operating system on the same hardware, to see if it was doing any better with UDMA speed detection?
I had no intention of this going into some sort of a bun-fight over what seems to be a simple matter - and I still have no intention of this going into such a state. I asked a simple question which was about what was the correct format to use in the "libata.force" statement to get both PATA channels working with an 80-wire cable; to show why I was asking the question I gave an extract from the boot.msg log file as well as making the comment that this hassle with the kernel incorrectly deciding that the machine was using a 40-wire cable has been known since at least 2008. I received from you the answer as to what was the correct format to use for this over-riding kernel parameter. Wonderful! But then the (unintended) "fight" started :-D . To save space and time what I deliberately omitted from my original post was that I had the following configuration a couple of weeks before I posted my question: PATA #1 : WD HD with UDMA 133 LG CDROM with UDMA 33 PATA #2: Seagate with UDMA 100 Pioneer DVD-RW UDMA 100 and the kernel was giving me the correct UDMA settings for PATA #1 (UDMA 133/33) [NOTE: 133/33] *without* any "libata fix" but I had to use "libata.force=2:80c" to get the correct UDMA set for PATA #2. This was all fine until I had to replace the LG CDROM (UDMA 33) with the new Pioneer DVD-RW which has UDMA 100. (And this one is for Stefan: NOTE that the UDMA was set correctly on PATA #1 *without* any "libata" fiddles for #1 - so, the chip is working fine, right?) When I did replace the LG CDROM on PATA #1 with a new Pioneer DVD-RW - so that I now had the Maxtor UDMA 133 with the DVD-RW UDMA 100 - the kernel decided that I had a 40-wire cable connected on PATA #1 and made both devices UDMA 33. PATA #2 was still correctly set (to 100/100) by the entry of "libata.force=2:80c".) This is when I posted my message of help for the correct format of the wording to get BOTH channels set to the correct UDMA by the kernel. Now, 2 things are associated with this: (1) how did I learn that the kernel required the fiddle of "libata.force=..."? because I searched the net and found many references to this problem but the one which gave me the most acceptable solution (others where to recompile the kernel after setting the appropriate parameter already existing in the kernel, and applying a patch to the kernel) was the one I found here: http://viktorbalogh.net/blog/other/libata-workaround-limited-to-udma33-due-t... ; (2) why did I ask my question here and not in some "kernel upstream" list? I did so because there is a self-appointed "mail list cop" who inhabits opensuse help mail list and told me off for asking the question about KDE in the opensuse help list but which have been asked in the KDE mail list - which meant that "as good little soldier" I should ask my question about the kernel in *this* mail list to avoid the wrath of that "list cop" :-) . And, secondly, I don't know any "upstream kernel" list nor did I think that I needed to do so just to have a simple question about the correct wording format to use to get the "fix" working. My real problem was in adding my comments about this kernel problem being known for at least 3 years and for which I shall now go and put on my hair-shirt, kneel on a bed of hot ashes and flagellate myself for......oh, I don't know - perhaps several nano seconds or so? :-) . Lastly, you asked if I had this hassle on other distros. The answer is YES - and at least one uses a more up-to-date version of the kernel (eg, Ubuntu). In all cases the only "libata fix" I had to use was to set PATA #2 to be correct, because I still had the LG CDROM on PATA #1 and the UDMA for devices on PATA #1 were being set correctly. However, since getting the new RW on #1 I have not used the other distros so cannot say what the results would be if I did. (I wouldn't be having this drawn out discussion to justify my results/question if I hadn't had to replace the LG CDROM on PATA #1 with the Pioneer DVD-RW :'( . But life wouldn't be so interesting without such little PITAs, would it? :-D ) BC -- "The time has been That, when the brains were out, the man would die," "Macbeth", Shakespeare -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-kernel+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-kernel+help@opensuse.org