# sata_sil , siimage , seagate , k3b...is there a...[solved]

## merlinux

Hi to all!

I'm triyng to solve a problem that afflicts my pc from a couple of week...the time i discovered it from!

I have a silicon image sata adapter with the "famous" 3112A chip connected to my seagate ST3160812AS sata hd.

All the system is based on a MSI nforce2 chipset motherboard.

Here is my lspci :

bucefalo ~ # lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (different version?) (rev c1)

00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 1 (rev c1)

00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 4 (rev c1)

00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 3 (rev c1)

00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 2 (rev c1)

00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 5 (rev c1)

00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 ISA Bridge (rev a4)

00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation nForce2 SMBus (MCP) (rev a2)

00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4)

00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4)

00:02.2 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4)

00:04.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Ethernet Controller (rev a1)

00:05.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce Audio Processing Unit (rev a2)

00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AC97 Audio Controler (MCP) (rev a1)

00:08.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 External PCI Bridge (rev a3)

00:09.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation nForce2 IDE (rev a2)

00:0d.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): nVidia Corporation nForce2 FireWire (IEEE 1394) Controller (rev a3)

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (rev c1)

01:06.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 02)

01:06.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 02)

01:09.0 RAID bus controller: Silicon Image, Inc. SiI 3112 [SATALink/SATARaid] Serial ATA Controller (rev 02)

01:0a.0 Modem: Motorola SM56 Data Fax Modem (rev 04)

03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 MX 440] (rev a3)

Now the problem is i can't burn dvds in the right way , in the sense that the buffer goes up and down and the result is a bad dvd with read  errors.

Moreover while i burn a dvd the cpu usage goes to 100% and i was unable to do anything else!

1) DMA problem? ....i have dma active on every drive  :

(the device labels is "strange" because now i'm using siimage module with ide=reverse kernel boot option....)

bucefalo ~ # hdparm /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 multcount     = 16 (on)

 IO_support    =  0 (default 16-bit)

 unmaskirq     =  0 (off)

 using_dma     =  1 (on)

 keepsettings  =  0 (off)

 readonly      =  0 (off)

 readahead     = 256 (on)

 geometry      = 19457/255/63, sectors = 312581808, start = 0

bucefalo ~ # hdparm /dev/hdh

/dev/hdh:

 IO_support    =  1 (32-bit)

 unmaskirq     =  1 (on)

 using_dma     =  1 (on)

 keepsettings  =  0 (off)

 readonly      =  0 (off)

 readahead     = 256 (on)

 HDIO_GETGEO failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device

bucefalo ~ # hdparm /dev/hdg

/dev/hdg:

 IO_support    =  1 (32-bit)

 unmaskirq     =  1 (on)

 using_dma     =  1 (on)

 keepsettings  =  0 (off)

 readonly      =  0 (off)

 readahead     = 256 (on)

 HDIO_GETGEO failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device

2) Low transfer speed???.......:

bucefalo ~ # hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Timing cached reads:   664 MB in  2.00 seconds = 331.77 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:   52 MB in  3.02 seconds =  17.25 MB/sec

bucefalo ~ # hdparm -tT /dev/hdh

/dev/hdh:

 Timing cached reads:   642 MB in  2.00 seconds = 321.00 MB/sec

BLKFLSBUF failed: Function not implemented

 Timing buffered disk reads:    8 MB in  3.46 seconds =   2.32 MB/sec

BLKFLSBUF failed: Function not implemented

/dev/hdg:

 Timing cached reads:   600 MB in  2.00 seconds = 299.91 MB/sec

BLKFLSBUF failed: Function not implemented

 Timing buffered disk reads:   16 MB in  3.09 seconds =   5.17 MB/sec

BLKFLSBUF failed: Function not implemented

It's a low speed? Really i don't know , but , thrust me , there's no way to increase it!

3) Driver problem?

I recompile a lot of kernel using libata(sata_sil module) and no-libata (siimage module) but without result!

kernel-2.6.17.14-vanilla

kernel-2.6.21-gentoo

kernel-2.6.21-gentoo-r1

kernel-2.6.21-gentoo-r3

kernel-2.6.21-gentoo-r3-jmicron  <------  to use an ide-to-sata adapter

kernel-2.6.21-gentoo-r3-knx <--------- using a knoppix-like configuration

kernel-2.6.21-gentoo-r3-no-libata  <------- siimage module 

kernel-2.6.21-gentoo-r3_Sata_only <-------- sata_sil module

kernel-2.6.21-gentoo-r3_test

kernel-2.6.22-rc1-mm1

kernel-2.6.22-rc4-vanilla

kernel-2.6.22-rc6-mm1

kernel-2.6.22-rc6-vanilla

I obtained good result with a knoppix 5.0 livecd :

/dev/hdd:

 Timing cached reads:   1560 MB in  2.00 seconds = 780.24 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:   16 MB in  3.30 seconds =   4.85 MB/sec

/dev/sda:

 Timing cached reads:   1572 MB in  2.00 seconds = 785.75 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:  208 MB in  3.01 seconds =  69.19 MB/sec

/dev/hdc:

 Timing cached reads:   1292 MB in  2.00 seconds = 646.07 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:   16 MB in  3.01 seconds =   5.31 MB/sec

but i read somewhere that this are not realistic values due to the old hdparm version.

4) A driver bug?

Actually i use 2.6.21-gentoo-r3 kernel without libata , because the sata_sil module (except using mm-sources) produces an "abnormal status" error!

Is there someone who has a similar hardware and has the same problems?

Someone who have any idea?

Seems there is someone  https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-537468-highlight-k3b.html , but following his suggestion i'm not able to solve my problems yet!

Sorry for my english , i hope i explain clearly  the situation.

If you need more info...tell me!

Here's my emerge --info:

bucefalo ~ # emerge --info

Portage 2.1.3_rc6 (default-linux/x86/no-nptl, gcc-4.1.2, glibc-2.5-r3, 2.6.21-gentoo-r3 i686)

=================================================================

System uname: 2.6.21-gentoo-r3 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2500+

Gentoo Base System release 1.12.10

Timestamp of tree: Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:20:01 +0000

dev-java/java-config: 1.3.7, 2.0.33-r1

dev-lang/python:     2.4.4-r4

dev-python/pycrypto: 2.0.1-r5

sys-apps/sandbox:    1.2.18.1

sys-devel/autoconf:  2.13, 2.61

sys-devel/automake:  1.4_p6, 1.5, 1.6.3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.6-r2, 1.10

sys-devel/binutils:  2.17

sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.3.16

sys-devel/libtool:   1.5.24

virtual/os-headers:  2.6.21

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86 ~x86"

AUTOCLEAN="yes"

CBUILD="i686-pc-linux-gnu"

CFLAGS="-O3 -march=athlon-xp -m3dnow -msse -mfpmath=sse -mmmx -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer -funroll-loops"

CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"

CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/3.5/env /usr/kde/3.5/share/config /usr/kde/3.5/shutdown /usr/share/X11/xkb /usr/share/config"

CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/env.d /etc/env.d/java/ /etc/gconf /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/terminfo /etc/texmf/web2c"

CXXFLAGS="-O3 -march=athlon-xp -m3dnow -msse -mfpmath=sse -mmmx -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer -funroll-loops"

DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"

FEATURES="distlocks metadata-transfer sandbox sfperms strict unmerge-orphans"

GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://distfiles.gentoo.org http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/gentoo"

LINGUAS="it en_GB"

MAKEOPTS="-j2"

PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"

PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --delete-after --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages --filter=H_**/files/digest-*"

PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"

PORTDIR="/usr/portage"

PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/portage/local/layman/sunrise /usr/local/portage"

SYNC="rsync://rsync.europe.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"

USE="3dnow 3dnowext 7zip X a52 aac accessibility ace acpi adsl aiglx alsa amarok ao aoss apm aqua_theme arts artswrappersuid artworkextra asf audacious audiofile background berkdb binary-drivers bitmap-fonts blender-game bluetooth bonjour bonobo boost buttons bzip2 cairo calendar caps cardbus cdda cddb cdinstall cdr cdrom cdsound cli colordiff corba cpudetection cracklib crypt css cups curl cursors cvs dbus depth32 dga dhcp dict directfb divx dnotify dri dts dv dvb dvbplayer dvd dvdr dvdread dvi eap-tls eds emboss emoticon emovix encode exo expat extraicons fat fax fbcon fbdev fbsplash ffmpeg firefox flac flash fontconfig foomaticdb fortran gatos gdbm gdm gedit gif gimp gmail gnome gnuplot gpm graphviz groupwise gstreamer gtk gtk2 gtkhtml gzip h323 hal hddtemp iconv id3 ieee1394 imagemagick imlib immqt-bc ipv6 isdnlog jpeg jpeg2k kde lame latex libcaca libg++ libnotify libwww live lm_sensors lzo mad matroska meanwhile midi mikmod mjpeg mmap mmx mmxext motif mozilla mozsha1 mp3 mp4 mp4live mpd mpeg mpeg2 mplayer msn mudflap musepack music ncurses nls nsplugin ntfs nvidia ogg opengl openmp openntpd openssh oss pam pcre pdf perl png pppd python qq qt3 qt3support qt4 quicktime rar readline real realmedia reflection reiserfs sdl sensord session silc sound speex spell spl sse ssl subtitles subversion svg tcpd tetex theora threads thumbnail thunar-vfs trace transcode truetype truetype-fonts twolame type1-fonts unicode unzip usb v4l v4l2 vcd vidix vorbis wavpack wifi win32codecs wma wmp wxgtk1 wxwindows x264 x86 xanim xinerama xml xorg xscreensaver xterm xv xvid xvmc yv12 zip zvbi" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1 emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" ELIBC="glibc" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LINGUAS="it en_GB" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="nvidia vesa vga"

Unset:  CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LANG, LC_ALL, LDFLAGS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS

thank you in advance

P.s. 

I've burned dvd with k3b and gnomebaker....it's the same thing!Last edited by merlinux on Thu Jul 05, 2007 7:27 am; edited 1 time in total

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## didymos

What are the BIOS settings for the IDE/SATA controllers?

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## merlinux

Hi!

The bios has no support for sata because the controller is a pci card.

So it "don't see" the sata hd.

I have never updated the bios ..... i have to?

Probably it can be useful....i'll try.

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## didymos

I'm not familiar with that card, but sometimes they have their own BIOS and it's configurable.

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## merlinux

I've just cheked on msi site and ther is no bios uodate available.

My motherboard is a MSI-K7N2 http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=519&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=171&cat3_no=89

but the serial number of the model on the site is not equal to mine.....my motherbord is MS-6729-IL ATX (i read it from the manual) and on the site is available only the bios for MS-6570 series.

?????

I'll try to find something more , but i think it' difficult.

......but i think you're talking about the controller card , right?

In this case , yes , it has a bios , but it's only to make arrays for raid and nothing else , it is accessible with ctrl+s during the boot.

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## merlinux

Hi!

There are good news!

I found a more recent version of the bios http://www.msi-technology.de/produkte/main_idx_view.php?Prod_id=290&Seite=BIOS , but i think it's not necessary to update , because this bios update is made only to support sempron.

Anyway , i don't know how and why the cpu usage seems to come back in the normal range!?!

I haven't do nothing!

I suppose it depends from the space i free on the hd....it's possible?

The buffer continues to go up and down but now doesn't go under the minimum of the 30%

Opinions , suggestions and explanations are appreciate.

Thank you

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