From nobody@FreeBSD.ORG  Tue Sep  5 21:25:42 2000
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Date: Tue,  5 Sep 2000 21:25:42 -0700 (PDT)
From: edmarw@yahoo.com
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To: freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org
Subject: Unable to install. Can't write disklabel to ad0 (ata disk0, udma33)
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>Number:         21072
>Category:       i386
>Synopsis:       Unable to install. Can't write disklabel to ad0 (ata disk0, udma33)
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       critical
>Priority:       high
>Responsible:    sos
>State:          closed
>Quarter:        
>Keywords:       
>Date-Required:  
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   current-users
>Arrival-Date:   Tue Sep 05 21:30:01 PDT 2000
>Closed-Date:    Tue Nov 14 00:32:04 PST 2000
>Last-Modified:  Tue Nov 14 00:33:27 PST 2000
>Originator:     Edmar Wiggers
>Release:        4.0
>Organization:
Personal
>Environment:
Can't run uname -a. Can't even install!
The machine is a Pentium III 500MHz,Asus Motherboard,10GB IDE Hard disk,128MB RAM,IDE CD-ROM.

>Description:
After booting from Installation CD-ROM, going through everything (editing slices and partitions on the disk, selecting a distribution, etc.), the system hangs while writing the partition/slice table to the disk. After a while it gives up, giving error messages (couldn't activate swap, etc.) On virtual console 1 (alt-f2), I see messages like
ad0: WRITE command timeout - resetting
ata0: resetting devices - done
ad0: WRITE command timeout - resetting
ata0: resetting devices - done
... and so on
The disk is OK, Win98 installs hassle-free.
>How-To-Repeat:
Just try installing it in a similar machine...
>Fix:


>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
State-Changed-From-To: open->feedback 
State-Changed-By: sheldonh 
State-Changed-When: Wed Sep 6 04:21:42 PDT 2000 
State-Changed-Why:  
Actually, lots of people _have_ installed successfully using 
several "similar machine" configurations. 

However, your description of your hardware is very vague. 

Can you list exactly which chipset you have for your IDE 
controller on the motherboard?  Also of interest is 
the exact model of your hard drive and of your CDROM device. 

It would probably also be interesting to hear which IDE 
channel you have your hard drive on, and which channel 
you have your CDROM on, and whether these devices are 
jumpered as masters, slaves, or cable-select. 

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=21072 
State-Changed-From-To: feedback->open 
State-Changed-By: sheldonh 
State-Changed-When: Tue Sep 12 01:33:11 PDT 2000 
State-Changed-Why:  
Soren, here's another case that makes it sound like it'd 
be better to start the system off in PIO mode, although 
I seem to remember you saying that this came with its own 
set of problems. 

Perhaps there's some way to pass PIO/DMA mode configs to 
the kernel via the boot loader? 

Anyway, it's an interesting PR. :-) 


Responsible-Changed-From-To: freebsd-bugs->sos 
Responsible-Changed-By: sheldonh 
Responsible-Changed-When: Tue Sep 12 01:33:11 PDT 2000 
Responsible-Changed-Why:  
Over to maintainer. 

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=21072 

From: Edmar Wiggers <edmarw@yahoo.com>
To: sheldonh@freebsd.org, freebsd-bugs@freebsd.org
Cc:  
Subject: Re: i386/21072: Unable to install. Can't write disklabel to ad0 (ata disk0, udma33)
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2000 21:16:22 -0700 (PDT)

 I found a workaround.
 
 The problem was that the ata driver dma mode was
 corrupting disk write/read on my computer. My IDE
 controller is a VIA VT82C693A or VT82C596B (not sure
 which one, both codes are listed), onboard a Asus
 P3V133 motherboard.
 
 After I figured that out: I booted from the
 installation CD-ROM, started a emergency shell and
 issued the command "sysctl -w
 hw.atamodes=pio,---,---,pio" (hard-drive primary
 master,cd-rom secondary slave).
 
 Then it installed ok. But on every boot from the hard
 drive I need to boot_single and do the sysctl again
 before starting to write on the drive.
 
 Then I compiled a new kernel using the wd driver.
 Works fast and is reliable.
 
 Thanks for your attention.
 
 --- sheldonh@FreeBSD.org wrote:
 > Synopsis: Unable to install. Can't write disklabel
 > to ad0 (ata disk0, udma33)
 > 
 > State-Changed-From-To: open->feedback
 > State-Changed-By: sheldonh
 > State-Changed-When: Wed Sep 6 04:21:42 PDT 2000
 > State-Changed-Why: 
 > Actually, lots of people _have_ installed
 > successfully using
 > several "similar machine" configurations.
 > 
 > However, your description of your hardware is very
 > vague.
 > 
 > Can you list exactly which chipset you have for your
 > IDE
 > controller on the motherboard?  Also of interest is
 > the exact model of your hard drive and of your CDROM
 > device.
 > 
 > It would probably also be interesting to hear which
 > IDE
 > channel you have your hard drive on, and which
 > channel
 > you have your CDROM on, and whether these devices
 > are
 > jumpered as masters, slaves, or cable-select.
 > 
 > http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=21072
 
 
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State-Changed-From-To: open->closed 
State-Changed-By: sos 
State-Changed-When: Tue Nov 14 00:32:04 PST 2000 
State-Changed-Why:  
Please try 4.2 and contact me if the problem persists. 


http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=21072 
>Unformatted:
