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

[Bruce Link <Bruce@1045.ca>]

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