Re: kernel/IDE PCI: what is CMD640_ENHANCED?
Abdul Latip <dullatip@angin.com> writes:
> I have got a Pentium 166MHz/MMX ASUS PC, and I am trying
> to recompile the kernel (2.4.20).
>
> When it is compiled with the "CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CMD640=y"
> option, it will notify that the "ENHANCED" mode is not
> set (when booting). However, if I enable
> "CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CMD640_ENHANCED=y", it will always fail
> to boot (CRC error), but works well after "reset".
Do you have a CMD640 IDE chipset? (My older machine at home, a
1996-era Packard Bell with a 100 MHz Pentium with the F0 0F bug, does;
yours sounds like it might be the same age.) If you do, in principle,
that option should make hard drive access "better". You should also
make sure you enable CMD640 bugfix support in the kernel options. If
you don't have that chipset, you should probably turn the options off.
I don't have any particular details off hand, but I'd look for
comments in the kernel source, like in drivers/ide/cmd640.c and
drivers/ide/cmd64x.c. To quote the file header, though:
* This file provides support for the advanced features and bugs
* of IDE interfaces using the CMD Technologies 0640 IDE interface chip.
*
* These chips are basically fucked by design, and getting this driver
* to work on every motherboard design that uses this screwed chip seems
* bloody well impossible. However, we're still trying.
(That having been said, of course, donut has served me pretty well for
the past seven years, generally with two IDE hard drives and an IDE
CD-ROM. There was the time it got compromised in early 1997, but I
replaced the Slackware install with Debian unstable...and got eited
because fvwm2 wouldn't start during the libc5->libc6 transition. I
applied emacs to the binary and it got better, though. These days
it's grown a second Ethernet card and is the router for my apartment.)
--
David Maze dmaze@debian.org http://people.debian.org/~dmaze/
"Theoretical politics is interesting. Politicking should be illegal."
-- Abra Mitchell
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