Disappointed with version 6.0

[Donald J. O'Neill]

On Saturday 11 March 2006 13:38, Peter wrote:
> --- "Donald J. O'Neill" <duncan.fbsd at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > > ad0: DMA limited to UDMA33, device found non-ATA66 cable
> > > ad0: 39205MB <Maxtor 6K040L0 NAR61HA0> at ata0-master UDMA33
> > > acd0: CDROM <GCR-8525B/1.02> at ata0-slave PIO4
> > > ad2: 190782MB <Seagate ST3200826A 3.03> at ata1-master UDMA100
> > > ad3: 286168MB <Seagate ST3300831A 3.03> at ata1-slave UDMA100
> > > Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ad0s1a
> > >
> > > __________________________________________________
> >
> > You've got a problem alright, and you don't even see it.
> >
> > ==========================
> > The ata driver sets the maximum transfer mode supported by the
> > hardware
> > as default.  However the ata driver sometimes warns: ``DMA limited
> > to
> >
> > UDMA33, non-ATA66 cable or device''.  This means that the ata
> > driver has detected that the required 80 conductor cable is not
> > present or could not be detected properly, or that one of the
> > devices on the channel only accepts up to UDMA2/ATA33.
> > ==========================
> >
> > You've got your 40GB Maxtor (you've installed FreeBSD on it), an
> > ATA100
> > device, connected with your CDROM, an ATA33 device. The result is:
> > your
> > boot drive is running at UDMA33 instead of UDMA100. This is not
> > going
> >
> > to work real well, as you can see.
> >
> > Do you really need that 40GB Maxtor? If you do, you're going to
> > have to
> > try adding an ATA controller card into one of your PCI slots and
> > use that to connect your hard drives to.
> >
> > Try removing the 40GB Maxtor and reinstalling FreeBSD on the other
> > two
> > drives. I think that will clear up some problems for you.
>
> Can this be causing the problem with the 300 GB drive on the other
> controller?  What I don't understand is why is there a problem only
> with one drive on the secondary controller?
>
> As for the cdrom, how else can it be connected?  It will ALWAYS be
> slower than the hard disk.  Or do you mean it should just not be
> connected to the boot drive?  I never had such a problem before. 
> I'll move around my drives and see what happens.
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> --
> Peter
>
Hi Peter,

You're going to have to have the cdrom connected, just not with a 
hard-drive or you'll have problems. As for the third hard-drive, that 
may have more to do with the way you set up the system than the 
problems with the connections as they are now. But, if you remove that 
drive and reinstall the system, I think (actually, I know, if you do it 
right) that will clear up a lot of problems. You've got two SATA ports 
on that MB, I think you would have problems then too. If you need that 
40 GB drive, I suggest you go out and get a controller that you can run 
all three drives off of..

What I mean is, if you have the cdrom and the 40GB HD connected to the 
same port, on the same cable, as you have, it will only run at the 
speed of the cdrom. You have to get the HD off of that port. Since 
you've used the slave port with the other two HDs, your only choice is 
to install a Controller card, like a Promise or some other card. I had 
a problem like that at one time and that was the only way to fix it. 
That's why I sent that snippet from the at man page, it tells you 
what's going to happen if you do it this way. I don't think you're 
going to like have at ATA100 drive as the system drive running at 
UDMA33, it just might result in timing problems.

Don

PS At this point I probably can't answer anymore questions, at least not 
today. I've had too many beers and I'm having a tough time typing. I 
can still make sense, I just am having a problem getting it from my 
brain to the e-mail. And I intend to have some more.