Re: Multiple siI SATA cards and data corruption

[Twigathy <twigathy@xxxxxxxxx>]

Well, I said I would report back on any progress...

I replaced the motherboard with a newer P31 based board and an Intel
Dual Core (Actually a core2duo with crippled cache) and 2GB RAM and
the issues have completely gone. I ditched the eSATA cards (Also 3512
based) and am using the 4 onboard motherboard ports plus the 2 port
sii 3512 card. The cables have mostly stayed the same, except for 3
disks which were connected using eSATA. I'm not too sure if the
supposed bug I found with multiple Silicon Image controller cards
actually exists or not and I don't really fancy risking my data -
however, if anyone is googling for sata_sil corruption lost interrupt
then they might find this message (And the backstory to it) :-)

The moral of the story here is: If you're going to be buying lots of
disks, do *not* skimp on cabling and controllers.

Thanks all for the helpful suggestions and "me too!" entries - my 6
disk raid5 is about a half hour away from completing resync and I've
had no nasties in dmesg. Win! :)

Twig

2008/5/8 berk walker <berk@xxxxxxxxx>:
> YES!! intermittent problems ALWAYS suck.  WE need some really good diags
> which can be run as daemon, which can suspend I/O and associated times out,
> do pre-programmed things ie, notify of error, execute tests to the test
> cyl., and notify of correction which happened, if any, maybe
> possibly/probable thermal/physical/whatever tests to be run - AND have an
> associated pgm for the SU to run while executing these tests. (having come
> from industry) Maintenance engineering definitely sucks hind teat.  I would
> think that many of our readers here, who support hundreds of instantiations
> like this would/could cause a remedy.  If 10,000 disks are purchased from
> one vendor BECAUSE this is offered. I'll bet a hundred bux (U$, not worth
> much) that someone will sit up and take notice.  Somehow, I think that the
> "who owns the market" has been ignored.
>
> YOU - the BIG guys own the market.  And what you say holds sway, and we
> should support you, because, in the end we all ('specially us little guys)
> will benefit.
>
> b-
>
> Twigathy wrote:
>>
>> hm, well I have a couple more eSATA -> SATA cables on order, so I'll
>> report back once they arrive and I can test my disks with them.
>> Intermittent problems totally suck :-(
>>
>> 2008/5/8 Greg Cormier <gcormier@xxxxxxxxx>:
>>>
>>> I had scary messages in dmesg like yours above. Spent forever
>>>  troubleshooting everything. New SATA cables and they disappeared.
>>>
>>>  Greg
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 10:52 AM, Twigathy <twigathy@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>  > PSU is a relatively reliable, if slightly old now, 380W thing. It has
>>>  > enough power on the 12v lines to power the disks and CPU, but you may
>>>  > be onto something there - all disks reading/writing at once = power
>>>  > levels higher.
>>>  >
>>>  > The new kit I've ordered for this server includes a 450W PSU, so
>>>  > perhaps that'll solve things.
>>>  >
>>>  > The trouble with debugging a problem like this is that there are so
>>>  > many variables!
>>>  >
>>>  > 2008/5/7 Maurice Hilarius <maurice@xxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>>>  >>
>>>  >>  Twigathy wrote:
>>>  >>  It could be cables, although that wouldn't explain the disks working
>>>  >> perfectly well (Maxed out, too in the case of doing a badblocks test)
>>>  >> when they are by themselves.
>>>  >>
>>>  >>  Sounds like a current delivery issue.
>>>  >>
>>>  >>  How is your power supply?
>>>  >>
>>>  >>
>>>  >> --
>>>  >>  With our best regards,
>>>  >>
>>>  >>  Maurice W. Hilarius         Telephone: 01-780-456-9771
>>>  >>  Hard Data Ltd.                FAX:          01-780-456-9772
>>>  >>  11060 - 166 Avenue         email:maurice@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>  >>  Edmonton, AB, Canada         http://www.harddata.com/
>>>  >>       T5X 1Y3
>>>  >>
>>>
>>>
>>>> --
>>>
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>
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