RE: dp264 disk or raid problem

["Peter Petrakis" <voodoo alphadriven org>]

OK.

You've done quite an exhaustive job ruling out possible failure. Salute :-)

> The RAID controller is an ICP-VORTEX (gdth driver), configured as raid 5,
> 128MB memory. (The system disk is on a separate -non-raid scsi
> controller.)

I am an EXPERT with the ICP-VORTEX on Alpha :-).  The cache ram is ECC? 
When they first shipped their Ultra160 SCSI/RAID they came with regular
PC100 though the can take advantage of ECC as well.
 
> noises, thus I think the drives are physically OK.  This begins to look
> to me like a controller failure.
>
>
> Is there a definitive test for the raid controller? Should I look 
> elsewhere?
 
Run the 'icpcon' utility in Linux and look at the logs. It must have
recorded something. There are a few tests in there that you
can run 'and' you can monitor the disks behavior in real time. 

http://www.vortex.de/ftp/download/linux/icpcona-1.06.gz

If when you run the icpcon utility it says 'cant find controller' 
let me know and I'll send you my updated driver that maps the card 
properly on Alpha.

For the record I've taken these cards to hell and back again in my 
hardware qualification runs and the 'only' time it would fail was
when it exposed flaws in the kernel, little things like interrupt
starvation :-). 

Regarding Bob Lindell's post. He makes a very good point. All of my
work was done under 2.4.12 (if I remember correctly, the DB that used to
house this information at API is no longer in service). So if you want
to use a known good test kernel, that would be a good start. Good luck
and let me know how you progress. 

Peter
--
www.linuxalpha.org	www.alphadriven.org
Peter Petrakis         Warrior/Engineer        voodoo@alphadriven.org
"<BLAM!!> Who the hell are you!? Name's Ash <click clock> Housewares..."