--- Begin Message ---
- To: submit@bugs.debian.org
- Subject: lenny problem with nforce 730a, 780a, and other recent chipsets.
- From: Craig Sanders <cas@taz.net.au>
- Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:38:06 +1000
- Message-id: <20080814123806.GH11779@taz.net.au>
Package: installation-reports
Boot method: netboot CD, then USB stick, then full CD-1
Image version: http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/lenny_di_beta2/amd64/iso-cd/debian-LennyBeta2-amd64-CD-1.iso
Date: 2008-08-14 mid-afternoon
i tried Lenny beta2 (netboot and CD-1), and the daily build for USB
stick as at Aug 14 approx 3pm (GMT+10)
Machine: ASUS M3N78-EH motherboard, 2xMaxtor 300GB SATA drives, SATA DVDRW
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+
Memory: 2GB
Partitions: / on RAID-1, /boot on RAID-1, /video/1 and /video/2 just XFS mounts (it's a mythtv box - don't need raid for TV data, need bulk storage)
indra:~# df -Tlh
Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/md1 ext3 28G 4.1G 23G 16% /
tmpfs tmpfs 1005M 0 1005M 0% /lib/init/rw
udev tmpfs 10M 120K 9.9M 2% /dev
tmpfs tmpfs 1005M 0 1005M 0% /dev/shm
/dev/md0 ext2 89M 21M 64M 25% /boot
/dev/sda4 xfs 248G 4.2M 248G 1% /video/1
/dev/sdb4 xfs 248G 4.2M 248G 1% /video/2
indra:~# sfdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 36483 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0
Device Boot Start End #cyls #blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 0+ 11 12- 96358+ fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sda2 12 497 486 3903795 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3 498 4144 3647 29294527+ fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sda4 4145 36482 32338 259754985 83 Linux
Disk /dev/sdb: 36483 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0
Device Boot Start End #cyls #blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 0+ 11 12- 96358+ fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sdb2 12 497 486 3903795 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb3 498 4144 3647 29294527+ fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sdb4 4145 36482 32338 259754985 83 Linux
indra:~# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [linear] [raid0] [raid1] [raid10] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4]
md1 : active raid1 sdb3[1] sda3[0]
29294400 blocks [2/2] [UU]
md0 : active raid1 sdb1[1] sda1[0]
96256 blocks [2/2] [UU]
unused devices: <none>
indra:~# cat /proc/swaps
Filename Type Size Used Priority
/dev/sda2 partition 3903784 0 -1
/dev/sdb2 partition 3903784 0 -2
(a lot of swap space because i intend to try getting suspend-to-disk running)
Output of lspci -knn (or lspci -nn):
# lspci -knn
00:00.0 RAM memory [0500]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:0754] (rev a2)
00:01.0 ISA bridge [0601]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:075c] (rev a2)
00:01.1 SMBus [0c05]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:0752] (rev a1)
00:01.2 RAM memory [0500]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:0751] (rev a1)
00:01.3 Co-processor [0b40]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:0753] (rev a2)
00:01.4 RAM memory [0500]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:0568] (rev a1)
00:02.0 USB Controller [0c03]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:077b] (rev a1)
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
00:02.1 USB Controller [0c03]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:077c] (rev a1)
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:04.0 USB Controller [0c03]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:077d] (rev a1)
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
00:04.1 USB Controller [0c03]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:077e] (rev a1)
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:06.0 IDE interface [0101]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:0759] (rev a1)
Kernel driver in use: AMD_IDE
00:07.0 Audio device [0403]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:0774] (rev a1)
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
00:08.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:075a] (rev a1)
00:09.0 IDE interface [0101]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:0ad0] (rev a2)
Kernel driver in use: ahci
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:0760] (rev a2)
Kernel driver in use: forcedeth
Kernel modules: forcedeth
00:10.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:0778] (rev a1)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
00:12.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:075b] (rev a1)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
00:13.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:077a] (rev a1)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration [1022:1100]
00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map [1022:1101]
00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller [1022:1102]
00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control [1022:1103]
Kernel driver in use: k8temp
Kernel modules: k8temp
01:07.0 Multimedia video controller [0400]: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture [109e:036e] (rev 11)
Kernel driver in use: bttv
Kernel modules: bttv
01:07.1 Multimedia controller [0480]: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture [109e:0878] (rev 11)
Kernel driver in use: bt878
Kernel modules: bt878
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:06e4] (rev a1)
Kernel driver in use: nvidia
Kernel modules: nvidia
Base System Installation Checklist:
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
Initial boot: [E]
Detect network card: [E]
Configure network: [ ]
Detect CD: [E]
Load installer modules: [ ]
Detect hard drives: [E]
Partition hard drives: [ ]
Install base system: [ ]
Clock/timezone setup: [ ]
User/password setup: [ ]
Install tasks: [ ]
Install boot loader: [ ]
Overall install: [E]
Comments/Problems:
the errors above were from my initial attempts. i eventually found the
solution, after several hours of stuffing around. this report is so that
it is documented for the next poor sod to run into the problem.
the Asus M3N78-EH has an nforce 730a chipset. SATA support for this
chipset is sadly lacking in kernels below 2.6.26. scanning for the disks
(hard disk AND DVD) gets 'qc timeout' and something about failed to
IDENTIFY. and numerous retries.
error messages a lot like this:
[ 4.276000] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
[ 4.288000] ata1.00: qc timeout (cmd0xec)
[ ... ] ata1.00: failed to IDENTIFY (I/O error, err_mask=0x4)
[ ... ] ata1.00: failed to recover some devices
with numerous retries for each of ata1 to ata6
eventually the kernel boots up and the screen blanks. and stays blank
until you press ^C. dunno what the installer is doing, but ^C kills
it and then you get the usual installer menu.
I eventually found similar problems in bug reports for ubuntu:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/231159
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/189987
and the answer in the same place:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/199573
the answer is to add 'pci=nomsi' to the boot command line. that allows
the kernel to use AHCI, and thus find the drives and DVDRW, so the
installation can proceed as normal.
interestingly, one of the ubuntu bug reports said on 2008-08-04 that it
is fixed with ubuntu's 2.6.24-20 kernel. they probably backported the
fix from 2.6.26
NOTE: this problem is common to several relatively recent chipsets. it
has been reported on nforce 780a as well.
possible solutions for lenny's release:
1. document the problem and the solution in the README or Install Notes
2. find out what patch ubuntu applied and apply it to debian's 2.6.24
3. use kernel 2.6.26
4. use 'pci=nomsi' by default. will almost certainly break other stuff.
worst option...in fact, not really an option at all.
the machine is now running happily with kernel 2.6.26 (made with
make-kpkg, sources from kernel.org) without "pci=nomsi", and has been
upgraded to sid and apt re-configured to use the debian-multimedia
repositories.
craig
--
craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au>
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
We are closing this installation report for one of the following
reasons:
- it was reported with a pre-lenny version of Debian
Installer.
- indications in the installation report give the feeling that
the reported problem waslying in another software, unrelated to
D-I, which we can't easily identify.
- indications in the installation report suggest that it may have been
fixed in a more recent version of a D-I component
- it was successful and we forgot closing it..:-)
- it has no information we consider useful
The D-I team is currently in the process of cleaning out the old spool
of installation reports that haven't bene processed yet.
In case you think that the problem you reported has chances to be
still present, please reiterate your installation test with
a more recent image of D-I, if you're in position of doing this.
You'll find daily builds at
http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer. We recommend you choose
the netboot image, in the "daily builds section", then choose to
install "squeeze" when prompted.
If some problems are found, please report them with a new bug sent
against installation-reports.
Many thanks for your understanding and your help improving Debian,
past and present.
--- End Message ---