From owner-freebsd-questions Mon Feb 26 22: 2:11 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from va.com.au (va.com.au [203.15.106.1]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6B50A37B420 for ; Mon, 26 Feb 2001 22:02:06 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jesse@va.com.au) Received: from [10.0.1.52] (203.164.93.134) by va.com.au with ESMTP (Eudora Internet Mail Server 2.2.2); Tue, 27 Feb 2001 16:32:00 +1030 Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Sender: jesse@mail.va.com.au Message-Id: In-Reply-To: <016d01c0a13b$3f680d20$6100000a@vladsempire.net> References: <004301c0a133$d945acc0$6100000a@vladsempire.net> <016d01c0a13b$3f680d20$6100000a@vladsempire.net> Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 17:01:13 +1100 To: "Josh Paetzel" , From: jesse reynolds Subject: Re: hardware fault or software problem? (machine freezes) Cc: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG At 10:01 PM -0600 27/2/01, Josh Paetzel wrote: >----- Original Message ----- >From: "jesse reynolds" >To: "Josh Paetzel" ; > >Cc: >Sent: Monday, February 26, 2001 9:21 PM >Subject: Re: hardware fault or software problem? (machine freezes) > > >> At 9:08 PM -0600 27/2/01, Josh Paetzel wrote: >> >----- Original Message ----- >> >From: "jesse reynolds" >> >To: >> >Cc: >> >Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2001 10:14 PM >> >Subject: hardware fault or software problem? (machine freezes) >> > >> > >> >> Hi folx >> >> >> >> Any advice is greatly appreciated here... I have a server that's >> >> about 4 months old. It's started crashing a fair bit, and when >it >> >> crashed it completely freezes instantly, not giving the OS a >change >> >> to log anything, so it doesn't reboot. The soft-power button on >the >> >> front does not turn succeed in turning off the machine, but the >> >reset >> >> button does work, as does ripping the power out of the back! >> >> >> >> This to me sounds like a motherboard issue, but I guess it's >> >possible >> >> it's a software problem. >> > > >> >> What I do get in my messages file is alot of random read errors >from >> >> the primary hard drive, which is running on UDMA/66 (promise >> >> controller onboard a gigabyte motherboard). Is it possible the >> >> hardware or software gives up after a certain number of read >errors? >> >> (each time the read is retried and is fine the second time, and >it's >> >> completely random which block on the hard disk is going to error >> >out). >> >> >> >> I'm running FreeBSD 4.1.1-RELEASE, here is a dmesg. >> >> >> >> My question is should I a) changeover the motherboard, b) >upgrade >> >> FreeBSD, c) both a and b, or d) get completely new hardware >> >> >> >> Thanks! >> >> >> >> -jesse >> > > >> > >> > >> >I would try swapping the controller and cable before replacing the >> >motherboard. >> > >> >Josh >> >> >> The problem here is that the Promise ATA controller is soldered onto >> the motherboard. :-| >> >> Cheers >> >> Jesse > >Yeah, I see now that you already said that. Sorry. Is there anyway >you can get ahold of a PCI promise card and disable the onboard >controller? You need some way to isolate components so you can >troubleshoot this. Hmmm. Yes I can probably do that. I have very limited time though. If I was to get a PCI promise card, what would I do then? Would I be disabling the onboard promise controller in BIOS? ... do you think the read errors are related to the crashing? Cheers Jesse -- Jesse Reynolds - Virtual Artists Pty Ltd - http://www.va.com.au Email: jesse (at) va.com.au > Web Hosting Phone: +61 8 8223 2288 > Streaming Media Hosting ?: http://jesse.va.com.au > Telehousing / Colocation > Internet Application Design "This is the time, and this is the record of the time. " To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message