7.1-BETA2 installation on ASUS P4S8X fails BIG MEDIUM ERROR

[Al Plant]

Jeremy Chadwick wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 04, 2008 at 12:46:43PM -1000, Al Plant wrote:
>> Jeremy Chadwick wrote:
>>> On Tue, Nov 04, 2008 at 08:13:34AM -1000, Al Plant wrote:
>>>> Julien Cigar wrote:
>>>>> I've this problem too on almost all my machines. The only solution I've
>>>>> found is to disable DMA (atapi_dma), but then performances are very poor
>>>>> (and I'm still unable to burn a CD/DVD)
>>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, 2008-11-04 at 16:03 +0100, Christoph Kukulies wrote:
>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> don't know whether it's the CDROM drive (a Creative 52x mx) or 
>>>>>> the  motherboard (ASUS P4S8X) or what.
>>>>>> Anyway, I tried to install a recent version of FreeBSD 
>>>>>> (7.1-BETA2) and the installation
>>>>>> hangs right in the boot process of the installation CD disc1.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I see
>>>>>>
>>>>>> acd0: FAILURE - READ BIG MEDIUM ERROR asc=0x11 ascq=0x00
>>>>>> run_interrupt_driven_hooks: still waiting after 60 seconds for xpt_config
>>>>>> run_interrupt_driven_hooks: still waiting after 120 seconds for xpt_config
>>>>>> run_interrupt_driven_hooks: still waiting after 180 seconds for xpt_config
>>>>>>
>>>>>> and so on.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Any clues?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Christoph Kukulies
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> freebsd-questions at freebsd.org mailing list
>>>>>> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
>>>>>> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"
>>>> ############
>>>>
>>>> Aloha,
>>>>
>>>> I have had similiar happen on 7 and 8 Freebsd installs recently.
>>>>
>>>> If you install using safe mode it will work. Then in /boot/loader.conf
>>>>
>>>> #boot/loader.conf
>>>> hw.ata.ata-dma=0
>>>> hw.ata.atapi_dma=0
>>> There is no hw.ata.ata-dma tunable.  I think you mean hw.ata.ata_dma
>>> (note: underscore, not hyphen).  If you really are using hw.ata.ata-dma,
>>> it does nothing.  :-)
>>>
>>> Also folks, please remember that "ATA DMA" is for hard disks, and
>>> "ATAPI DMA" is for ATAPI devices (CD/DVD drives).  
>>>
>>> Error messages from xpt_* functions are from by the ATAPI-to-CAM
>>> emulation layer (think: SCSI emulation for ATAPI devices), but are
>>> likely signs of underlying compatibility problems between the CD/DVD
>>> drive and FreeBSD, and not the fault of atapicam(4).
>>>
>>> I'm not sure if there's a loader hint to disable xpt.
>>>
>>>> The error that comes up when you burn a CD seems to be bogus as I 
>>>> have  used the CD's with out error for installing on other boxes.
>>> The "READ BIG MEDIUM ERROR" often indicates that the CD/DVD drive does
>>> not support a specific read operation mode; some CD/DVD manufacturers
>>> don't implement this command for various reasons.
>>>
>> Aloha Jeremy,
>>
>> Thanks for catching the - vs _ .
>>
>> I hear  you, but I have to do the hw settings like above or the servers  
>> wont boot they stick at a db>
>> or mountroot>
> 
> Those are two very different things.  A db> prompt indicates you're
> hitting a kernel panic, while a mountroot> prompt indicates the OS can't
> find your root filesystem.
> 
>> I think the 7 and 8 series OS are looking for SATA and dont like the IDE  
>> drives I use.
> 
> I understand, but what I'm saying is that "hw.ata.ata-dma=0" (note the
> hyphen) is not fixing/solving anything, because it contains a typo.
> 
>> I know the atapi setting is for CD's and These are brand new DVD/CD RW  
>> burners fwiw.
>>
>> A month or so back there were several people on line complaining about
>> this.
>>
>> Maybe one of the FreeBSD  comitters will have a look and see if  
>> something is wrong.
> 
> The "I get dropped to a mountroot prompt" problem has been reported many
> times, and so far there haven't been any indications what causes it to
> happen for people.
> 
_____________

Aloha Jeremy,

The - was not in the installs. I typed it correctly in the several cases 
where it was used.

It will be interesting to see if anybody can find a solution to these 
issues.

I am not a coder just a long time user of FreeBSD, (since 3.*) I think 
it was. It is such a rock solid system that most of us are curious when 
something like this happens and its hard to find out why.

~Al Plant - Honolulu, Hawaii -  Phone:  808-284-2740
   + http://hawaiidakine.com + http://freebsdinfo.org +
   + http://aloha50.net   - Supporting - FreeBSD 6.* - 7.* - 8.* +
   < email: noc at hdk5.net >
"All that's really worth doing is what we do for others."- Lewis Carrol