From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Ludovico Cavedon Subject: Re: understanding the cause of ATA failures Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:38:05 -0700 Message-ID: <4BA2F19D.1090501@gmail.com> References: <4BA2A02F.7040200@gmail.com> <4BA2A27E.9040704@buttersideup.com> <4BA2A590.4030505@gmail.com> <4BA2AA34.70105@hardwarefreak.com> <4BA2B15E.6000301@gmail.com> <4BA2B9BE.5030607@hardwarefreak.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Received: from mail-gy0-f174.google.com ([209.85.160.174]:33318 "EHLO mail-gy0-f174.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751527Ab0CSDiJ (ORCPT ); Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:38:09 -0400 Received: by gyg8 with SMTP id 8so1390736gyg.19 for ; Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:38:08 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <4BA2B9BE.5030607@hardwarefreak.com> Sender: linux-ide-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org To: Stan Hoeppner Cc: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org Stan Hoeppner wrote: > Ludovico Cavedon put forth on 3/18/2010 6:03 PM: >> Stan Hoeppner wrote: >>> Is there a SATA backplane involved or is each drive cabled directly to the >>> controller? If backplane, is it active or passive? Whose product is it? >> no backplance. >> This is the machine >> http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/2U/6026/SYS-6026T-URF.cfm > > It most certainly does have a backplane, and an active backplane at that. Uhm, yes, you are right, it has a backplane with SES-2 over I2C support. At first I though that backplanes were used only on external enclosures. > drive failures, etc. Have you configured an I2C module to monitor the > backplane? If so, check those logs. If not, do so now. It's possible that Unfortunately the I2C connectors on the backplane are not connected to anything. The motherboard has a "IPMB I2C" connector", but I guess I cannot connect a generic I2C device... I should probably get a USB-I2C module... Btw, once I am able to access the I2C device on the backplane, what tool is able to query the state? I am having troubles finding documentation about that. lm-sensors does not seem to mention that... Is the ses kernel module able to work over i2c? > the backplane controller is erroneously kicking the drives off-line. This > could explain the SATA bus errors. It's also possible there is a problem > with the backplane controller chip itself or other circuitry on the PCB > causing problems. I see. >>> Is this a relatively new machine or has it been running for some months >>> without problems until recently? >> It is new machine, running only for two months. > > You need to call SuperMicro support and tell them about your issue. Makes sense. > Backplane boards are relatively cheap. Get them to send you a warranty > advance replacement backplane and see if that fixes the problem. If you're > not a hardware person, replacing it may not be a job for you. In that case, That would not be a problem. Thank you for the information! Cheers, Ludovico