[Novalug] Re: Now: Hard Drives are clean

[Ken Kauffman]

noapic was specifically to address advanced interrupt problems around
the video.  I'm not sure how/if it impacts the HD errors.

You are getting the hard drive error because you have set the drives to
an PIO mode, which prevents setting DMA mode (which the kernel tries to
do automatically).

Ken

Jay Hart wrote:
> Both HDDs pass all tests without any problems reported.
> 
> So, now I think that the HDD errors reported in dmesg and /var/log/messages
> are Linux related.
> 
> You think I should run "noapic" and what other option?
> 
> Jay
> 
> 
>> It's having problems activating DMA on the drive.  *If the drive passes
>> a blockcheck, then it's a DMA implementation problem*.  It could be
>> related to the IDE controller or the drive.
>>
>> You told me the other day you were forcing PIO4 -- this could cause this
>> problem depending on how you are doing it.  In PIO4 forced mode (bios?),
>> it will PREVENT dma from being activated.
>>
>> "man hdparm" to adjust the drive accordingly and run hdparm at startup.
>>
>> Ken
>>
>> Jay Hart wrote:
>>> I'll clarify why I'm using X.
>>>
>>> I'm trying to downsize the amount of physical space my PCs take up, so I
>>> decided to get a couple of mini-itx boxes. I plan on replacing a Sun Ultra 2
>>> with one of these boxes, and I plan on replacing a smaller compaq desktop
>>> with
>>> one particular unit I'm trying to setup now.
>>>
>>> So, I have this great desire to know how all my hardware works, basically
>>> goes
>>> back to my days in the Nuclear Navy when not knowing how all my equipment
>>> worked could get me killed.
>>>
>>> Given this, since I am totally unfamilar with the mini-itx line of
>>> motherboards, and Migrus, the maker of my board, I'm learning all there is
>>> to
>>> know about these units. I might be the first person to try to use this
>>> particular board under Linux, though I can't be sure, since I haven't found
>>> any info on them via google.
>>>
>>> I think what I have discovered to date will help me out when I buy the
>>> second
>>> box for my new router/firewall.  I know it will boot and run openbsd, I
>>> tested
>>> this out first.
>>>
>>> The only thing I'm really worried about at this time are those disk errors.
>>> I'm running checks on my drives now.
>>>
>>> Jay
>>>
>>>> Lets clarify this one:
>>>>
>>>> I posted "noapic"
>>>> A P I C = irq routing features
>>>> A C P I = power management features
>>>> I'm not aware of A P C I (see below).
>>>>
>>>> One other thing to do is ensure that your BIOS is set to "NO PNP" or
>>>> equivalent.  This forces BIOS to handle IRQs.  You should really use
>>>> this all the time, even for PnP systems.  Particularly if you implement
>>>> "noapic".
>>>>
>>>> Whenever a video card is switching from standard to frame buffer mode IN
>>>> THE CONSOLE during boot and the screen goes black rather than continuing
>>>> to display, I find that "noapic" will resolve the issue and the fb mode
>>>> displays as expected.
>>>>
>>>> I too was confused by the "X" questions given that this was slated to be
>>>> an E-mail only server.  X is simply a waste of resources *in that
>>>> context*, however it may perhaps an unknown requirement of Jay's that we
>>>> are not privy too.
>>>>
>>>> Ken
>>>>
>>>> gregory pryzby wrote:
>>>>> My compaq server was locking up. I turned off apci and it hasn't
>>>>> locked since.
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sat, Jan 13, 2007 at 10:59:37PM -0500, Jay Hart wrote:
>>>>>>> Try adding "noapic" to the kernel line.
>>>>>> What do you think this would fix?
>>>
>>
> 
> 

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