rossw@march.co.uk (Ross Wakelin) (05/20/91)
The INTEL 5.4 release 2.0 (developers edition) has buggy drivers for the Adaptec 1542B SCSI host adaptor. We were using this adaptor in a 25Mhz Mylex 486 motherboard, and achieved a record number of system lockups and crashes. The machine would go away for a minute or so and then report a SCSI error. At this point, our only option was to reboot the machine. We replaced the 1542B with a WD-7000 FAST card, and found that we still got the SCSI errors, but that the driver for the WD board recovered from the errors and let us continue processing. Needless to say, we are now production on the WD board. Hopefully this is one of the things that was (will be) fixed in the handover to Interactive. -- Ross Wakelin r.wakelin@march.co.uk Unix Systems Director or ..mcsun!ukc!slxsys!march!rossw March Systems Consultancy Ltd
larry@nstar.rn.com (Larry Snyder) (05/22/91)
rossw@march.co.uk (Ross Wakelin) writes: >The INTEL 5.4 release 2.0 (developers edition) has buggy drivers for the >Adaptec 1542B SCSI host adaptor. >We were using this adaptor in a 25Mhz Mylex 486 motherboard, and achieved >a record number of system lockups and crashes. The machine would go away >for a minute or so and then report a SCSI error. At this point, our only >option was to reboot the machine. we use a 1542B with Intel SVR4 2.0 (developers edition) on one of the machines here without any problems. As a matter of fact, this machine runs as an X-Server around the clock. -- Larry Snyder, NSTAR Public Access Unix 219-289-0287/317-251-7391 HST/PEP/V.32/v.32bis/v.42bis regional UUCP mapping coordinator {larry@nstar.rn.com, ..!uunet!nstar.rn.com!larry}
cgates@netcom.COM (Craig Gates) (05/22/91)
In article <1991May20.145226.7155@march.co.uk>, rossw@march.co.uk (Ross Wakelin) writes: > The INTEL 5.4 release 2.0 (developers edition) has buggy drivers for the > Adaptec 1542B SCSI host adaptor. > > We were using this adaptor in a 25Mhz Mylex 486 motherboard, and achieved > a record number of system lockups and crashes. The machine would go away > for a minute or so and then report a SCSI error. At this point, our only > option was to reboot the machine. > > We replaced the 1542B with a WD-7000 FAST card, and found that we still got > the SCSI errors, but that the driver for the WD board recovered from the errors > and let us continue processing. Needless to say, we are now production on > the WD board. > I have the Adaptec 1542B running on a JDR 386 motherboard using this level of Unix from Intel without a glitch, in fact I'm running both SCSI and IDE drives in this system, unsupported according to the documentation from Intel, for about 3 months. I also know of a system using the WD-7000 FAST and also with IDE's again no problems. Craig Gates (cgates@pops.navo.navy.mil)
seckin@sumac.intel.com (Seckin Unlu) (05/22/91)
In article <1991May20.145226.7155@march.co.uk>, rossw@march.co.uk (Ross Wakelin) writes: > The INTEL 5.4 release 2.0 (developers edition) has buggy drivers for the > Adaptec 1542B SCSI host adaptor. > > We were using this adaptor in a 25Mhz Mylex 486 motherboard, and achieved > a record number of system lockups and crashes. The machine would go away > for a minute or so and then report a SCSI error. At this point, our only > option was to reboot the machine. The problem was: On a Read-Extended (0x28) command, the disk would send a disconnect message to the adapter, the SCSI bus would become free, the disk would not reconnect, the driver would time out after 30-90 seconds, retry the read-extended, but the SCSI bus would hang. The problem was seen mostly with AHA-1540 and Maxtor XT-4000S series, occasionally with WD-7000 FASST2 and XT-4000S, and never with other combinations of adapters and disks. > We replaced the 1542B with a WD-7000 FAST card, and found that we still got > the SCSI errors, but the driver for the WD board recovered from the errors > and let us continue processing. Needless to say, we are now production on > the WD board. The WD-7000 FASST2 driver in SVR4 resets the adapter and the SCSI bus before retrying commands. The Adaptec driver in SVR4 2.0 didn't. In SVR4 3.0, the Adaptec driver sends a Bus-Device-Reset message to the locked-up disk, before retrying the command. This workaround seems to work most of the time. > Hopefully this is one of the things that was (will be) fixed in the > handover to Interactive. > Ross Wakelin r.wakelin@march.co.uk > Unix Systems Director or ..mcsun!ukc!slxsys!march!rossw > March Systems Consultancy Ltd These are the workarounds to the above problem: - If the disk is a Maxtor XT-4000S, make sure f/w is at B5D level, and disable the read-ahead cache on the disk. No more lock-ups, but sequential read performance will be lower. - Use another disk (even with Maxtor XT-8000S the problem goes away). - Use another adapter (e.g. WD-7000 FASST2, what you have done). The problem does not go away, but it is less frequent and less fatal. - Get SVR4 3.0, from Interactive Systems Corporation. I hope this helps. Seckin Unlu uunet!littlei!seckin or seckin@littlei.intel.com Software Engineer or seckin@sumac.intel.com Intel Corporation ----- Any opinions expressed here are my own and are not representative of Intel Corporation.
kdenning@genesis.Naitc.Com (Karl Denninger) (05/22/91)
In article <1991May21.173836.6629@nstar.rn.com> larry@nstar.rn.com (Larry Snyder) writes: >rossw@march.co.uk (Ross Wakelin) writes: > >>The INTEL 5.4 release 2.0 (developers edition) has buggy drivers for the >>Adaptec 1542B SCSI host adaptor. > >>We were using this adaptor in a 25Mhz Mylex 486 motherboard, and achieved >>a record number of system lockups and crashes. The machine would go away >>for a minute or so and then report a SCSI error. At this point, our only >>option was to reboot the machine. You're lucky it worked at all! I had a Mylex 486/25 in here about 6-8 months ago. It set records too -- it was the first 486 motherboard here, and the one with the shortest time to live at this facility ;-) It didn't pass the DMA test on the 1542B, so back it went. We got some "clone" board from an unknown company which worked fabulously (and still does). -- Karl Denninger - AC Nielsen, Bannockburn IL (708) 317-3285 kdenning@nis.naitc.com "The most dangerous command on any computer is the carriage return." Disclaimer: The opinions here are solely mine and may or may not reflect those of the company.
tin@smsc.sony.com (Le Tin) (05/22/91)
In article <1991May21.173836.6629@nstar.rn.com> larry@nstar.rn.com (Larry Snyder) writes: >rossw@march.co.uk (Ross Wakelin) writes: > >>The INTEL 5.4 release 2.0 (developers edition) has buggy drivers for the >>Adaptec 1542B SCSI host adaptor. > >>We were using this adaptor in a 25Mhz Mylex 486 motherboard, and achieved >>a record number of system lockups and crashes. The machine would go away >>for a minute or so and then report a SCSI error. At this point, our only >>option was to reboot the machine. > >we use a 1542B with Intel SVR4 2.0 (developers edition) on one of the >machines here without any problems. As a matter >of fact, this machine runs as an X-Server around the clock. > I've tested a 1542B, Maxtor 338MB, and SVR4 3.0 and 4.0 (early alpha). No problem getting them to work together. I've even recompiled SVR4 4.0 on that system (heavy disk usage) with nary a problem. The performance is not all that good, at least not what I had expected. My home system with a Seagate ST02 and my own driver run just as fast (ISC 2.0.2). -- Tin Le -- .---------------------------------------------------------------------- . Tin Le Work Internet: tin@smsc.Sony.COM . Sony Microsystems UUCP: {uunet,mips}!sonyusa!tin . Work: (408) 944-4157 Home Internet: tin@szebra.uu.net
bill@alembic.acs.com (Bill Hatch) (05/27/91)
In article <1991May20.145226.7155@march.co.uk> rossw@march.co.uk (Ross Wakelin) writes: >The INTEL 5.4 release 2.0 (developers edition) has buggy drivers for the >Adaptec 1542B SCSI host adaptor. > >We were using this adaptor in a 25Mhz Mylex 486 motherboard, and achieved >a record number of system lockups and crashes. The machine would go away >for a minute or so and then report a SCSI error. At this point, our only >option was to reboot the machine. We have been using an Adaptek 1524B SCSI board with a HP SCSI 300MB disk on a HP Vectra RS/c 386 20 Mhz, Intel 5.4, Unix V file system, with no problems. We did have some unexplained crashes with the BSD file system. -- Bill Hatch (301)470-3839(w) (301)441-1675(h) Coleman Research, 14504 Greenview Drive, Laurel MD 20708 All opinions expressed are my own - dont blame my employer or alembic systems
keithe@sail.LABS.TEK.COM (Keith Ericson) (05/27/91)
Karl wrote about Mylex problems - his experience mirrors ours. The only motherboard we've had and sent back 'cuz it didn't work was a Mylex. And we use 1542A (or B) SCSI controllers wherever we need a SCSI board. They're great! (help *) KEITHE()