Unable to detect ITE8212 RAID0 array

[robinl]

Installed Feisty beta using the x86 alternate CD as the LiveCD crashes at gparted stage, it is able to detect my IT8212 based (GigaRAID) RAID 0 array and wrote it in my /etc/fstab. But upon the first desktop boot it cannot be found anymore with all the kernels from -11 (I think, the one came with beta) to the current -15 kernel. I've put "pata_it821x" in /etc/modules and "dmesg | grep it821" outputs
"[ 55.704827] pata_it821x: controller in smart mode.
[ 55.705098] scsi0 : pata_it821x
[ 61.902372] scsi1 : pata_it821x"

It was working well before in Edgy (dist-upgraded from Dapper) and in text-mode installer, tested on Gigabyte K8NS-Pro motherboard.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Thanks for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Unfortunately we can't fix it, because your description doesn't yet have enough information.
Please include the following additional information, if you have not already done so (please pay attention to lspci's additional options), as required by the Ubuntu Kernel Team:
1. Please include the output of the command 'uname -a' in your next response. It should be one, long line of text which includes the exact kernel version you're running, as well as the CPU architecture.
2. Please run the command 'dmesg > dmesg.log' and attach the resulting file 'dmesg.log' to this bug report.
3. Please run the command 'sudo lspci -vvnn > lspci-vvnn.log' and attach the resulting file 'lspci-vvnn.log' to this bug report.
For your reference, the full description of procedures for kernel-related bug reports is available at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies . Thanks in advance!

[katanacb (katanacb)]

I have the same issue, and just wanted to add to this. It's a showstopper for me on feisty because all of my user data, etc is on an ITE RAID-based card, and the array isn't recognized with Feisty 2.6.20-15. I get the following messages at boot time:

[ 36.845127] pata_it821x: controller in smart mode.
[ 36.845254] scsi0 : pata_it821x
[ 162.916378] scsi1 : pata_it821x

followed by some
[ 67.978408] ata1.00: failed to IDENTIFY (INIT_DEV_PARAMS failed, err_mask=0x80)
[ 99.629759] ata1.00: failed to IDENTIFY (INIT_DEV_PARAMS failed, err_mask=0x80)
[ 131.289096] ata1.00: failed to IDENTIFY (INIT_DEV_PARAMS failed, err_mask=0x80)

This seems to be some regression (or something simiar) because it worked fine in the last Beta release of Feisty. I think that the it821x module for some reason hasn't been compiled into the -15 version of the kernel, and that's what is wrong.... the libata interface and the pata_it821x module do NOT like my card for some reason.

Output as requested above:

uname -a:
Linux brian 2.6.20-15-generic #2 SMP Sun Apr 15 06:17:24 UTC 2007 x86_64 GNU/Linux

lcpci and dmesg output are attached.

email me or let me know how I can help out with this bug ... I guess I could re-compile the kernel and add the module back as a work-around but hopefully a new kernel version will be released soon that has the it821x module back in.

[Derek Turner (frderek)]

I, too, am experiencing this problem since fiesty upgrade and also on Mint 3 beta012 (based on feisty). The Fedora Core 6 live cd sees it 'out of the box'. Recomplie with the ITE modules urgently requested!

[Steven Ayre (steveayre)]

I am also receiving this error in 2.6.20-16-server.

[Rob at Mo-Sys (robertno)]

I too am having this problem with a raid card.
I'm not getting having probems booting, but I do have the following error:
    IDENTIFY (INIT_DEV_PARAMS failed, err_mask=0x80)

uname -a result:
   Linux ubuntu 2.6.20-15-generic #2 SMP Sun Apr 15 07:36:31 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

I've attached the lspci output, dmesg to follow.

[Rob at Mo-Sys (robertno)]

And here's the dmesg.log

[Rob at Mo-Sys (robertno)]

2 Final points:
  1. This 2.6.20 kernel info was taken from running the 7.04 live CD.
  2. Using the ubuntu 6.06 live CD, I can see and mount the raid volume.

[Steven Ayre (steveayre)]

Just to say I've downloaded and compiled the latest stable kernel from kernel.org (2.6.22-1) and the bug is still present there (same dmesg messages). Haven't looked in the Ubuntu kernel repository or at the latest kernel.org development versions though.

[Rob at Mo-Sys (robertno)]

Currently running the raid happily on ubuntu 6.06
If situation changes, will try upgrade to later ubuntu.

[katanacb (katanacb)]

Just to follow up on my issue with this. I'm up and running on 7.04, but in order to get this going I had to recompile kernel. As I mentioned above, this is an issue with the switch to the libata interface for older PATA-style drives. It's just not quite "there" yet stability-wise as evidenced by all the problems people have had with it since it was put into the kernel. in order to get up and running, I compiled all of the libata modules OUT of the kernel, and compiled in the old it821x module. I also had to modify the initrd by adding the it821x module (and deleting the pata_it821x module) and everything is running happy now - I can see all of my drives on my ITE RAID controller.

As an aside, I'm surprised the switch was made during the betas at the last minute by the kernel devs to this interface. This is marked as EXPERIMENTAL in the kernel source tree. I've followed some bug reports and it looks like Alan Cox has done quite a bit of work on this problem and several changes were merged into the upcoming 2.6.23 kernel ..... hopefully 7.10 will run on this kernel or it will be backported. Till that time looks like you'll either have to run Dapper or Edgy, or re-compile your kernel for later distributions.

[Steven Ayre (steveayre)]

I should probably say I also have the card successfully running under 7.04 using the old it8212 compiled against the kernel headers for the 2.6.20-16 kernel.

This is working alongside the libata drivers (my ubuntu installation runs on another drive which is not connected to the raid card) so recompiling the entire kernel to remove libata wasn't needed.

I've attached a Makefile and a shell script to compile and install the driver. You should 'modprobe -r pata_it821x' first if it's already loaded. The it821x.c driver source code from the 2.6.20-16 ubuntu kernel is included so you don't need to download the entire kernel source if you don't want to. (If you do, you can apt-get the linux-source package and get the kernel/ide/pci/it821x.c file from it).

While this old driver is still working, obviously i'd prefer to be using the newer libata interface once it's working properly.

[Steven Ayre (steveayre)]

I should add, that pata_821x will continue to load at boot time and prevent it821x working, so you'll need to remove that module more permanently.

Running "update-initramfs -u" after removing pata_it821x and installing it821x will update the initrd boot image for the current kernel, removing the pata_it821x module from those being loaded at boot time and adding it821x.

When I did this, the hda, hdb etc mappings changed because the it821x driver loaded first (the raid array became hda and what had been hda became hdi). Luckily, the new UUIDs mean this doesn't actually break anything.

[psyray (psyray)]

Thanks steven your workaround works like a charm.
I joined my dmesg & lspci after removing pata_821x and replacing by it812x driver using the "update-initramfs" command, maybe this can help.

I want just to add this, after the first reboot my RAID volume doesn't automount.
I need to mount my volume with "Storage device manager", it works, but i can't list my volume file while i'm in my user account.
I try with sudo command, it works, I can view my volume content. When I want to change permissions, I can't because the volume is read only.

Is there a way to make it writable ?

[psyray (psyray)]

I found a way to make it works correctly on gnome.
First : mount volume without read-only using "Storage device manager".
Second (only for NTFS volume) : Install ntfs-3g driver. Use "ntfs-config" to mount drive with ntfs-3g.
Third : Use hdparm command to make the drive works better (activate DMA, 32bits and umaskirq)
------------------------------------------
HDParm syntax :
test your drive perf -> sudo hdparm -tT /dev/hd(x)
modify above value -> sudo hdparm -d1 -c1 -u1 /dev/hd(x)
------------------------------------------
And for finish : Fix the hdparm settings using the /etc/hdparm.conf file because the above command
are for the current session only.

It works well for me while waiting for bug fixing ;)

[rnws (rnws)]

Excuse me for coming late to this bug, I've only recently gotten around to Gutsy.

Forum thread on this bug: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=431781&highlight=raid

This will affect anyone who has a Gigabyte motherboard (GA-7N400 Pro2 (Rev 2.x) in my case) with the GigaRAID feature. Is this chip common in other vendors to provide PATA RAID?

Is there a plan/timeline from the kernel team as to the former working (it821x) module being backported into the stock kernel or if the non-working experimental (pata_it821x) module has recently been fixed and included an upcoming/recent kernel? As it stands I can not install Feisty or Gutsy from the CD.

Oddly - this chip (IT8212) had worked fine in the 6.x series while my SATA controller (a SIL 3512) did not function [in RAID mode]. In the 7.x series the situation has reversed, the SATA RAID is recognised while the PATA RAID is not. The Tao of Linux ;-)

[PtOLU8zjbZxlgNOiyGyd (lkgdx5kefrptmd7ccufa-deactivatedaccount)]

Still not working in Gutsy

[PtOLU8zjbZxlgNOiyGyd (lkgdx5kefrptmd7ccufa-deactivatedaccount)]

Still not working in Hardy. Please note that Debian Sid kernels do work, because they are using the old ATA drivers, not the libata ones. Furthermore, the fedora 8 kernels fail miserably as well, they chose to go full libata and drop old ATA support. Even if the old it821x driver has DMA problems that end up on MWDM speeds, at least it can see the disks and even boot from the RAID card. The new pata_it821x driver simply can't talk to the card (mine uses the last BIOS released according to http://www.ite.com.tw/software_download/software_download2.asp )

[Anders (andersja+launchpad-net)]

This bug is possibly also related with Bug #182949 (also ATA disk trouble on it8212 controller: disks are found in gutsy but not in hardy (linux 2.6.24...)

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

This bug report is open against the actively developed kernel (the 'linux' task) and has been assigned to the kernel team. Against the older 2.6.20 and 2.6.22 kernels, the tasks will be closed. Thanks.

[Anders (andersja+launchpad-net)]

Possibly related?
http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9587

[Anders (andersja+launchpad-net)]

Is there any update on whether Steven Ayre's "hack" described above is reusable by the kernel team in the occurrence of this bug on Hardy? I'd prefer not having to build my own kernels, but am happy to participate in debugging/testing if I can be of any help.

[PtOLU8zjbZxlgNOiyGyd (lkgdx5kefrptmd7ccufa-deactivatedaccount)]

Just a note to bring attention to the following upstream patch: http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=c5038fc05d4aa4ae0671776199459690e4c973cb

Using Fedora Rawhide with the kernel du jour (2.6.25-0.40.rc1.git2.fc9), the pata_it821x driver finally works with my ITE 8212 RAID card. I'd like very much to see that the ITE8212 chipset is supported back in Hardy, instead of completely removed as in the Alpha 4 d-i (I always use the alternate CDs).

Just for reference: http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=history;f=drivers/ata/pata_it821x.c;h=109ddd42c266ba0447b42b801dbee853b9ca16a5;hb=HEAD

[Robert North (russetrob)]

I think the fix Pedro's found should resolve this bug.....

But this is only released on the 2.6.25 kernel.

Any chance of getting this patch on Hardy's 2.6.24 kernel??

[Anders (andersja+launchpad-net)]

@Robert,
a quick fix for getting it8212 to work (non-RAID) in hardy can be found in the links in Bug #182949

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hi Pedro,

Thanks for the upstream git commit id, it's a big help. I'll nudge the kernel team to see if they'll pull this in for Hardy. Thanks.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package linux - 2.6.24-11.17

---------------
linux (2.6.24-11.17) hardy; urgency=low

  [Alan Cox]

  * Pull in fixes for pata_it821x.
    - LP: #106931

  [Alessio Igor Bogani]

  * rt: Synchronized with upstream (2.6.24.3-rt3)
  * rt: Updated configuration files

  [Amit Kucheria]

  * Add AGP support for Radeon Mobility 9000 chipset
    - LP: #178634
  * Bluetooth: SCO flow control to enable bluetooth headsets

  [Ben Collins]

  * binary: Include vesafs in initrd subdir, should fix vga= usage

  [Colin Ian King]

  * AMD SB700 south bridge support patches
    - LP: #195354
  * BCM4311 Revision 2 fix
    - LP: #184600

  [Mauro Carvalho Chehab]

  * V4L/DVB (6753): Fix vivi to support non-zero minor node

  [Tim Gardner]

  * Merged 2.6.24.3
  * Add atl1 to d-i bits.
    - LP: #159561
  * SAUCE: Add xpad support for RedOctane Guitar Hero
    - LP: #196745

  [Upstream Kernel Changes]

  * DVB: cx23885: add missing subsystem ID for Hauppauge HVR1800 Retail
  * slab: fix bootstrap on memoryless node
  * vm audit: add VM_DONTEXPAND to mmap for drivers that need it
    (CVE-2008-0007)
  * USB: keyspan: Fix oops
  * usb gadget: fix fsl_usb2_udc potential OOPS
  * USB: CP2101 New Device IDs
  * USB: add support for 4348:5523 WinChipHead USB->RS 232 adapter
  * USB: Sierra - Add support for Aircard 881U
  * USB: Adding YC Cable USB Serial device to pl2303
  * USB: sierra driver - add devices
  * USB: ftdi_sio - enabling multiple ELV devices, adding EM1010PC
  * USB: ftdi-sio: Patch to add vendor/device id for ATK_16IC CCD
  * USB: sierra: add support for Onda H600/Zte MF330 datacard to USB Driver
    for Sierra Wireless
  * USB: remove duplicate entry in Option driver and Pl2303 driver for
    Huawei modem
  * USB: pl2303: add support for RATOC REX-USB60F
  * USB: ftdi driver - add support for optical probe device
  * USB: use GFP_NOIO in reset path
  * USB: Variant of the Dell Wireless 5520 driver
  * USB: storage: Add unusual_dev for HP r707
  * USB: fix usbtest halt check on big endian systems
  * USB: handle idVendor of 0x0000
  * USB: Fix usb_serial_driver structure for Kobil cardreader driver.
  * forcedeth: mac address mcp77/79
  * lockdep: annotate epoll
  * sys_remap_file_pages: fix ->vm_file accounting
  * PCI: Fix fakephp deadlock
  * ACPI: update ACPI blacklist
  * x86: restore correct module name for apm
  * sky2: restore multicast addresses after recovery
  * sky2: fix for WOL on some devices
  * b43: Fix suspend/resume
  * b43: Drop packets we are not able to encrypt
  * b43: Fix dma-slot resource leakage
  * b43legacy: fix PIO crash
  * b43legacy: fix suspend/resume
  * b43legacy: drop packets we are not able to encrypt
  * b43legacy: fix DMA slot resource leakage
  * selinux: fix labeling of /proc/net inodes
  * b43: Reject new firmware early
  * sched: let +nice tasks have smaller impact
  * sched: fix high wake up latencies with FAIR_USER_SCHED
  * fix writev regression: pan hanging unkillable and un-straceable
  * Driver core: Revert "Fix Firmware class name collision"
  * drm: the drm really should call pci_set_master..
  * splice: missing user pointer access verification (CVE-2008-0009/10)
  * Linu...

[jai_mantravadi (jai-mantravadi)]

I should point out that this is still NOT working in Alpha 6 of hardy (At least not for me kernel 2.6.24-12-generic). I have ubuntu running on a SATA disk, and my IT8212 is just a secondary disk. I tried this with disks as raid0, jbod, and just as IDE drives, and in each case, "fdisk -l" doesn't list my PATA drive(s). " dmesg | grep it821" outputs:

[ 125.262886] pata_it821x: controller in smart mode.
[ 125.266913] scsi2 : pata_it821x
[ 125.268869] scsi3 : pata_it821x

And... before anybody says to use the "pata_it821x noraid=1" option on the kernel boot up, please note this bug is specifically for RAID 0, and it appears that this specifically has not been fixed.

[Rob at Mo-Sys (robertno)]

Just tried this with a recen beta of hardy.

My ITE8212 is running in RAID1,

Please see attached kernel log for errors.

Key error seems to be:

ata5.00: failed to IDENTIFY (INIT_DEV_PARAMS failed, err_mask=0x80)

[robinl (robin4home)]

The fix does not fix the problem with RAID, it only fixes the problem when it's used as an IDE controller

[Robert North (russetrob)]

robinl:

Can you provide a reference for only fixing IDE controller (JBOD mode)?
I've been doing a little investigation, and it looks like there are fixes towards both RAID and JBOD...
Infact my recollection from the changelog is that if applied fixes for both.

[Walter (walter74)]

You should build your own kernel and use the it821x module instead of the pata_it821x module. I am doing this for almost 4 years now and it works ...

snippet from my /usr/src/linux/.config:

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IT821X=m
# CONFIG_PATA_IT821X is not set
# CONFIG_PATA_IT8213 is not set

I wonder why it821x is not included in ubuntu, maybe it conflicts with pata_it821x (I dunno) but it sure would be nice if it821x could be included.

[robinl (robin4home)]

Re: Robert North

I would test this on the Hardy LiveCD if I could get it to boot (fails to busybox prompt), but from my gutsy dist-upgraded hardy I'm still getting the exact same message, and is certainly not fixed. From the comments it seems like that other people are confirming that it's still not fixed as well.

[Robert North (russetrob)]

I have now tested with RAID1 on Hardy.
Is still failing.

For the machine with this controller, I have built a custom kernel, with the changes suggested by Walter.
This is working well.

Q: Do we need a new bug for ITE8212 RAID1 config?

I agree with Watler, for the moment, Ubuntu should disable the pata drivers, till they support the RAID modes.

[Gareth (g-reth)]

I am a recent convert to linux and have only used Ubuntu and so far so good.

However I would like to add my vote to have this issue resolved as I have a Giga Byte motherboard with the IT8212 chip
on board. I have 4 drives connected in RAID 0+1 which I would dearly love to use.

I am definitely not experienced enough to try building kernels so will have to wait.

Lastly if this issue is resolved how do people like me find out ?

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[robinl (robinl-cfso1751)]

I am currently in Alpha5 LiveCD and there seem to be improvements with the driver: I can at last see something other than my 2 non-RAID hard drives in gparted. However instead of the array gparted reports a blank 128GB drive instead of my array, so I don't know what had gone wrong with the driver. Attached is my dmesg log.

[robinl (robin4home)]

I have just dist-upgraded my Hardy install to Intrepid and I bring good news: it has detected partitions on my RAID0 array. However it only detected and mounted the first partition, and my second partition is nowhere to be found. Gparted still display "128GB blank hard drive" so this bug is not entirely resolved. At least it works out of the box for the first time since 2 years ago though.

[robinl (robin4home)]

Intrepid seems to have fixed it now

[Rob at Mo-Sys (robertno)]

Tried with the 8.10rc live cd.
I'm still getting errors with RAID1.
I have 400GB drives, which are only seen as being 128GB.
I suspect the problem may be with LBA48 support on it8212 in raid config.

There appears to be a patch for this problem on the kernel mailing list:
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.ide/35611

Will attach kernel logs soon.

[robinl (robin4home)]

Rob you should try installing it. It works semi-perfectly on my Intrepid install (250GB SATA drive, 2 partitions, both accessible), except that it's not added to fstab for some reason and so it's not automatically mounted. Gparted says it's a 128GB unknown drive but otherwise it works in nautilus and basically everywhere else.

[Andy Buchanan (andy-buchanans)]

I also am still getting errors with the 8.10 live disk, downloaded today. I get "attempt to access beyond end of device" when using the pata_it821x in RAID1 mode.

I upgraded my server from 6.06 to 8.04 thinking that it would improve my life, but I now can't boot it at all. I've been at this all day, and I just want to hit my head against a wall. I think I'm going to be in the office for quite a while.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.