QLogic 24xx FC HBAs not working fine with CAM Target Layer

[bharat singh]

Hello,

I am trying to use a new firmware on a single port FC HBA with freebsd9
stable, but facing the firmware issue.

Card came with firmware version 5.5.0
(isp0: Board Type 2422, Chip Revision 0x3, resident F/W Revision 5.5.0)

I upgraded the firmware to 5.6.5, and disabled firmware flag by setting
"fwload_disable=YES" flag in /boot/device.hints to retain the newer
firmware.
On subsequent reboots the firmware fails to initialize and throws
isp0: Mailbox Command 'ABOUT FIRMWARE' failed (TIMEOUT)


[root at Ctrl4 ~]# ctladm port -l
Port Online Type     Name         pp vp WWNN               WWPN
   Speed  Vendor
0    YES    IOCTL    CTL ioctl    0  0  0                  0
    0
1    YES    INTERNAL ctl2cam      0  0  0x5000000edac0c700
0x5000000edac0c702  0
2    YES    INTERNAL CTL internal 0  0  0                  0
    0

* It's not showing FC port

1448 Jul 22 11:05:37 Ctrl4 kernel: isp0: IN mbox 0 = 0x0008
1450 Jul 22 11:05:37 Ctrl4 kernel: isp0: RISC2HOST ISR 0x40000101
1451 Jul 22 11:05:37 Ctrl4 last message repeated 999 times
1454 Jul 22 11:05:37 Ctrl4 kernel: isp0: Polled Mailbox Command (0x8)
Timeout (100000us) (started @ isp_reset:1045)
1456 Jul 22 11:05:37 Ctrl4 kernel: isp0: Mailbox Command 'ABOUT FIRMWARE'
failed (TIMEOUT)
1458 Jul 22 11:05:37 Ctrl4 kernel: isp0: RISC2HOST ISR 0x40000101
1460 Jul 22 11:05:37 Ctrl4 kernel: Trying to mount root from
ufs:/dev/label/root_0 [rw]...
1462 Jul 22 11:05:37 Ctrl4 kernel: device_attach: isp0 attach returned 6
1464 Jul 22 11:05:37 Ctrl4 kernel: isp0: <Qlogic ISP 2432 PCI FC-AL
Adapter> port 0x3000-0x30ff mem 0xc1040000-0xc1043fff irq 16 at device 0.0
on pci     3
1465 Jul 22 11:05:37 Ctrl4 kernel: isp0: loaded firmware isp_2400_multi

from dmesg:
isp0: RISC2HOST ISR 0x40000101
isp0: Polled Mailbox Command (0x8) Timeout (100000us) (started @
isp_reset:1045)
isp0: Mailbox Command 'ABOUT FIRMWARE' failed (TIMEOUT)
isp0: RISC2HOST ISR 0x40000101
device_attach: isp0 attach returned 6
isp0: <Qlogic ISP 2432 PCI FC-AL Adapter> port 0x3000-0x30ff mem
0xc1040000-0xc1043fff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci3
isp0: loaded firmware isp_2400_multi
isp0: set PCI latency to 64
isp0: request/result area @ 0xf700000/0x38000
isp0: scdma @ 0xf6b9000/0x1000
isp0: IN mbox 0 = 0x0000
isp0: RISC2HOST ISR 0x0
isp0: RISC2HOST ISR 0x40008001
isp0: OUT mbox 0 = 0x4000
isp0: IN mbox 0 = 0x0006
isp0: IN mbox 1 = 0xdead

The workaround is to enable the firmware flash by setting
"fwload_disable=NO", but that doesn't serves my purpose.

Is there a way to avoid the issue without a firmware flash on every reboot ?
Moreover i have seen the issue on older firmware 5.5.0 also, as soon I
disable the firmware flash and reboot.

Some old threads, but not helping much.
http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-scsi/2010-April/004215.html

Any help is deeply appreciated.

-- 
Bharat Singh