ata probing delays booting by 1/2 minute

[Tormod Volden]

I get the messages that the disk is discovered:

[ 24.870183] scsi0 : ata_piix
[ 24.870377] scsi1 : ata_piix
[ 24.870741] ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x1f0 ctl 0x3f6 bmdma 0x18a0 irq 14
[ 24.870793] ata2: PATA max UDMA/100 cmd 0x170 ctl 0x376 bmdma 0x18a8 irq 15

then it hangs here for a long time. I can also hear a high pitch sound from the laptop.

[ 25.034145] ata1.00: ATA-6: TOSHIBA MK6025GAS, KA200A, max UDMA/100
[ 25.034196] ata1.00: 117210240 sectors, multi 16: LBA
[ 25.034245] ata1.00: applying bridge limits
[ 25.042134] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/100

again nothing happens for a long time before

[ 25.341485] Clocksource tsc unstable (delta = -58695238058 ns)
[ 25.345479] Time: hpet clocksource has been installed.
[ 25.346331] ata2.00: ATAPI: MATSHITADVD-RAM UJ-831S, 1.50, max UDMA/33
[ 25.349080] ata2.00: configured for UDMA/33
[ 25.349234] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access ATA TOSHIBA MK6025GA KA20 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[ 25.350547] scsi 1:0:0:0: CD-ROM MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-831S 1.50 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[ 25.363106] Driver 'sd' needs updating - please use bus_type methods
[ 25.363226] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 117210240 512-byte hardware sectors (60012 MB)
[ 25.363286] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[ 25.363334] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[ 25.363351] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 25.363456] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 117210240 512-byte hardware sectors (60012 MB)
[ 25.363514] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[ 25.363562] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[ 25.363579] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 25.363637] sda:<4>Driver 'sr' needs updating - please use bus_type methods
[ 25.371009] sda1 sda2 sda3 < sda5 sda6 sda7 > sda4
[ 25.372507] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
[ 25.378504] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0

and it continues booting.

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

Booting with all_generic_ide seems to fix this (and other hangs people report in http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4823554).

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

I haven't tested it, but would this be related? http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.ide/30055 http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9491

"ata_piix when attached to ICH6M in AHCI mode doesn't provide any
benefit over using ahci and has detection problems. Don't let
ata_piix claim ICH6M if it's in AHCI mode.

This change makes ICH6R the only one which ata_piix can attach to even
when it's in ahci mode which is necessary as some devices don't work
properly under ahci mode. Drop PIIX_FLAG_AHCI and match the
controller directly so that piix_disable_ahci() is called only for it.

This change makes PIIX_SCC no longer used and it gets dropped too.

This fixes bz 9491."

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

Unfortunately, all_generic_ide seems to reduce performance drastically. Everything disk intensive (update-manager, firefox, etc) becomes really slow. Seems like top reports a lot of "hi" time (hardware interrupts?). I have thus gone back to the default, slow booting.

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

Another workaround that seems to have less negative side effects is adding "ata_piix" to /etc/initramfs-tools/modules.

[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.

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

This is a not a problem any longer with 2.6.27. But I think it should be fixed in the LTS.