RE: [PATCH] Add quirk to set AHCI mode on ICH boards

Allen Martin
2007-11-13T07:28:48Z

> Allen Martin wrote:
> > At least for NVIDIA controllers, loading the AHCI driver
> when the BIOS
> > is set to IDE mode is not recommended by NVIDIA. Any AHCI
> workarounds
> > in the BIOS are likely to be disabled when set to IDE mode.
> In practice
>
> What workarounds, if any, are needed?
>
> We need those in the driver not BIOS anyway, in order to
> fully support
> suspend/resume and host controller reset during runtime operation.

What I'm worred about is SMI traps implemented in the SBIOS for AHCI
workarounds that may be disabled when in IDE mode.

> In Linux at least, we have a bunch of open sata_nv issues, so forcing
> users' interface into AHCI mode as a default future policy seems like
> the most stable choice on NVIDIA AHCI platforms.

I believe most of the issues with sata_nv have been due to lack of
documentation of ADMA and swNCQ. The NVIDA AHCI controllers that
operate in IDE mode are straight up PATA emulation ANSI/INCITS 370
interface, no hotplug, no NCQ. So I would expect there to not be a lot
of issues.

I'm with you that AHCI mode is superior and should be used whenever
possible, but it probably comes as no suprise that almost all the
hardware/BIOS testing is done with Windows, and operating the hardware
in a mode that Windows doesn't (enabling AHCI in classcode 0101) seems
like asking for trouble.

-Allen
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