sdparm

[funkmuscle]

hey does anyone know what this means:

sudo sdparm /dev/sda
/dev/sda: ATA Maxtor 6L200R0 BAH4
Read write error recovery mode page:
AWRE 1
ARRE 0
PER 0
Caching (SBC) mode page:
WCE 1
RCD 0
Control mode page:
SWP 0

I'm trying to enable dma

[thorgal]

isn't dma irrelevant for SATA disks ?
The throughput I get with my HDs are reasonable out of the box.

[funkmuscle]

thorgal, thanx but if you noticed on the impulse response thread, I get mega xrun loading IR files larger than 100kbs.
my distro, ArchLinux and Ubuntu see drives as sd and not hd... I think my disk is pata, not sata...does that make a difference?
I want to enable dma... I heard that may fix the xruns issues with the IR files.
crappy VIA chipset board

[thorgal]

try this and report :

# note: use _hdparm_
sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sda

by the way, try this too :

grep CONFIG_4KSTACKS /boot/config*

config* being the config corresponding to your running kernel

[funkmuscle]

sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sda
/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads: 198 MB in 2.00 seconds = 98.99 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 84 MB in 3.01 seconds = 27.93 MB/sec

grep CONFIG_4KSTACKS /boot/config*
grep: /boot/config*: No such file or directory

something looks wrong here dude!!!

[thorgal]

funkmuscle,

the performance you get on your HD looks to me like what I used to measure with my old laptop IDE HD at 4200 RPMs. That was with DMA on because without DMA on, it performed about 9 times lower. So I don't know, maybe you should get a SATAII controller and invest in SATAII disks ? They can easily be 2 to 3 times faster.

About the 4K stack kernel config, I vaguely remember some problems with kernels compiled with 4K stack (instead of traditional 8K stack) that affected some filesystems, especially reiserfs. I do remember from 1st hand experience that my laptop did not like it because ndiswrapper (wireless stuff) was fucked with 4K stack kernels.

The fact that you don't have the kernel config saved under /boot is a hint to me that your kernel has been configured not to do it. Can you recall what your system is : OS, kernel version, etc ?

[funkmuscle]

distro is ArchLinux...kernel26rt-2.6.26.5_rt9
Asus mobo with the crappy via chipset,
amd athlon 2000+xp 1.7gb
1gb ram
Maxtor DiamondMax 10, 7200rpm, 200GB ATA-133.
This is the only distro I can run Jackd with a latency of 5.33 sec with zero xruns except with the IR files..
I have removable drives and I've tried sidux, ubuntu, 64studio, jacklab with major frustration in the latency department...

[thorgal]

can you report the output of 'sudo lsmod' ?

yeah, VIA, I remember now, you mentioned it. I am almost convinced that you will stop experiencing this issue if you give up the VIA mobo.

[funkmuscle]

sudo lsmod

Module Size Used by
ipv6 260260 14
ext2 66056 1
mbcache 8708 1 ext2
ppdev 9348 0
i2c_viapro 9492 0
ppp_generic 25116 0
via_ircc 19732 0
pcspkr 4352 0
irda 112568 1 via_ircc
sg 28852 0
crc_ccitt 3840 1 irda
usblp 13824 0
nvidia 7096900 24
i2c_core 22420 2 i2c_viapro,nvidia
parport_pc 36804 1
emu10k1_gp 4608 0
gameport 12172 2 emu10k1_gp
shpchp 31252 0
pci_hotplug 28324 1 shpchp
via_agp 9984 1
agpgart 30804 2 nvidia,via_agp
thermal 17052 0
processor 34732 1 thermal
fan 6148 0
button 7824 0
battery 12036 0
ac 6020 0
lp 11108 0
parport 33004 3 ppdev,parport_pc,lp
fuse 52892 2
evdev 11296 6
usb_storage 92736 0
usbhid 46016 0
hid 41856 1 usbhid
ff_memless 6664 1 usbhid
bluetooth 54372 0
snd_seq_midi 8320 0
snd_emu10k1_synth 8320 0
snd_emux_synth 34048 1 snd_emu10k1_synth
snd_seq_virmidi 7296 1 snd_emux_synth
snd_seq_midi_emul 7808 1 snd_emux_synth
snd_emu10k1 138272 1 snd_emu10k1_synth
snd_util_mem 5376 2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1
snd_hwdep 8964 2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1
snd_seq_oss 31872 0
snd_seq_midi_event 8192 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 49968 8 snd_seq_midi,snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi_emul,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_pcm_oss 40192 1
snd_mixer_oss 16512 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_ice1712 60836 1
snd_ice17xx_ak4xxx 5120 1 snd_ice1712
snd_ak4xxx_adda 9728 2 snd_ice1712,snd_ice17xx_ak4xxx
snd_cs8427 9472 1 snd_ice1712
snd_ac97_codec 100516 2 snd_emu10k1,snd_ice1712
snd_pcm 69636 4 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm_oss,snd_ice1712,snd_ac97_codec
snd_timer 21384 3 snd_emu10k1,snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 9224 2 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm
snd_i2c 6400 2 snd_ice1712,snd_cs8427
snd_mpu401_uart 8704 1 snd_ice1712
snd_rawmidi 21504 4 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_emu10k1,snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 8332 7 snd_seq_midi,snd_emu10k1_synth,snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi
snd 50724 18 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_emu10k1,snd_hwdep,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_ice1712,snd_ak4xxx_adda,snd_cs8427,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_i2c,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
soundcore 8160 2 snd
ac97_bus 3584 1 snd_ac97_codec
slhc 7680 1 ppp_generic
b44 28048 0
ssb 40324 1 b44
pcmcia 35116 1 ssb
pcmcia_core 33812 2 ssb,pcmcia
mii 6528 1 b44
rtc_cmos 11424 0
rtc_core 17564 1 rtc_cmos
rtc_lib 4480 1 rtc_core
reiserfs 231552 2
sr_mod 16708 0
cdrom 35360 1 sr_mod
sd_mod 27160 5
ohci_hcd 24976 0
ehci_hcd 35852 0
uhci_hcd 24080 0
usbcore 134256 7 usblp,usb_storage,usbhid,ohci_hcd,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
ata_generic 6788 0
pata_via 9860 4
pata_acpi 6016 0
libata 153120 3 ata_generic,pata_via,pata_acpi
scsi_mod 96460 5 sg,usb_storage,sr_mod,sd_mod,libata
dock 9616 1 libata

[thorgal]

the kernel uses pata_via.

I found something about it :

http://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux ... /0824.html

I'm testing Linux kernel version 2.6.22-rc1 using Debian Testing on an Acer Ferrari 3400 Laptop. This has a VIA IDE controller with the internal HDD and DVD writer attached. The via_pata module and SCSI disk support is compiled into the kernel and the old ATA subsystem is not. At bootup the log messages state that the main HDD is detected as being connected using a 40-pin cable which causes its speed to be limited to UDMA33 rather then UDMA100, the limit of the HD. This works fine under the old ATA system.

you should inspect your boot messages. Maybe this message is outdated but your never know ...

[funkmuscle]

hey thorgal, thanx a million for helping.
take a look at this:

pata_acpi 0000:00:11.1: can't derive routing for PCI INT A
pata_acpi 0000:00:11.1: can't derive routing for PCI INT A
pata_via 0000:00:11.1: version 0.3.3
pata_via 0000:00:11.1: can't derive routing for PCI INT A
scsi0 : pata_via
scsi1 : pata_via
ata1: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x1f0 ctl 0x3f6 bmdma 0x9800 irq 14
ata2: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x170 ctl 0x376 bmdma 0x9808 irq 15
Switched to high resolution mode on CPU 0
ata1.00: ATA-7: Maxtor 6L200R0, BAH41G10, max UDMA/133
ata1.00: 398297088 sectors, multi 16: LBA48
ata1.01: ATAPI: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-112D, 1.15, max UDMA/66
ata1.00: limited to UDMA/33 due to 40-wire cable
ata1.01: limited to UDMA/33 due to 40-wire cable
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33
ata1.01: configured for UDMA/33
ata2.01: ATA-4: WDC WD64AA, 82.10A82, max UDMA/66
ata2.01: 12594960 sectors, multi 16: LBA
ata2.01: configured for UDMA/66
scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access ATA Maxtor 6L200R0 BAH4 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5

[thorgal]

looks like you're onto something ?
Honestly, I don't know, I don't use VIA hardware for performance purposes. If I did, I could help you more. I think you have a hint that some defective driver or BIOS (maybe?) prevents you from using the maximum out of your disk. But I am speculating from pieces of info that I have not investigated in depth. So my advice: drop VIA.

[funkmuscle]

yep, I got a friend that may have a non via board.

[thorgal]

great, what is it ?

[funkmuscle]

he said it was an asus.. I told him that's what I got but he says it ain't via...but he's double checking for me.
he's a windows user and he said the via board are hell on windows too.