Silicon Image 3512 Works in Live CD but not Installed system

English Hardware
#1

hello,

I have an esata from vantec that worked flawlessly in suse 10.2. I upgraded my laptop to 11.1 where the card works with the live cd but not after i install the system … ???

When I insert the card I get this in the log:
pccard: CardBus card inserted into slot 0
PCI: 0000:03:00.0 reg 10 io port: [0, 7]
PCI: 0000:03:00.0 reg 14 io port: [0, 3]
PCI: 0000:03:00.0 reg 18 io port: [0, 7]
PCI: 0000:03:00.0 reg 1c io port: [0, 3]
PCI: 0000:03:00.0 reg 20 io port: [0, f]
PCI: 0000:03:00.0 reg 24 32bit mmio: [0, 1ff]
PCI: 0000:03:00.0 reg 30 32bit mmio: [0, 7ffff]
pci 0000:03:00.0: supports D1
pci 0000:03:00.0: supports D2
sata_sil 0000:03:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003)
vendor=8086 device=2448
sata_sil 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
sata_sil 0000:03:00.0: cache line size not set. Driver may not function
sata_sil 0000:03:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
scsi10 : sata_sil
scsi11 : sata_sil
ata9: SATA max UDMA/100 mmio m512@0x100000000 tf 0x100000080 irq 18
ata10: SATA max UDMA/100 mmio m512@0x100000000 tf 0x1000000c0 irq 18
ata9: SATA link down (SStatus F000E401 SControl 3F0)
ata10: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)

Any help getting this to work would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Nakoosa

#2

This is in the log when I boot the live cd and the sata card works:

pccard: CardBus card inserted into slot 0
PCI: 0000:03:00.0 reg 10 io port: [0, 7]
PCI: 0000:03:00.0 reg 14 io port: [0, 3]
PCI: 0000:03:00.0 reg 18 io port: [0, 7]
PCI: 0000:03:00.0 reg 1c io port: [0, 3]
PCI: 0000:03:00.0 reg 20 io port: [0, f]
PCI: 0000:03:00.0 reg 24 32bit mmio: [0, 1ff]
PCI: 0000:03:00.0 reg 30 32bit mmio: [0, 7ffff]
pci 0000:03:00.0: supports D1
pci 0000:03:00.0: supports D2
sata_sil 0000:03:00.0: version 2.3
sata_sil 0000:03:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003)
vendor=8086 device=2448
sata_sil 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
sata_sil 0000:03:00.0: cache line size not set. Driver may not function
sata_sil 0000:03:00.0: Applying R_ERR on DMA activate FIS errata fix
sata_sil 0000:03:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
scsi6 : sata_sil
scsi7 : sata_sil
ata7: SATA max UDMA/100 mmio m512@0xf4800000 tf 0xf4800080 irq 18
ata8: SATA max UDMA/100 mmio m512@0xf4800000 tf 0xf48000c0 irq 18
ata7: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready=-19)
ata7: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)
ata7.00: ATA-7: ST3320620AS, 3.AAJ, max UDMA/133
ata7.00: 625142448 sectors, multi 0: LBA48 NCQ (depth 0/32)
ata7.00: configured for UDMA/100
ata8: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 310)
scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access ATA ST3320620AS 3.AA PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] 625142448 512-byte hardware sectors: (320GB/298GiB)
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn’t support DPO or FUA
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] 625142448 512-byte hardware sectors: (320GB/298GiB)
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn’t support DPO or FUA
sdb: sdb1
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0

please notice the line:
sata_sil 0000:03:00.0: Applying R_ERR on DMA activate FIS errata fix

This does not appear in the log for the installed opensuse11.1

Does anyone know what this is ? Is this a patch for the sata_sil driver or libata that somehow got removed from the final release?

Thanks
Nakoosa

#3

Sorry, I guess I forgot to supply some further info:

Laptop: Compaq nw9440
OpenSuSE 11.1 32Bit
(have been running suse on this laptop since 10.x)

4GB ram

uname -a
Linux nakoosa 2.6.27.7-9-pae #1 SMP 2008-12-04 18:10:04 +0100 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal: 3466524 kB
MemFree: 117288 kB
(seems this should see all 4GB ram with pae kernel but is not…???)

lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 01)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 01)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G71 [Quadro FX 1500M] (rev a1)
02:06.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
02:06.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
02:06.2 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD)
02:06.3 SD Host controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller
02:06.4 Communication controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 GemCore based SmartCard controller
03:00.0 Mass storage controller: Silicon Image, Inc. SiI 3512 [SATALink/SATARaid] Serial ATA Controller (rev 01)
08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5753M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 21)
10:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)

cat /proc/interrupts
CPU0 CPU1
0: 29639477 0 IO-APIC-edge timer
1: 22723 0 IO-APIC-edge i8042
8: 1 0 IO-APIC-edge rtc0
9: 7251 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi acpi
12: 4995904 0 IO-APIC-edge i8042
14: 435906 0 IO-APIC-edge ata_piix
15: 0 0 IO-APIC-edge ata_piix
16: 293469 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi nvidia, HDA Intel
18: 2 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi uhci_hcd:usb4, tifm_7xx1, yenta, sata_sil
19: 14 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi uhci_hcd:usb5, ohci1394
20: 200 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi ehci_hcd:usb1, uhci_hcd:usb2
22: 0 0 IO-APIC-fasteoi uhci_hcd:usb3, mmc0
217: 2395110 0 PCI-MSI-edge iwl3945
218: 25500 0 PCI-MSI-edge eth0
219: 524656 0 PCI-MSI-edge ahci
NMI: 0 0 Non-maskable interrupts
LOC: 1644703 12279894 Local timer interrupts
RES: 3240957 4039615 Rescheduling interrupts
CAL: 1362 6055 function call interrupts
TLB: 50568 53281 TLB shootdowns
TRM: 0 0 Thermal event interrupts
SPU: 0 0 Spurious interrupts
ERR: 3
MIS: 0

is there anything here that I am missing?
Is there anyone that has the vantec esata pcmcia card working in a laptop?
Is there anyone with any esata pcmcia card working in their laptop?

Thanks
Nakoosa

#4

Got it working!
checked the bios for like the millionth time…
there is not much there, but there are 2 settings that seemed contradictory
cardbus slot enable/disable
express card slot enable/disable
this laptop does not have an express card slot, so maybe this is for docking station express card support …??

anyway both of these were set to enable so I disabled the express card slot and wonder of wonders! the esata card works.

I hope someone might find this helpful…

Thanks
-Nakoosa

#5

alright this is a follow up and the last you will hear from me on this…

in suse 10.2 this vantec esata card with the silicon image 3512 chip was easily 2x’s as fast as usb 2.0 transfers to my external drives.

Now in opensuse 11.1 is is 1/2 as fast as usb 2.0 !!! this is a 4x’s reduction in speed ??? WTF?

now if i boot into windows xp, this vantec card is just as fast or faster than it was in suse 10.2… so now i know it is not the hardware that is a problem. There is something about the kernel or kernel module that has crippled the speed of this in opensuse 11.1

I wanted to see if another esata card with a different chip would behave the same under opensuse 11.1, so I picked up the startech cbesata card which uses the initio 1620 chip. I plugged it in and it was immediately recognized by opensuse 11.1, the external drive was connected automagically and the the throughput blew me away! Transfer rates are 3x’s usb 2.0 to the same external drive.

it copied a 9Gb vm in about 3 minutes… with usb transfer this took a little more than 9 minutes.

fyi this external drive is ext3 and is mounted using barrier=1
so speed may be even better with barrier=0
cat /proc/mounts
/dev/sdb1 /media/disk ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,errors=continue,barrier=1,data=ordered 0 0

your mileage may very but this works for me.