Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 08:04:34 -0400 From: Andrew Heyn <aheyn@aheyn.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Compaq Proliant 8500 issue with Integrated SMART Array RAIDController (ida) Message-ID: <200504110804.35453.aheyn@aheyn.com> In-Reply-To: <LOBBIFDAGNMAMLGJJCKNOEBDFBAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com> References: <LOBBIFDAGNMAMLGJJCKNOEBDFBAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com>
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On Saturday 09 April 2005 05:35, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: > owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org wrote: > > Hi, > > > > I have a Compaq Proliant 8500 with the integrated SMART Array RAID > > controller. I recall seeing "Symbios" and "ARM" on a chip on the > > center of the PCI module > > must be the > > RAID controller. I > > used to have extreme problems even getting the system to boot > > up until I > > used the SmartStart > > CD and disabled the "Array Accelerator" for my one and only RAID1+0 > > Container. (Before doing this) I would get numerous > > ida0: soft write error and if the system did manage to boot > > up, a process > > might read the disk, and > > forever be stuck in some kernel routine between userland and > > the disk that > > gets a block or whatever. > > Now, I only get an occasional "ida0: soft read/write error" which > > occasionally causes a 15 or so second delay. The "Array > > Accelerator" for > > the Integrated SMART array controller is 8MB of read-only cache. > > Other SMART Array models like the 4200 have battery backed up cache > > that can be user-separated between write and read cache. > > > > I'm wondering if anybody has ever seen the problem mentioned above. > > > > I would hate to have to replace the whole > > PCI module because of some bad controller ram since that darn thing is > > integrated, and would make useless the > > internal bays if another raid card was added. As a note, the contacts > > between the hard drive and the drive module > > have been cleaned out multiple times for all the drives in the > > array. The > > connection between the drive module and > > the back of the computer is sturdy and clean. There are only > > TWO cables in > > this entire system that I know of, and one > > is for the IDE CDROM, and one is for the floppy. So, cabling > > cannot be a > > problem. I also have two working PSUs that > > each have a 120V line going into it, so I doubt it's a lack of > > power. Even > > though 220V is recommended for both of them, > > it works fine with even just one 120V line. > > > > I asked the HP/Compaq forum and they weren't able to give me > > much more of an > > answer than "check the cabling" and "blow > > off the dust" which I found extremely irritating because the > > data is carried > > on copper wires that resemble the pins found > > on an IDE hard drive or floppy, not your standard "cabling." I might > > ultimately be wrong...but I doubt it. > > You should ask Windows questions in a Windows forum. Oh, you aren't > running > Windows on this system? Must be FreeBSD 2.2 then, right? > > Ted > Right now, the machine runs FreeBSD 5.3-RELEASE. I've also tried a specially modified 6.0-CURRENT kernel upon suggestion of Matthew N. Dodd, and FreeBSD 4.11, but the nature of the problem never changed and no more useful information was able to be found. The same thing also happened running linux 2.4.27 and some version of Linux 2.6. I had given up hope that it was a software issue and was trying to see if any of the number of people on this list have ever had a machine that did this, or had details about somebody else's machine that did the same thing also. Also, the ROM on the controller and the primary system BIOS have been updated to the latest available versions. I have also updated the firmwares on the disk drives. Thanks, Andrew
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