OK, I have a holiday coming up and I will try a alternates until I find one that works (Start with Jaunty and then try Karmic).  I'd like to help get this solved, but eventually I am going to need to install something that works (even if its FreeBSD or OpenSUSE), so I can use this machine to do something other than play games on WindowsXP (the other boot it has).  What strikes me as odd is that the LiveCD works well, and the initial install CD (64bit DVD) boots just fine, but after I try to get the kernel to boot, it just seems to lose the SDA drive completely after partially starting and then exiting into the initrd busybox.

Please let me know anything more I can do to this box to get data that will help you, I'll send reports on my kernel attempts.

Would a DMESG and other log capture form the livecd help?  (I can mount a flash drive and copy them there).  What about boot info from another distro if I get one that seems stable with the same kernel maj.min.pl ?  I have been using Ubuntu for as my preferred desktop since I gave up Gentoo after a year and a half of masochism.  I am not averse to temporarily doing minimal installs of other distros, even though I hate RPM based distros (since they are far too brittle), but if that's what it takes, I'll put up with it to get your data.

Regards,

Winston





----- Original Message ----
> From: Stefan Bader <email address hidden>
> To: <email address hidden>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 8:16:28 AM
> Subject: [Bug 220706] Re: Boot fails on ata3: SRST failed (errno=-16)
> 
> The problem here is that the message just tells you there is something
> wrong operating the disk. And reading through the report this has been
> resolved for some by replacing cables, bios settings or even memory. And
> this is really hard, if not impossible to get solved. Ok, enough
> whining.
> 
> Those with the problem (and I'd like to concentrate on Jaunty, even better 
> Karmic or a kernel from https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds as some 
> things might be solved in newer kernels). If the same problem persists, the 
> dmesg output helps to get further information. Like what DMA speeds does the 
> host claim to support, what speeds the drive, which is chosen, with NCQ or 
> without, ...
> It is also possible to influence the configuration with libata.force (on the 
> kernel/grub command line). For example, if the error message say ata1.xx, then 
> libata.force=1:[,] will change the config for that port. The options 
> would be (taken from Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt):
> 
>         libata.force=   [LIBATA] Force configurations.  The format is comma
>                         separated list of "[ID:]VAL" where ID is
>                         PORT[:DEVICE].  PORT and DEVICE are decimal numbers
>                         matching port, link or device.  Basically, it matches
>                         the ATA ID string printed on console by libata.  If
>                         the whole ID part is omitted, the last PORT and DEVICE
>                         values are used.  If ID hasn't been specified yet, the
>                         configuration applies to all ports, links and devices.
> 
>                         If only DEVICE is omitted, the parameter applies to
>                         the port and all links and devices behind it.  DEVICE
>                         number of 0 either selects the first device or the
>                         first fan-out link behind PMP device.  It does not
>                         select the host link.  DEVICE number of 15 selects the
>                         host link and device attached to it.
> 
>                         The VAL specifies the configuration to force.  As long
>                         as there's no ambiguity shortcut notation is allowed.
>                         For example, both 1.5 and 1.5G would work for 1.5Gbps.
>                         as there's no ambiguity shortcut notation is allowed.
>                         For example, both 1.5 and 1.5G would work for 1.5Gbps.
>                         The following configurations can be forced.
> 
>                         * Cable type: 40c, 80c, short40c, unk, ign or sata.
>                           Any ID with matching PORT is used.
> 
>                         * SATA link speed limit: 1.5Gbps or 3.0Gbps.
> 
>                         * Transfer mode: pio[0-7], mwdma[0-4] and udma[0-7].
>                           udma[/][16,25,33,44,66,100,133] notation is also
>                           allowed.
> 
>                         * [no]ncq: Turn on or off NCQ.
> 
>                         * nohrst, nosrst, norst: suppress hard, soft
>                           and both resets.
> 
>                         If there are multiple matching configurations changing
>                         the same attribute, the last one is used.
> 
> -- 
> Boot fails on ata3: SRST failed (errno=-16)
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/220706
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
> 
> Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu: Incomplete
> 
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: linux-image-2.6.24-16-386
> 
> Boot fails with kernel 2.6.24-16 from hardy but succeeds on 2.6.22
> 
> Final messages in recovery mode
> 
> usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
> /build/buildd/linux-2.6.24/drivers/hid/usbhid/hid-core.c: v2.6:USB HID core 
> driver
> ata3: port is slow to respond, please be patient (Status 0x90)
> ata3: SRST failed (errno=-16)
> 
> Then eventually busybox begins
> Please let me know if there is anymore information I can offer.