Sudden wierd SATA problem on RELENG_7 (Re: ZFS hanging at kernel boot now, but didn't before... (Re: ZFS MFC heads up))

[Joe Karthauser]

Hi Alexander,

I've love it if you were able to provide some insight into this problem.

I'm going to try switching sata cables around next to see if the problem 
goes away if I disconnect some combination of bays.

Thanks,
Joe

on 22/05/2009 19:39 Kip Macy said the following:
> Motin is your best bet in tracking down ATA problems.
>
> Cheers,
> Kip
>
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 10:40 AM, Joe Karthauser<joe at freebsd.org>  wrote:
>> Hi Kip,
>>
>> I seriously don't understand what has happened. If I boot kernel.old I still
>> get the same problem. Very confusing. :(.
>>
>> Joe
>>
>> on 21/05/2009 19:28 Kip Macy said the following:
>>> I have no idea what is happening. I think our best bet is having
>>> someone with insight into ATA provide us with help in adding
>>> diagnostics.
>>>
>>> Sorry for the trouble. Perhaps you can just roll back to 7.2 for now.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Kip
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 10:50 AM, Joe Karthauser<joe at freebsd.org>    wrote:
>>>> Hmm, I've had a bit of a miserable afternoon trying to fight my RELENG_7
>>>> server, which now doesn't boot. :(.
>>>>
>>>> So, it's a ZRAID2 pool with a ufs/gmirror root partition split over 5
>>>> disks
>>>> (gmirror on 500Mb partition on each of five disks, and zraid2 over the
>>>> rest
>>>> of each drive).
>>>>
>>>> What I did was to update the userland, and then reboot. I didn't upgrade
>>>> the
>>>> kernel (but I've subsequently done that and have the same problem).
>>>>
>>>> What happens is that the kernel hangs booting just after displaying a
>>>> LABEL
>>>> message or ZFS pool/spool message. I _can_ get it to boot if I boot
>>>> single
>>>> user with acpi switched off. When I do that I can manually start zfs, and
>>>> mount all the partitions. However, one of the disks is missing.... more
>>>> on
>>>> that next.
>>>>
>>>> The machine is running a gigabyte motherboard (domestic gamer P35 board,
>>>> similar to this
>>>>
>>>> http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2533,
>>>> although it might be a DS4 variant).  I've got 5 of the 6 sata ports
>>>> wired
>>>> to a 5 unit SATA hot swap bay (5 drives vertially mounted into 3 5-1/4"
>>>> bays
>>>> kind of thing).
>>>>
>>>> Now, because of the gmirror I can boot the system on any disk, or
>>>> combination of plugged in disks. I should be able to succeed with the
>>>> kernel probe up to the attempt to mount the root filesystem irrespective
>>>> of
>>>> any zfs pool, etc. And, indeed, this has been working fine for about two
>>>> years.
>>>>
>>>> But, now it hangs in the same place no matter what disk I boot on (I've
>>>> tried every bay).
>>>>
>>>> But, without ACPI enabled it does appear to boot ok... what's going on
>>>> here?
>>>> Is it possible that the machine has developed a hardware fault?
>>>>
>>>> Ok, finally, if I boot with ACPI disabled then one of the disks is
>>>> missing.
>>>> If I unplug it I get a disconnect message from the ata device, and a
>>>> reconnect and reinit attempt when I plug it back in, but no device
>>>> appears
>>>> on the bus. Usually I can do a 'atacontrol detach sata4; sleep 1;
>>>> atacontrol
>>>> attach sata4' and the device reappears. This happens on the other buses,
>>>> but
>>>> not on the last one. It's not the disk, because if I swap it into another
>>>> bay, it comes up and appears on the bus. On the other hand it doesn't
>>>> appear
>>>> to be that controller or slow in the drive bay because if I unplug all
>>>> the
>>>> over disks the system will boot that disk and get as far as the hang....
>>>> hmm.
>>>>
>>>> Is this a consequence of disabling the ACPI?
>>>>
>>>> Does anyone have a clue what might be going on?
>>>>
>>>> Joe
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
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