Desktop Lags under Heavy IO

pwaller · n00b Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 25

okay, so it turns out I was being really dumb and was compiling 2.6.22-suspend2-r2 but using 2.6.22-suspend2 (no -r2)

and it turns out that something I disabled (and I am unsure what unfortunately, because I made lots of small changes to make sure I didn't break anything, but wasn't using the right kernel, so I have no idea what broke it.

It's complaining it can't find my boot partition... I've tried turning lots of stuff back on but to no avail.. urrgh...

I will continue fiddling. If anyone can spot what I might be doing wrong I would appreciate it.

pwaller · n00b Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 25

jupiter afs # hdparm -d1 -u1 -c1 /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
setting 32-bit IO_support flag to 1
setting unmaskirq to 1 (on)
setting using_dma to 1 (on)
HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted
IO_support = 1 (32-bit)
unmaskirq = 1 (on)
using_dma = 0 (off)

Nothing listed in dmesg.

I managed to get a bootable system back. Not sure what was the problem. Started off with a good config and painstakingly removed bits at a time.

Benchmark using hdparm:
jupiter afs # hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
Timing cached reads: 2258 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1129.86 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 18 MB in 3.26 seconds = 5.52 MB/sec

I read that the cached reads number is acceptable, but the buffered read rate should be more like ten times what I have, and of course DMA is off.

My latest kernel config: (I will remove RTC and reset the schedulers and stuff soon, I'm now more worried about the DMA issues.)
http://pastebin.ca/708293

Sadako · Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:20 pm Post subject:

"CONFIG_BLK_DEV_VIA82CXXX"?

You're still using the via chipset driver, and as energyman76b pointed out it's one of the intel drivers you should be using.
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pwaller · n00b Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 25

Ah. Yup, whoops. I will be disabling this very shortly.

Sadako · Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:25 pm Post subject:

pwaller · n00b Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 25

hmm. I disabled the Via and I disabled the generic, enabling the Intel PIIX and I am unable to boot. Then I enabled the generic and I can boot.

Here is my dmesg:
http://pastebin.ca/708386

energyman76b · Advocate Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 2005 Location: Germany

could you please post the config belonging to that dmesg? (and turn of the fs you don't have... please.. your dmesg will be a lot shorter and more readable with all the superfluos stuff turned off...).
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pwaller · n00b Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 25

Config:
http://pastebin.ca/708522

Oh, and I have turned off all of the FS's I want to.

energyman76b · Advocate Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 2005 Location: Germany

please turn off this stuff:
CONFIG_ATA=y
CONFIG_ATA_ACPI=y
CONFIG_ATA_PIIX=y

you only can have libata or the 'normal' ide drivers, but if you try using both, you run into problems.
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pwaller · n00b Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 25

Okay, slightly confused. So I have an Intel Chipset (ICH stuff) and my hard drive is SATA. What do I want to be using? (If not the things you just listed)

energyman76b · Advocate Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 2005 Location: Germany

aaaah. You have SATA. I missed that.

Ok, in that case, keep the ide stuff (not the libata stuff) and also set this option:
CONFIG_ATA_ACPI=y
CONFIG_SATA_AHCI=y

or, if AHCI does not work for you (but AHCI is supported by most intel chipsets - it was intels idea..):

deactivate everthing in ide, and set
CONFIG_ATA_PIIX

but, you also have to compile scsi harddisk support and scsi cdrom support into the kernel.

Is your cdrom sata too? Or only the harddisk?
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pwaller · n00b Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 25

I don't know about the CD-Rom -- is there an easy way to find out?

energyman76b · Advocate Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 2005 Location: Germany

pwaller · n00b Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 25

http://uk.shopping.com/xPF-Sony-SLIM-DL-DVD-RW-BLACK

IDE/EIDE, apparently.

energyman76b · Advocate Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 2005 Location: Germany

ok, in that case try the AHCI driver in the SATA/ATA menu, compile scsi disk into the kernel, and the ide drivers.

I am not sure - it might be problematic, maybe someone using intel-chips could say something *sigh*
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tarpman · Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:59 pm Post subject:

Your laptop is very similar to mine. What you want to do is disable the E/IDE subsystem completely in favour of the new libata stuff (CONFIG_ATA and friends). Specifically, you need CONFIG_ATA for the libata subsystem (CONFIG_ATA_ACPI, a hidden symbol, is selected automatically), CONFIG_ATA_PIIX for your SATA chipset, and CONFIG_PATA_MPIIX for IDE support for your DVD drive. All other ATA related options should be disabled; specifically, CONFIG_IDE and everything underneath it must be disabled, as must CONFIG_ATA_GENERIC. Then, to allow the devices to show up, make sure CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD (for your hard drive) and CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SR (for your optical drive) are enabled. CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SG is also a good idea.

Be warned: this is a major subsystem change. Your hard drive, if it is currently /dev/hda, will change to /dev/sda; make sure you update /etc/fstab to reflect this before rebooting. Your DVD drive may or may not become /dev/sr0; it may also stay as /dev/hdc, in which case /dev/sr0 may or may not be a symlink to it (or vice versa), depending on your specific hardware; either way, udev should maintain appropriate /dev/cdrom and /dev/dvd symlinks, so you shouldn't have to do anything with that. hdparm does not work to set parameters on SATA drives, although you can use it with -i and/or -I to show information about your drives; to set parameters you want sdparm instead.

DMA is automatically enabled for all drives supported by the libata subsystem, so if you are able to boot with CONFIG_IDE and CONFIG_ATA_GENERIC disabled, then DMA will be enabled for you unless it simply will not work with your particular hardware.
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pwaller · n00b Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 25

Woohoo, this is exactly correct.

Cheers.

- Pete

SkyLeach

I've searched google, these forums and others and I'm still having no luck getting DMA to work on an HP-Compaq 2300 series desktop microtower

lspci:

tarpman · Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:53 pm Post subject:

Post your kernel config (with comments stripped out - try zgrep -ve "^#" -e "^$" /proc/config.gz) somewhere, and take a look at my post here. I know your machine isn't a laptop, but the advice there pertains to any 82801 or similar chipset.
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SkyLeach · Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 1:22 am Post subject:

SkyLeach · Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 1:24 am Post subject:

btw, I had already read your post and checked my kernel config. I had found some other information on ICH7 based laptops and done all of it as well.

different chipset revision perhaps? Mine is a 946gz express.
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http://www.skyleach.org

tarpman · Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 2:08 am Post subject:

Does your drive appear as /dev/sda with the new kernel, or is it still /dev/hda? If you have it set up properly, it should be the former. If it's still /dev/hda, then you're still using the older IDE subsystem, rather than the new libata one, and some things may not work at their best. There's nothing to be lost from switching to libata - it's a fully mature and functional system at this point. For SATA drives in particular, it's definitely the better choice (e.g. NCQ functionality).

Chipset revision doesn't (ok, shouldn't) matter; this information applies to all ICH7 boards, and possibly to some earlier ones as well.
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desultory · Administrator Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 6906

Merged topic "no luck with DMA on intel 82801GB/GR/GH hardware".

Moved from Desktop Environments to Kernel & Hardware.

SkyLeach · Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:55 pm Post subject: