unable to boot 7.0-RELEASE cdrom on supermicro 5015b-mt

Wed Jul 23 19:57:27 UTC 2008

On Wednesday 23 July 2008 01:18:35 Jeremy Chadwick wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 06:47:34PM +0100, ian j hart wrote:
> > On Tuesday 22 July 2008 17:37:24 Jeremy Chadwick wrote:
> > > On Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 05:27:52PM +0100, ian j hart wrote:
> > > > Same hardware as my other thread.
> > > > http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/1U/5015/SYS-5015B-MT.cfm
> > > >
> > > > [using 2Gb RAM and SATA in legacy mode]
> > > >
> > > > I'd like to focus only on making the CDROM boot complete.
> > > >
> > > > Summary: hangs just after the CPUs are launched.
> > > >
> > > > 6.2-RELEASE	works okay, no AHCI support
> > > > 6.3-RELEASE	works okay
> > > > 7.0-RELEASE	hangs
> > > > 7.0-STABLE-200806-SNAPSHOT	hangs
> > > > 8.0-CURRENT-200806-SNAPSHOT	hangs
> > > >
> > > > I thought I could do a binary search using the current snapshot
> > > > boot-only CDs but they only go back to March. Are there any older
> > > > ones available?
> > >
> > > Have you tried disabling ACPI to see if it makes any sort of
> > > difference?
> >
> > Yes, but I'm happy to re-try.
> >
> > Which method is "best"? Or is it 1 + 2 or 3?
> >
> > 1) BIOS
> > 2) Beastie menu option
> > 3) loader prompt set hint
>
> Item #2 is the easiest.  You should really be able to leave the BIOS
> settings at their defaults (Factory Defaults) and have this system work
> on FreeBSD.
>
> Items #2 and #3 are the same.  The loader menu option for disabling ACPI
> simply sets the hint.
>
> > > Also, AHCI should work just fine on those systems -- I know because I
> > > have fairly extensive experience with Supermicro hardware, although
> > > what you're using is newer than what I presently have.  I don't know
> > > why you're setting Compatible/Legacy mode on your controller (you
> > > mention doing this in your other thread as well).
> >
> > Because I don't know what's wrong yet and AHCI support is newer than SATA
> > support and this is a newish board? [At least 6.2 doesn't seem to support
> > it and it has an AHCI legacy option!]
> >
> > I'd be happy to swap this over. Slight problem; the drives get
> > renumbered, so I'd rather not swap back and forth.
>
> You *absolutely* should have AHCI enabled.  There's a lot of reasons
> why, too.  I highly recommend avoiding the "SATA Compatible" mode.
>
> AHCI should work fine on FreeBSD 6.3 as well as 7.0 -- I know, because
> we have many Supermicro boards running those versions which do have AHCI
> enabled.  Please use it, and stick with it.
>
> Here's added proof that AHCI works fine on 6.3:
>
> $ dmesg -a | grep -i ahci
> atapci1: <Intel AHCI controller> port
> 0x30e8-0x30ef,0x30dc-0x30df,0x30e0-0x30e7,0x30d8-0x30db,0x30b0-0x30bf mem
> 0xe0000400-0xe00007ff irq 19 at device 31.2 on pci0 atapci1: AHCI Version
> 01.10 controller with 4 ports detected
> $ uname -r -s
> FreeBSD 6.3-PRERELEASE
>
> The adX device renumbering is expected.  There are workarounds for this,
> but I recommend you simply enable AHCI.  Do not keep toggling it on/off.
>
> > > Below is what we use on our systems; factory defaults, then make the
> > > following changes.  (The G-LAN1 OPROM option you can do whatever you
> > > want with -- it's specific to our environment).
> > >
> > > * Main
> > >     * Date
> > >          --> Set to GMT, not local time!!!
> > >     * Serial ATA
> > >          --> SATA Controller Mode --> Enhanced
> > >          --> SATA AHCI --> Enabled
> > >
> > > * Advanced
> > >     * Boot Features
> > >          --> Quiet Mode --> Disabled
> > >          --> Enable Multimedia Timer --> Enabled
> > >     * PCI Configuration
> > >          --> Onboard G-LAN1 OPROM --> Disabled
> > >          --> Large Disk Access Mode --> Other
> > >     * Advanced Processor Options
> > >          --> Intel(R) Virtualization Technology --> Enabled
> > >          --> C1 Enhanced Mode --> Enabled
> >
> > I've got as close as I can to this.
> >
> > This board also has an AHCI legacy option [disabled] which hides ports 5
> > and 6. I also disabled quickboot and POST errors. I assume multimedia
> > timer is the same as HPET. Doesn't seem to be any disk translation
> > option. I took the fans off 'flat out'.
>
> Okay, I've had a chance to review the board manual that comes with the
> X7SBi.  You should set the following:
>
> Serial ATA: Enabled
> Native Mode Operation: Serial ATA
> SATA AHCI: Enabled
> SATA AHCI Legacy: Disabled
>
> The name "SATA AHCI Legacy" a horrible name for what it does.  The ICH9
> itself has support for 6 SATA ports, but (if I remember correctly, based
> on reading some Intel design documents) there are extra registers you
> have to tweak to get those ports to work, and the OS has to be fully
> aware of how to do that.  The BIOS option simply disables SATA ports 5
> and 6 altogether; the underlying OS never sees them.  I'd recommend
> keeping that setting Disabled (the default) unless you have disks on
> those ports (I don't see how, since it's a 4-disk system!).
>
> I don't think this option is what's causing you problems, though.
>
> "Multimedia Timer" is indeed HPET.  Looks like they changed the name to
> be more reflective of what it actually is.
>
> The "Large Disk Access" mode does appear to be missing from that BIOS,
> probably for a good reason.  I can enable/disable it on our boards with
> no repercussions (the options are "DOS" and "Other", which is why I
> choose "Other").  I'm not entirely sure what it does.
>
> As for your problem...
>
> If the CDROM is the problem (which would be odd, since the disc does
> boot and load the kernel successfully), can you try going into the BIOS
> and setting IDE Channel 0 Master (which I think is the CDROM -- I could
> be wrong here) and set "Transfer Mode" to PIO1 and "Ultra DMA Mode" to
> Disabled?
>
> I have a feeling the problem isn't related to the CDROM, but I'm not
> entirely sure how to debug it.

I tried each BIOS setting in turn. No joy.

I tried a 40 wire cable. No joy

I tried an old CDROM (Mitsumi FX4830T circa Feb 2001). No joy

Had a feeling that the drive always came up as UDMA33.

Tried setting hw.ata.atapi_dma=0

Wahay! <cue halleluyah chorus>

The drive throws errors but it boots.

Did an install, and that hangs too without this setting in /boot/loader.conf.

Frankly I'm kicking myself for not trying this earlier. That's ~16 hours I'll 
never get back. OTOH this has been the default for a long time now.

Thank you Jeremy, I wouldn't have got there without you.

>
> There are other users using the X7SBi with success:
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/mailing.freebsd.current/browse_thread/thread
>/d0a2d20f8965361a http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=666686
>
> Also, can you make sure your BIOS revision is 1.1a, just to rule out any
> BIOS-related issues?

-- 
ian j hart