Re: System fails to connect to iHOS-104 DVD drive with nvidia MCP61 chipset.

[Bruce Link <Bruce@1045.ca>]

On 8/18/2013 2:05 AM, Robert Hancock wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 17, 2013 at 11:32 AM, Bruce Link <Bruce@1045.ca> wrote:
>> On 8/15/2013 9:47 PM, Bruce Link wrote:
>>> On 8/15/2013 12:36 AM, Robert Hancock wrote:
>>>> On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 4:17 PM, Bruce Link <Bruce@1045.ca> wrote:
>>>>>> These NVIDIA SATA controllers are a pain as they all seem to have a
>>>>>> different set of bugs related to hardreset, etc. What happens if you
>>>>>> boot up
>>>>>> without the drive connected and then plug in the cable after the system
>>>>>> boots up?
>>>>> Roughly the same error is returned. See below for the dmesg output.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> root@teevee:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:06.0/ata1/host0/scsi_host/host0#
>>>>> echo "- - -" > /sys/class/scsi_host/host4/scan
>>>>>
>>>>> root@teevee:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:06.0/ata1/host0/scsi_host/host0#
>>>>> dmesg|grep ata5
>>>>> [    1.030224] ata5: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x9e0 ctl 0xbe0 bmdma 0xc400
>>>>> irq
>>>>> 20
>>>>> [    1.354216] ata5: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
>>>>> [  944.773288] ata5: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x50000 action
>>>>> 0xf
>>>>> [  944.773304] ata5: SError: { PHYRdyChg CommWake }
>>>>> [  944.773322] ata5: hard resetting link
>>>>> [  945.652070] ata5: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
>>>>> [  945.660176] ata5.00: ATAPI: ATAPI   iHOS104, WL0F, max UDMA/100
>>>>> [  945.676165] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/100
>>>>> [  950.676049] ata5.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xa0)
>>>>> [  950.676056] ata5.00: TEST_UNIT_READY failed (err_mask=0x5)
>>>>> [  950.676064] ata5: hard resetting link
>>>>> [  950.676066] ata5: nv: skipping hardreset on occupied port
>>>>> [  951.144073] ata5: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
>>>>> [  951.168168] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/100
>>>>> [  956.168049] ata5.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xa0)
>>>>> [  956.168057] ata5.00: TEST_UNIT_READY failed (err_mask=0x4)
>>>>> [  956.168061] ata5: limiting SATA link speed to 1.5 Gbps
>>>>> [  956.168064] ata5.00: limiting speed to UDMA/100:PIO3
>>>>> [  956.168070] ata5: hard resetting link
>>>>> [  956.168072] ata5: nv: skipping hardreset on occupied port
>>>>> [  956.636056] ata5: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
>>>>> [  956.660169] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/100
>>>>> [  961.660036] ata5.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xa0)
>>>>> [  961.660044] ata5.00: TEST_UNIT_READY failed (err_mask=0x4)
>>>>> [  961.660046] ata5.00: disabled
>>>>> [  961.660061] ata5: hard resetting link
>>>>> [  962.544045] ata5: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)
>>>>> [  962.544061] ata5: EH complete
>>>>>
>>>>> root@teevee:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:06.0/ata1/host0/scsi_host/host0#
>>>>>
>>>> Hmm, it did a hard reset on the hotplug with seemingly the same
>>>> effect. Can we narrow down the problem any more: does this drive work
>>>> on this machine under any Linux version, or in Windows? Can you try it
>>>> in another Linux machine with a different controller to see if it
>>>> works there?
>>> Well, this is embarrassing.
>>>
>>> I've always assumed the problem was with the with the motherboard, as the
>>> DVD will always successfully boot a windows installer, so I assumed
>>> everything with the drive was OK. On further inspection, it appears that the
>>> drive falls down when being accessed from the WinPE environment, much the
>>> same as in linux. I've tested this on another PC and the result looks to be
>>> the same. I'm going to do some more testing, and will send another email if
>>> I find out otherwise. But I think we can consider this closed.
>>>
>>> Sorry to be a bother.
>>> Bruce
>> I hooked up the DVD drive to a USB-SATA adapter to a PC and the DVD drive
>> works great (under both windows and linux). I was able to copy a large
>> number of files with no performance issues.
>> The PC that I did the second test on turns out to have a nVidia MCP51
>> chipset (It's a gateway GT4016 with a KTBC51G-LF motherboard). I should have
>> checked this beforehand.
>>
>> So this problem looks to persist across different nVidia chipsets.
> Given that it fails in Windows as well on those machines, it sounds
> like there's some kind of compatibility issue between this drive and
> the NV chipsets. I don't know why their SATA chipsets (at least the
> pre-AHCI ones) have some many issues, but they do seem to.
I've located a spare HDD and loaded Windows 7 on it. In Windows  7 (not 
WinPE), I am able to successfully use the BD-ROM drive on both computers 
(MCP61 and MCP51 chipsets). So it appears there is a difference in the 
drivers between the Windows 7 and WinPE driver. News to me.

I believe this rules out a general hardware incompatibility.

What further can I do?

Thanks
Bruce