help with DMA in CentOS 4.x

lleb · 01-03-2006, 10:32 AM

on my media box i moved from Debian to CentOS 4 for several reasons, but once again i am plagued with the lack of DMA on that system. it seems that even more modern distros do not like the chipset on that motherboard.

it has some kind of intel (want to say 810, but not 100%, thus this thread) chipset and i need some help with a few things.

1. how do i get the information to help you help me.

2. once i have that information, how do i modify the kernel so that it will load the proper module so i can gain access to the DMA again.

Code:

uname -a
Linux media.ssmahome.local 2.6.9-22.0.1.EL #1 Thu Oct 27 12:26:11 CDT 2005 i686athlon i386 GNU/Linux

Code:

cat /proc/ide/hda/settings
name                    value           min             max             mode
----                    -----           ---             ---             ----
acoustic                0               0               254             rw
address                 0               0               2               rw
bios_cyl                65535           0               65535           rw
bios_head               16              0               255             rw
bios_sect               63              0               63              rw
bswap                   0               0               1               r
current_speed           69              0               70              rw
failures                0               0               65535           rw
init_speed              69              0               70              rw
io_32bit                0               0               3               rw
keepsettings            0               0               1               rw
lun                     0               0               7               rw
max_failures            1               0               65535           rw
multcount               16              0               16              rw
nice1                   1               0               1               rw
nowerr                  0               0               1               rw
number                  0               0               3               rw
pio_mode                write-only      0               255             w
unmaskirq               0               0               1               rw
using_dma               1               0               1               rw
wcache                  1               0               1               rw

Code:

hdparm -i /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Model=WDC WD400BB-00AUA1, FwRev=18.20D18, SerialNo=WD-WMA6R1975528
 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq }
 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=57600, SectSize=600, ECCbytes=40
 BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=2048kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=78165360
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
 Drive conforms to: device does not report version:

 * signifies the current active mode

what i really need the DMA for is the DVD player:

Code:

hdparm -d1 /media/cdrom

/media/cdrom:
 setting using_dma to 1 (on)
 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device
[root@media ~]# hdparm -d1 /media/cdrom1

/media/cdrom1:
 setting using_dma to 1 (on)
 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device

at this point neither of laser drives have any media in them so do not know if that will matter or not, but i really could use DMA to just run on them both so i can get the performance from them.

many thanks.

tkedwards · 01-03-2006, 04:22 PM

Code:

su
hdparm -d1 /dev/hda

Note that its the device file (eg. /dev/hdc might be your DVD drive), not the mount point that you need to give to hdparm. HTH.

lleb · 01-03-2006, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkedwards

Code:

su
hdparm -d1 /dev/hda

Note that its the device file (eg. /dev/hdc might be your DVD drive), not the mount point that you need to give to hdparm. HTH.

ok here is what happend:

Code:

cat /etc/fstab
# This file is edited by fstab-sync - see 'man fstab-sync' for details
LABEL=/                 /                       ext3    defaults        1 1
LABEL=/boot1            /boot                   ext3    defaults        1 2
none                    /dev/pts                devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
none                    /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults        0 0
LABEL=/home             /home                   ext3    defaults        1 2
none                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0
none                    /sys                    sysfs   defaults        0 0
LABEL=/usr              /usr                    ext3    defaults        1 2
LABEL=SWAP-hdb1         swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
/dev/hdd                /media/cdrom            auto    pamconsole,fscontext=system_u:object_r:removable_t,exec,noauto,managed 0 0
/dev/hdc                /media/cdrom1           auto    pamconsole,fscontext=system_u:object_r:removable_t,exec,noauto,managed 0 0
[root@media ~]# hdparm -d1 /dev/hdd

/dev/hdd:
 setting using_dma to 1 (on)
 using_dma    =  1 (on)
[root@media ~]# hdparm -d1 /dev/hdc

/dev/hdc:
 setting using_dma to 1 (on)
 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Input/output error
 using_dma    =  0 (off)

IIRC the cdrom = just that a cdrom, but the cdrom1 = my DVD player. that is the one i really need to have DMA running on.

tkedwards · 01-03-2006, 09:24 PM

Sounds like a hardware support problem. Try googling with the model number of that DVD drive and that error message or the model number and 'linux'. Also look at the hardware forum on this site.

What model number is it BTW?

lleb · 01-04-2006, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkedwards

Sounds like a hardware support problem. Try googling with the model number of that DVD drive and that error message or the model number and 'linux'. Also look at the hardware forum on this site.

What model number is it BTW?

its some generic DVD player i pulled out of an older Compaq. how would i go about finding out what make/modle it is?

[edit to add] forgot to add it did work when i was running Debian on that system. So it "should" work.

tkedwards · 01-04-2006, 05:53 PM

It might be a bit of a PITA but if you could install Debian on another drive or partition on that machine and see what kernel version it is and what modules are used. Or maybe try something like the Knoppix LiveCD and see if that can work the DVD drive properly and what kernel version and modules it uses.

Have you got all the updates to Centos 4 BTW? Redhat often includes driver updates in their updates for RHEL.

lleb · 01-04-2006, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkedwards

It might be a bit of a PITA but if you could install Debian on another drive or partition on that machine and see what kernel version it is and what modules are used. Or maybe try something like the Knoppix LiveCD and see if that can work the DVD drive properly and what kernel version and modules it uses.

Have you got all the updates to Centos 4 BTW? Redhat often includes driver updates in their updates for RHEL.

yes Cent is updated. I will download and burn a newer copy of Knoppix to see if I can get the DVD player to work.