Fedora resources

Cyber Source peter at thecybersource.com
Thu Jul 7 08:29:56 EDT 2005


Edit /etc/modprobe.conf and put a new line as such,
"alias scsi_hostadapter aha1520xx" (whatever the module name is called, 
without the quotes)

hawkwynd wrote:

> Got the card installed - turns out I was trying to use IRQ10 which was 
> being used by the 2nd nic (which is dormant) so I removed it from the 
> machine, shut off the USB ports in the bios, and disabled the VGA 
> assignment to an IRQ to free up some resources. I then set IRQ 10 to 
> ISA in the bios, to reserve it for the card, and modprobe gleefully 
> installed the driver for the aha1520 card.
>
> Whee! Now my hardware browser lists 7 CDROM drives /dev/scd1-7 however 
> I can only mount 4 of them. Still working on that, as it may be a 
> simple matter that I've overlooked.  Gotta play about with the mount 
> commands a bit more to find out what's going on with that.
>
> One question: How do I initiate MODPROBE on boot to recognize the 
> Adaptec aha1520, so I don't have to manually install the card each time?
>
> Thank you for your help,
> Scott
>
>
> Cyber Source wrote:
>
>> "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.
>>>>  
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>



More information about the nflug mailing list