Re: "nvmecontrol: format request returned error"message for "nvmecontrol format -f 3 nvme1" on a still-new Optane DC P4800X 1.5T : info and questions

On 7/21/26 11:37, Mark Millard wrote:
> Adding Warner to the To list in order to be sure that he sees it.
> 
> So far as I can tell, Warner seems to be likely to be the only one
> likely to answer on if there is more that I should do for formatting the
> Optane DC P4800X 1.5T based on the below information. So long as he is
> aware of the question, there is no reason for him to elevate the
> priority for when to potentially answer.
> 
> On 7/17/26 13:19, Mark Millard wrote:
>> My attempt to change from (in smartctl output form):
>>
>> Supported LBA Sizes (NSID 0x1)
>> Id Fmt  Data  Metadt  Rel_Perf
>>  0 +     512       0         2
>> . . .
>>
>> to:
>>
>> Supported LBA Sizes (NSID 0x1)
>> Id Fmt  Data  Metadt  Rel_Perf
>> . . .
>>  3 -    4096       0         0
>> . . .
>>
>> reported:
>>
>> # nvmecontrol format -f 3 nvme1
>> nvmecontrol: format request returned error
>>
>> but afterwards shows:
>>
>> Supported LBA Sizes (NSID 0x1)
>> Id Fmt  Data  Metadt  Rel_Perf
>> . . .
>>  3 +    4096       0         0
>> . . .
>>
>> It also shows:
>>
>> Media and Data Integrity Errors:    0
>> Error Information Log Entries:      0
>>
>> Error Information (NVMe Log 0x01, 16 of 64 entries)
>> No Errors Logged
>>
>> dmesg -a shows:
>>
>> # dmesg -a | tail -7
>> nvme1: Resetting controller due to a timeout.
>> nvme1: event="start"
>> nvme1: event="success"
>> nvme1: aborting outstanding admin command
>> nvme1: FORMAT_NVM (80) sqid:0 cid:15 nsid:ffffffff cdw10:00000003
>> cdw11:00000000
>> nvme1: ABORTED_BY_REQUEST (00/07) crd:0 m:0 dnr:1 p:0 sqid:0 cid:15 cdw0:0
>> nvme1: done aborting outstanding admin

I was able to do the low level format via a Dell Ubuntu 22.04 LTS based
Precision P5490 laptop --over one of its USB4/Thunderbolt/PCIe ports--
using the nmve format command with a command line specified large
timeout value. I had to configure the P5490 to not sleep or the like as
well. The formatting took considerable time.

On FreeBSD, "nvmecontrol format -f 3 nvme1" did not seem to have a
variant that could wait for a longer time than the default timeout
appeared to be.

>>
>>
>> Is this a problem for use of the media? Did it likely finish what it was
>> doing? If it did not finish, what may I do about it?

As I understand it now, the FreeBSD error message did indicate that the
formatting was messed up (by being incomplete due to timing out).

>>
>>
>> For reference (after the attempt):
>>
>> === START OF SMART DATA SECTION ===
>> SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
>>
>> SMART/Health Information (NVMe Log 0x02, NSID 0xffffffff)
>> Critical Warning:                   0x00
>> Temperature:                        45 Celsius
>> Available Spare:                    100%
>> Available Spare Threshold:          0%
>> Percentage Used:                    0%
>> Data Units Read:                    22 [11.2 MB]
>> Data Units Written:                 33 [16.8 MB]
>> Host Read Commands:                 862
>> Host Write Commands:                210
>> Controller Busy Time:               0
>> Power Cycles:                       5
>> Power On Hours:                     1
>> Unsafe Shutdowns:                   1
>> Media and Data Integrity Errors:    0
>> Error Information Log Entries:      0
>>
>> and:
>>
>> # nvmecontrol identify -n 1 nvme1
>> Size:                        366284646 blocks
>> Capacity:                    366284646 blocks
>> Utilization:                 366284646 blocks
>> Thin Provisioning:           Not Supported
>> Number of LBA Formats:       7
>> Current LBA Format:          LBA Format #03
>> Metadata Capabilities
>>   Extended:                  Supported
>>   Separate:                  Not Supported
>> Data Protection Caps:        Last Bytes, Type 1
>> Data Protection Settings:    Not Enabled
>> Multi-Path I/O Capabilities: Not Supported
>> Reservation Capabilities:    Not Supported
>> Format Progress Indicator:   Not Supported
>> Deallocate Logical Block:    Read Not Reported
>> Optimal I/O Boundary:        0 blocks
>> NVM Capacity:                0 bytes
>> Globally Unique Identifier:  00000000000000000000000000000000
>> IEEE EUI64:                  5cd2e496b5ea0100
>> LBA Format #00: Data Size:   512  Metadata Size:     0  Performance: Good
>> LBA Format #01: Data Size:   512  Metadata Size:     8  Performance: Good
>> LBA Format #02: Data Size:   512  Metadata Size:    16  Performance: Good
>> LBA Format #03: Data Size:  4096  Metadata Size:     0  Performance: Best
>> LBA Format #04: Data Size:  4096  Metadata Size:     8  Performance: Best
>> LBA Format #05: Data Size:  4096  Metadata Size:    64  Performance: Best
>> LBA Format #06: Data Size:  4096  Metadata Size:   128  Performance: Best
>>
>>
> 
> 


-- 
===
Mark Millard
marklmi at yahoo.com