sata_promise ata exceptions (2.6.20.6)

[Phil Dibowitz <phil@ipom.com>]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 4385 bytes --]

I've recently moved to a Promise Sata controller with two SATA drives in a
RAID1 mirror. But I get lots of ata exceptions and the kernel eventually
slows down my drive to UDMA/33.

It usually happens on ata1 (sda), but sometimes it'll kick in on ata2 (sdb).
I can definitely cause this to happen more by increasing load on the disks.
But even low load (checking email) causes this. Full hardware and software
specs are below, but first, the errors:

ata1.00: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x180100 action 0x2
ata1.00: cmd c8/00:d0:8a:31:ae/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 cdb 0x0 data 106496 in
         res 51/0c:0f:4b:32:ae/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x10 (ATA bus error)
ata1: soft resetting port
ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
ata1: EH complete
SCSI device sda: 312581808 512-byte hdwr sectors (160042 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
SCSI device sda: write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support
DPO or FUA
ata1.00: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x380100 action 0x2
ata1.00: cmd c8/00:a0:12:fa:bc/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 cdb 0x0 data 81920 in
         res 51/0c:1f:93:fa:bc/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x10 (ATA bus error)
ata1: soft resetting port
ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
ata1: EH complete
SCSI device sda: 312581808 512-byte hdwr sectors (160042 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
SCSI device sda: write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support
DPO or FUA
ata1.00: limiting speed to UDMA/100
ata1.00: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x380100 action 0x2
ata1.00: cmd c8/00:48:2a:27:ac/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 cdb 0x0 data 36864 in
         res 51/0c:27:4b:27:ac/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x10 (ATA bus error)
ata1: soft resetting port
ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/100
ata1: EH complete
SCSI device sda: 312581808 512-byte hdwr sectors (160042 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
SCSI device sda: write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support
DPO or FUA
ata1.00: limiting speed to UDMA/66
ata1.00: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x180100 action 0x2
ata1.00: cmd c8/00:f8:6a:7a:ae/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 cdb 0x0 data 126976 in
         res 51/0c:97:cb:7a:ae/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x10 (ATA bus error)
ata1: soft resetting port
ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/66
ata1: EH complete
SCSI device sda: 312581808 512-byte hdwr sectors (160042 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
SCSI device sda: write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support
DPO or FUA


Kernel: 2.6.20.6 (PREEMT & SMP)
SATA Controller:
  02:04.0 RAID bus controller: Promise Technology, Inc. PDC20378 (FastTrak
  378/SATA 378) (rev 02)
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. K8V Deluxe/PC-DL Deluxe motherboard
        Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 96, IRQ 16
        I/O ports at df00 [size=64]
        I/O ports at dfa0 [size=16]
        I/O ports at dc00 [size=128]
        Memory at feafe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Memory at feac0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
        Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
Drives:
  2 x Western Digital WD1600JS-00N

Other Setup Details:
  3 software RAID1 mirrors (md0, 1, 2 made up of sd{a,b}1 - 3 respectively)
  md3 is an LVM physical group with 2 volumes in it. In other words:
    /dev/md0 = /boot
    /dev/md1 = swap
    /dev/md2 = LVM:
            /dev/vg00/root = /
            /dev/vg00/home = /home

The sata controller isn't brand new, but it's never been used and is
relatively new. The sata drives and cables are fresh out of the box. Any
help would be greatly appreciated.

-- 
Phil Dibowitz                             phil@ipom.com
Open Source software and tech docs        Insanity Palace of Metallica
http://www.phildev.net/                   http://www.ipom.com/

"Never write it in C if you can do it in 'awk';
 Never do it in 'awk' if 'sed' can handle it;
 Never use 'sed' when 'tr' can do the job;
 Never invoke 'tr' when 'cat' is sufficient;
 Avoid using 'cat' whenever possible" -- Taylor's Laws of Programming



[-- Attachment #2: OpenPGP digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 252 bytes --]