ATA resetting when accessing DVDs (VIA 8237A controller)

[Bill Davidsen]

Nico Sabbi wrote:
> Il Sunday 17 February 2008 10:29:03 dexter ha scritto:
>> On Sat February 16 2008 08:50:48 Nico Sabbi wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>> I have those very frequent resets when accessing my IDE dvd, especially
>>> (but not only) after a cold boot.
>>>
>>> UDF-fs INFO UDF 0.9.8.1 (2004/29/09) Mounting volume 'ATONEMENT', timestamp
>>> 2007/11/09 03:21 (103c) ata3.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0
>>> action 0x2 frozen
>>> ata3.00: cmd a0/00:00:00:00:20/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 0 cdb 0x1e data 0
>>>          res 40/00:03:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/b0 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
>>> ata3: soft resetting port
>>> ata3: port is slow to respond, please be patient (Status 0xd0)
>>> ata3: SRST failed (errno=-16)
>>> ata3: soft resetting port
>>> ata3.00: configured for UDMA/33
>>> ata3.01: configured for UDMA/33
>>> ata3: EH complete
>>> ata3.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x2 frozen
>>> ata3.00: cmd a0/00:00:00:00:20/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 0 cdb 0x1e data 0
>>>          res 40/00:03:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/b0 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
>>> ata3: soft resetting port
>>> ata3.00: configured for UDMA/33
>>> ata3.01: configured for UDMA/33
>>>
>>>
>>> Kernel is: Linux xp 2.6.23.9-85.fc8, but the same thing happened with
>>> every kernel come out.
>>> Chipset is:
>>> 00:0f.0 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237A SATA 2-Port
>>> Controller (rev 80) 00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc.
>>> VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 07)
>>>
>>>
>>> What can I do to remove the cause of this problem (except changing
>>> motherboard) ?
>>>
>> It doesn't look that serious 'I think', hit bugzilla and look at these for 
>> more info #243238 #245426 add to or open at your leisure.
>>
>> ...dex
>>
> 
> looking at those bugzilla entries the issue seems to be still unfixed; it is a serious
> problem: every kind of cd/dvd access from that point onward requires a reboot.
> Apparently libata is to blame; I'll recompile the kernel without libata
> (hoping that both SATA and PATA are still accessible) until that bug is fixed 
> 
I had another thought. Unless this is a very old DVD it should be 
running at more than UDMA/33, if it's reasonably new did you check that 
it is on an 80 pin cable instead of a 40? There is a problem identifying 
the cable in some hardware, and a trick to forcing the cable to be 
treated as 80 pin. I probably have that put away somewhere, but I didn't 
find it quickly.

You might have to search LKML for "80 pin cable" or similar. If it's an 
old drive forget I said this. ;-)

-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot