7.1-BETA2 installation on ASUS P4S8X fails BIG MEDIUM ERROR

[Jeremy Chadwick]

On Tue, Nov 04, 2008 at 12:46:43PM -1000, Al Plant wrote:
> Jeremy Chadwick wrote:
>> On Tue, Nov 04, 2008 at 08:13:34AM -1000, Al Plant wrote:
>>> Julien Cigar wrote:
>>>> I've this problem too on almost all my machines. The only solution I've
>>>> found is to disable DMA (atapi_dma), but then performances are very poor
>>>> (and I'm still unable to burn a CD/DVD)
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, 2008-11-04 at 16:03 +0100, Christoph Kukulies wrote:
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> don't know whether it's the CDROM drive (a Creative 52x mx) or 
>>>>> the  motherboard (ASUS P4S8X) or what.
>>>>> Anyway, I tried to install a recent version of FreeBSD 
>>>>> (7.1-BETA2) and the installation
>>>>> hangs right in the boot process of the installation CD disc1.
>>>>>
>>>>> I see
>>>>>
>>>>> acd0: FAILURE - READ BIG MEDIUM ERROR asc=0x11 ascq=0x00
>>>>> run_interrupt_driven_hooks: still waiting after 60 seconds for xpt_config
>>>>> run_interrupt_driven_hooks: still waiting after 120 seconds for xpt_config
>>>>> run_interrupt_driven_hooks: still waiting after 180 seconds for xpt_config
>>>>>
>>>>> and so on.
>>>>>
>>>>> Any clues?
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Christoph Kukulies
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> freebsd-questions at freebsd.org mailing list
>>>>> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
>>>>> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"
>>> ############
>>>
>>> Aloha,
>>>
>>> I have had similiar happen on 7 and 8 Freebsd installs recently.
>>>
>>> If you install using safe mode it will work. Then in /boot/loader.conf
>>>
>>> #boot/loader.conf
>>> hw.ata.ata-dma=0
>>> hw.ata.atapi_dma=0
>>
>> There is no hw.ata.ata-dma tunable.  I think you mean hw.ata.ata_dma
>> (note: underscore, not hyphen).  If you really are using hw.ata.ata-dma,
>> it does nothing.  :-)
>>
>> Also folks, please remember that "ATA DMA" is for hard disks, and
>> "ATAPI DMA" is for ATAPI devices (CD/DVD drives).  
>>
>> Error messages from xpt_* functions are from by the ATAPI-to-CAM
>> emulation layer (think: SCSI emulation for ATAPI devices), but are
>> likely signs of underlying compatibility problems between the CD/DVD
>> drive and FreeBSD, and not the fault of atapicam(4).
>>
>> I'm not sure if there's a loader hint to disable xpt.
>>
>>> The error that comes up when you burn a CD seems to be bogus as I 
>>> have  used the CD's with out error for installing on other boxes.
>>
>> The "READ BIG MEDIUM ERROR" often indicates that the CD/DVD drive does
>> not support a specific read operation mode; some CD/DVD manufacturers
>> don't implement this command for various reasons.
>>
> Aloha Jeremy,
>
> Thanks for catching the - vs _ .
>
> I hear  you, but I have to do the hw settings like above or the servers  
> wont boot they stick at a db>
> or mountroot>

Those are two very different things.  A db> prompt indicates you're
hitting a kernel panic, while a mountroot> prompt indicates the OS can't
find your root filesystem.

> I think the 7 and 8 series OS are looking for SATA and dont like the IDE  
> drives I use.

I understand, but what I'm saying is that "hw.ata.ata-dma=0" (note the
hyphen) is not fixing/solving anything, because it contains a typo.

> I know the atapi setting is for CD's and These are brand new DVD/CD RW  
> burners fwiw.
>
> A month or so back there were several people on line complaining about
> this.
>
> Maybe one of the FreeBSD  comitters will have a look and see if  
> something is wrong.

The "I get dropped to a mountroot prompt" problem has been reported many
times, and so far there haven't been any indications what causes it to
happen for people.

-- 
| Jeremy Chadwick                                jdc at parodius.com |
| Parodius Networking                       http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator                  Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977.              PGP: 4BD6C0CB |