Comment 21 for bug 11461

Message-ID: <email address hidden>
Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2005 21:59:14 +0100
From: "Marc L. de Bruin" <email address hidden>
To: Guido Guenther <email address hidden>, <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Bug#287195: smartmontools takes the system down to a near halt

Guido Guenther wrote:

>>The long story is that I tried a couple of things (5.33 from
>>experimental, replacing DEVICESCAN with just /dev/hda to keep things
>>simple, etc., etc., etc.) but none of these helped and did cause the
>>original effect (near halt). I even tried to switch from kernel 2.4.27
>>to kernel 2.6.8 but I couldn't even BOOT that kernel! All kind of
>>ATA-errors and strange kernel-messages regarding irq's that fired but no
>>service handler was registered to handle it.
>>
>>That got me thinking about my configuration, which seems to work
>>perfectly with kernel 2.4.27 *without* smartmontools, but couldn't boot
>>2.6.8 and couldn't work *with* smartmontools.
>
> I'm still puzzled. You can run 2.4.27 _without_ smartmontools but not
> with smartmontools if you enable "enhanced mode", right? Even if you
> _only_ select /dev/hda in /etc/smartd.conf?

Euh, no. I can run 2.4.27, even in "enhanced mode". That was the default
mode which the BIOS was in when I installed the motherboard. Never
looked at it, never changed it.

In "enhanced mode", I can't run smartmontools, not even in /dev/hda
which isn't that strange considering the fact that /dev/hda _is_
connected to the onboard chipset.

Also, in "enhanced mode", I can't even start 2.6.8.

Switching back from "enhanced mode" to "compatibility mode" fixes
everything.

Or is that the same as you stated above, I'm puzzled, in fact it is, I
guess.

> Could you check if not starting smartd but running "smartctl -a /dev/hda"
> shows the same symptoms?

I will tomorrow.

> Bruce, do you think that asking a device for smart data can cause
> problems on a completely different bus? Sound very weird.

It is not on a completely different bus. Note: the message you sent me
didn't contain a CC: for Bruce...

  > Definitely. Lets try to sort some things out first.
> Thanks a lot for your help Marc!

That's okay. I'll get back to you.

Marc.