Fedora resources

[Cyber Source]

"less /proc/interrupts" will show the interrupts in use. Is that 
controller doing a hardware raid? Can you successfully see your card and 
devices from the cards bios? i.e. ctrl-A at boot.

hawkwynd wrote:

> Im running ( as per system log ):
>
> Linux version 2.4.22-1.2199.nptl (bhcompile at tweety.build.redhat.com)
> (gcc version 3.2.3 20030422 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.3-6)) #1 Wed Aug 4 
> 12:29:42 EDT 2004
>
> Being noviced, I thing this FC1, not entirely sure.  Does this matter? 
> Do I have to wipe the machine clean and download FC3?
>
> I've set the jumpers on the card to 0x140 and tried IRQ 9, 10, 11, 12, 
> consecutively. Each time, the following error is presented in dmesg:
>
>> Jul  5 23:32:51 Cavetroll kernel: aha152x: BIOS test: passed, 
>> detected 1 controller(s)
>> Jul  5 23:32:51 Cavetroll kernel: aha152x: resetting bus...
>> Jul  5 23:32:51 Cavetroll kernel: aha152x1: vital data: rev=1, 
>> io=0x140 (0x140/0x140), irq=10, scsiid=7, reconnect=enabled, 
>> parity=enabled, synchronous=disabled, delay=1000, extended 
>> translation=disabled
>> Jul  5 23:32:51 Cavetroll kernel: aha152x1: trying software 
>> interrupt, lost.
>> Jul  5 23:32:51 Cavetroll kernel: aha152x1: IRQ 10 possibly wrong.  
>> Please verify.
>
>
>
> Is there a way in FC to show the free IRQ's? I'm having a dillio of 
> time with this. I had it running fine under windows, and getting 
> stonewalled in 'nix land..
>
> Any other suggestions would be appreciated as well.
>
> Scott
>
>
>
> Cyber Source wrote:
>
>> I'm going to assume you have FC3. My FC3 box running kernel 
>> 2.6.11-1.14_FC3 had the attached file in the kernel docs for the 
>> Adaptec 1520. I would try "/sbin/modprobe aha152x" as root and see if 
>> you can load the module. You could also try booting your system with 
>> the card in with a rescue cd and see what modules get loaded, then 
>> compare them against your running system.
>>
>> hawkwynd wrote:
>>
>>> Greetings,
>>>
>>> My Fedora box has been running flawlessly now for a month - without 
>>> a reboot. I've gotten all the things I need it to do (network with 
>>> my windows machines, share my printer, Xampp etc.) and now I'm ready 
>>> to get the last item nailed down. The scsi card.
>>>
>>> I have an AAA-131 Adaptec raid controller, which Fedora saw, and 
>>> installed on discovery. I also have a legacy ISA adaptec 1520b card, 
>>> that Fedora doesn't see, and even though I set the proper settings 
>>> when running the mod, it gives an error. It's been a while since 
>>> I've worked on this problem, but because I now need to use my 
>>> plextor 7-drive scsi cdrom tower, I am revisiting this issue.
>>>
>>> Some pointers to get it working would be most helpful.
>>>
>>> Thank you - Oh, BTW, I don't want to use a different card, because 
>>> then I'd have to go out to buy another cable, if I can help it.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> $Id: README.aha152x,v 1.2 1999/12/25 15:32:30 fischer Exp fischer $
>> Adaptec AHA-1520/1522 SCSI driver for Linux (aha152x)
>>
>> Copyright 1993-1999 Jürgen Fischer <fischer at norbit.de>
>> TC1550 patches by Luuk van Dijk (ldz at xs4all.nl)
>>
>>
>> In Revision 2 the driver was modified a lot (especially the
>> bottom-half handler complete()).
>>
>> The driver is much cleaner now, has support for the new
>> error handling code in 2.3, produced less cpu load (much
>> less polling loops), has slightly higher throughput (at
>> least on my ancient test box; a i486/33Mhz/20MB).
>>
>>
>> CONFIGURATION ARGUMENTS:
>>
>> IOPORT        base io address                           (0x340/0x140)
>> IRQ           interrupt level                           (9-12; 
>> default 11)
>> SCSI_ID       scsi id of controller                     (0-7; default 7)
>> RECONNECT     allow targets to disconnect from the bus  (0/1; default 
>> 1 [on])
>> PARITY        enable parity checking                    (0/1; default 
>> 1 [on])
>> SYNCHRONOUS   enable synchronous transfers              (0/1; default 
>> 1 [on])
>> DELAY:        bus reset delay                           (default 100)
>> EXT_TRANS:    enable extended translation               (0/1: default 
>> 0 [off])
>>              (see NOTES)
>>
>> COMPILE TIME CONFIGURATION (go into AHA152X in drivers/scsi/Makefile):
>>
>> -DAUTOCONF
>> use configuration the controller reports (AHA-152x only)
>>
>> -DSKIP_BIOSTEST
>> Don't test for BIOS signature (AHA-1510 or disabled BIOS)
>>
>> -DSETUP0="{ IOPORT, IRQ, SCSI_ID, RECONNECT, PARITY, SYNCHRONOUS, 
>> DELAY, EXT_TRANS }"
>> override for the first controller
>> -DSETUP1="{ IOPORT, IRQ, SCSI_ID, RECONNECT, PARITY, SYNCHRONOUS, 
>> DELAY, EXT_TRANS }"
>> override for the second controller
>>
>> -DAHA152X_DEBUG
>> enable debugging output
>>
>> -DAHA152X_STAT
>> enable some statistics
>>
>>
>> LILO COMMAND LINE OPTIONS:
>>
>> aha152x=<IOPORT>[,<IRQ>[,<SCSI-ID>[,<RECONNECT>[,<PARITY>[,<SYNCHRONOUS>[,<DELAY> 
>> [,<EXT_TRANS]]]]]]]
>>
>> The normal configuration can be overridden by specifying a command line.
>> When you do this, the BIOS test is skipped. Entered values have to be
>> valid (known).  Don't use values that aren't supported under normal
>> operation.  If you think that you need other values: contact me.
>> For two controllers use the aha152x statement twice.
>>
>>
>> SYMBOLS FOR MODULE CONFIGURATION:
>>
>> Choose from 2 alternatives:
>>
>> 1. specify everything (old)
>>
>> aha152x=IOPORT,IRQ,SCSI_ID,RECONNECT,PARITY,SYNCHRONOUS,DELAY,EXT_TRANS
>>  configuration override for first controller
>>
>>
>> aha152x1=IOPORT,IRQ,SCSI_ID,RECONNECT,PARITY,SYNCHRONOUS,DELAY,EXT_TRANS
>>  configuration override for second controller
>>
>> 2. specify only what you need to (irq or io is required; new)
>>
>> io=IOPORT0[,IOPORT1]
>>  IOPORT for first and second controller
>>
>> irq=IRQ0[,IRQ1]
>>  IRQ for first and second controller
>>
>> scsiid=SCSIID0[,SCSIID1]
>>  SCSIID for first and second controller
>>
>> reconnect=RECONNECT0[,RECONNECT1]
>>  allow targets to disconnect for first and second controller
>>
>> parity=PAR0[PAR1]
>>  use parity for first and second controller
>>
>> sync=SYNCHRONOUS0[,SYNCHRONOUS1]
>>  enable synchronous transfers for first and second controller
>>
>> delay=DELAY0[,DELAY1]
>>  reset DELAY for first and second controller
>>
>> exttrans=EXTTRANS0[,EXTTRANS1]
>>  enable extended translation for first and second controller
>>
>>
>> If you use both alternatives the first will be taken.
>>
>>
>> NOTES ON EXT_TRANS:
>> SCSI uses block numbers to address blocks/sectors on a device.
>> The BIOS uses a cylinder/head/sector addressing scheme (C/H/S)
>> scheme instead.  DOS expects a BIOS or driver that understands this
>> C/H/S addressing.
>>
>> The number of cylinders/heads/sectors is called geometry and is required
>> as base for requests in C/H/S addressing.  SCSI only knows about the
>> total capacity of disks in blocks (sectors).
>>
>> Therefore the SCSI BIOS/DOS driver has to calculate a logical/virtual
>> geometry just to be able to support that addressing scheme.  The 
>> geometry
>> returned by the SCSI BIOS is a pure calculation and has nothing to
>> do with the real/physical geometry of the disk (which is usually
>> irrelevant anyway).
>>
>> Basically this has no impact at all on Linux, because it also uses block
>> instead of C/H/S addressing.  Unfortunately C/H/S addressing is also 
>> used
>> in the partition table and therefore every operating system has to know
>> the right geometry to be able to interpret it.
>>
>> Moreover there are certain limitations to the C/H/S addressing scheme,
>> namely the address space is limited to upto 255 heads, upto 63 sectors
>> and a maximum of 1023 cylinders.
>>
>> The AHA-1522 BIOS calculates the geometry by fixing the number of heads
>> to 64, the number of sectors to 32 and by calculating the number of
>> cylinders by dividing the capacity reported by the disk by 64*32 (1 MB).
>> This is considered to be the default translation.
>>
>> With respect to the limit of 1023 cylinders using C/H/S you can only
>> address the first GB of your disk in the partition table.  Therefore
>> BIOSes of some newer controllers based on the AIC-6260/6360 support
>> extended translation.  This means that the BIOS uses 255 for heads,
>> 63 for sectors and then divides the capacity of the disk by 255*63
>> (about 8 MB), as soon it sees a disk greater than 1 GB.  That results
>> in a maximum of about 8 GB addressable diskspace in the partition table
>> (but there are already bigger disks out there today).
>>
>> To make it even more complicated the translation mode might/might
>> not be configurable in certain BIOS setups.
>>
>> This driver does some more or less failsafe guessing to get the
>> geometry right in most cases:
>>
>> - for disks<1GB: use default translation (C/32/64)
>>
>> - for disks>1GB:
>>  - take current geometry from the partition table
>>    (using scsicam_bios_param and accept only `valid' geometries,
>>    ie. either (C/32/64) or (C/63/255)).  This can be extended 
>> translation
>>    even if it's not enabled in the driver.
>>
>>  - if that fails, take extended translation if enabled by override,
>>    kernel or module parameter, otherwise take default translation and
>>    ask the user for verification.  This might on not yet partitioned
>>    disks.
>>
>>
>> REFERENCES USED:
>>
>> "AIC-6260 SCSI Chip Specification", Adaptec Corporation.
>>
>> "SCSI COMPUTER SYSTEM INTERFACE - 2 (SCSI-2)", X3T9.2/86-109 rev. 10h
>>
>> "Writing a SCSI device driver for Linux", Rik Faith (faith at cs.unc.edu)
>>
>> "Kernel Hacker's Guide", Michael K. Johnson (johnsonm at sunsite.unc.edu)
>>
>> "Adaptec 1520/1522 User's Guide", Adaptec Corporation.
>>
>> Michael K. Johnson (johnsonm at sunsite.unc.edu)
>>
>> Drew Eckhardt (drew at cs.colorado.edu)
>>
>> Eric Youngdale (eric at andante.org)
>> special thanks to Eric Youngdale for the free(!) supplying the
>> documentation on the chip.
>>  
>>
>