New server keeps panicking

[Derek Ragona]

Bill,

My answers are below . . .

At 08:36 AM 5/7/03 -0400, Bill Moran wrote:
>Derek Ragona wrote:
>>I am installing a new server, it is using an Intel SE7501WV2 motherboard 
>>with on-board SCSI.  This Motherboard has 2 intel Xeon 2.66 GHz CPU's.
>
>You don't mention the make/model of the SCSI controller.  I'm guessing that
>it's obscured by the fact that it's an onboard.

It is an Adaptec 7902 that is on the Motherboard.


>>The system has one IDE CD-ROM, and one SCSI U320 hard disk.  The SCSI 
>>disk is cabled using an Adaptec U320 cable, with terminator.
>
>Verify your termination: that the card is configured to be a terminator
>at its end, and the drives _aren't_.
>Borked termination can cause all manner of unpredictable SCSI failures.

I know termination is important.  The cable has an active terminator, and 
the card is also terminated.


>>I have tried installing FreeBSD version 5.0 release, but it kept 
>>panicking with SCSI disk write error messages.  So I tried again, 
>>installing this time version 4.8 release.  The 4.8 had the same problems.
>
>On a whim: use the bios to set the SCSI controller to use SCSI-160 speed
>instead and see if it works then.  It's possible that 320 isn't supported
>on that card yet.  This is a "wild guess"/"gut feeling" thing, though, so
>don't get upset if it's not the cause.

I will try that.  I already tried on a similar whim turning off the 
hyperthreading support in the Xeon's.


>>Is there something I need to do because of the SCSI disk system?  Or is 
>>it the two CPU's?
>>The error I get is a block cannot be written, it is out of range.  The 
>>system actually locks up, something I have never seen FreeBSD do.
>
>Sounds more like SCSI than CPU.
>
>>I looked and don't see any issues about this motherboard or U320 drives 
>>in the problem reports or message archives.
>
>It's also possible that your motherboard is faulty.  Did it come with any
>diagnostic utilities or anything?
>Bad hardware has a bad habit of sneaking in and making life difficult, and
>it can be very difficult to detect!

I ran full diagnostics on the motherboard.  It passes all tests.


>--
>Bill Moran
>Potential Technologies
>http://www.potentialtech.com
>