Blue & White & SCSI & Ultra 2 SCSI & Kernel > 2.2.10 -> No Disks

Blue & White & SCSI & Ultra 2 SCSI & Kernel > 2.2.10 -> No Disks

[John Doty]

My Yosemite G3 (Rev 2) has *two* SCSI cards: an Adaptec 2930CU, and an
Adaptec 2940U2B (Ultra 2 Wide). Last summer, my son Matt (who
occasionally posts here on comp.os.linux.powerpc) set it up as a
LinuxPPC machine with a 2.2.10 kernel from Robert Shaw's site.  As a
compute/file server, it has been great.

However,  attempts to upgrade to a more recent kernel invariably
encountered SCSI problems. The most common symptom was an inability to
mount the root  filesystem.

We have finally gotten partway to the bottom of this. Apparently, if the
2930 controller is present the kernel cannot find the 2940 controller
(and the 2940 has the disks on it). With the 2930 pulled (I don't really
need it the way I'm currently using the system), SCSI works fine with
the newer kernels.

Finding this took quick eyes, as the evidence scrolls off the screen
before failure is obvious , but you can't do a dmesg until you're up.

Matt also speculated that it had to do with the slot order of the
controllers, so I switched them. That didn't help: the kernel still only
found the 2930.

I'm now running a Yellow Dog 1.2 system.

I think the lesson to be learned here is that if your machine is loaded
up with optional hardware, it might make sense to strip it down to
something simpler if you encounter problems.

--
John Doty  "You can't confuse me, that's my job."
Home: jpd@w-d.org
Work: jpd@space.mit.edu


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Re: Blue & White & SCSI & Ultra 2 SCSI & Kernel > 2.2.10 -> No Disks

[Robert Shaw]

John Doty wrote:

> We have finally gotten partway to the bottom of this. Apparently, if the
> 2930 controller is present the kernel cannot find the 2940 controller
> (and the 2940 has the disks on it). With the 2930 pulled (I don't really
> need it the way I'm currently using the system), SCSI works fine with
> the newer kernels.

Yes, I've found this issue with the latest kernels with someone else as
well. Do any of the SCSI driver developers out there know what might be
causing this? Apparently, when there are more than one Adaptec SCSI
controllers (doesn't seem to matter which ones, but most notably a narrow
controller and a wide controller combo), the SCSI driver freaks out and
does not recognize either properly.

--
-Robert


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Re: Blue & White & SCSI & Ultra 2 SCSI & Kernel > 2.2.10 -> No Disks

[John Doty]

Robert Shaw wrote:

> John Doty wrote:
>
> > We have finally gotten partway to the bottom of this. Apparently, if the
> > 2930 controller is present the kernel cannot find the 2940 controller
> > (and the 2940 has the disks on it). With the 2930 pulled (I don't really
> > need it the way I'm currently using the system), SCSI works fine with
> > the newer kernels.
>
> Yes, I've found this issue with the latest kernels with someone else as
> well. Do any of the SCSI driver developers out there know what might be
> causing this? Apparently, when there are more than one Adaptec SCSI
> controllers (doesn't seem to matter which ones, but most notably a narrow
> controller and a wide controller combo), the SCSI driver freaks out and
> does not recognize either properly.
>

Actually, in my case the kernel *did* recognize the (narrow) 2930 when the
2940 was there. I even managed to install a working system on a 1G Jaz
cartridge. I just couldn't use my big fast disks. Your mileage may vary,,,

--
John Doty  "You can't confuse me, that's my job."
Home: jpd@w-d.org
Work: jpd@space.mit.edu


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Re: Blue & White & SCSI & Ultra 2 SCSI & Kernel > 2.2.10 -> No Disk s

[Michel Lanners]

On   8 Apr, this message from John Doty echoed through cyberspace:
> My Yosemite G3 (Rev 2) has *two* SCSI cards: an Adaptec 2930CU, and an
> Adaptec 2940U2B (Ultra 2 Wide). Last summer, my son Matt (who
> occasionally posts here on comp.os.linux.powerpc) set it up as a
> LinuxPPC machine with a 2.2.10 kernel from Robert Shaw's site.  As a
> compute/file server, it has been great.
>
> However,  attempts to upgrade to a more recent kernel invariably
> encountered SCSI problems. The most common symptom was an inability to
> mount the root  filesystem.
>
> We have finally gotten partway to the bottom of this. Apparently, if the
> 2930 controller is present the kernel cannot find the 2940 controller
> (and the 2940 has the disks on it). With the 2930 pulled (I don't really
> need it the way I'm currently using the system), SCSI works fine with
> the newer kernels.

Isn't this the OF resource assignment problem discussed here some time
ago? Have a look at the mailing list archives...


Michel

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