Re: PIONEER DVD-RW DVRTD08 is disabled if there is no disc present at boot time

[Robert Hancock <hancockr@shaw.ca>]

linux-ide@momail.e4ward.com wrote:
> Hello,
> several Sony Vaio laptops seem to have the PIONEER DVD-RW DVRTD08 DVD/CD
> drive built in. This drive is available only when a disc is inserted
> during boot.
> when no disc is present, dmesg has
> 
> [    3.715535] ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0xd3e04000 port
> 0xd3e04180 irq 218
> [    4.368166] ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
> [    4.380063] ata2.00: ATAPI: PIONEER DVD-RW  DVRTD08, 1.00, max UDMA/33
> [    9.380102] ata2.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xef)
> [    9.380112] ata2.00: failed to set xfermode (err_mask=0x4)
> [    9.700093] ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
> [   19.712097] ata2.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xef)
> [   19.712105] ata2.00: failed to set xfermode (err_mask=0x4)
> [   19.712158] ata2: limiting SATA link speed to 1.5 Gbps
> [   19.712160] ata2.00: limiting speed to UDMA/33:PIO3
> [   20.032106] ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)
> [   30.040084] ata2.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xef)
> [   30.040091] ata2.00: failed to set xfermode (err_mask=0x4)
> [   30.040144] ata2.00: disabled
> [   30.056102] ata2: hard resetting link
> [   30.376108] ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)
> [   30.376114] ata2: EH complete
> 
> when a disc is present, dmesg has
> [    3.804304] ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 irq_stat 0x00000040, cirq 219
> [    5.268599] ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
> [    5.270213] ata2.00: ATAPI: PIONEER DVD-RW  DVRTD08, 1.00, max UDMA/33
> [    5.272217] ata2.00: configured for UDMA/33
> 
> You'll find more details at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6412465#post6412465
> 
> Having read http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-ide@vger.kernel.org/msg06127.html I guess it is not OK for the device to timeout in response to 0xef.
> Still I would like to be able to use the drive without having to insert a CD at every boot. Is there any workaround? Can't the driver just treat
> repeated timeouts like it would treat an abort?

That case was a bit different in that it was a CompactFlash device 
(which has some different rules, especially older ones), but there was 
also a SATA-PATA bridge chip involved (which seems quite likely the case 
here too since the drive reports UDMA33 maximum). This could be another 
case of the bridge chip being broken. Set Features - Set Transfer Mode 
is a mandatory command that all ATA devices must implement, and the 
device really can't be used properly if it's not successful (for true 
SATA devices it's mostly vestigial, but if there's any actual PATA 
involved, it's required). It's rather bizarre that having a disc 
inserted avoids the problem.

Is there any firmware update available for the drive?