Hi guys,

I am having severe problems getting the 2.6.9-1.667 (FC3) kernel to enable DMA on my DVD-ROM drive and DVD writer on a GigaByte GA-8TRS350MT motherboard based on the ATI RS350 chipset. I have checked and the ./config in the kernel source tree and settings are all "y" for the kernel for all the lines that have DMA in them:

CONFIG_GENERIC_ISA_DMA=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_PCI=y
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_FORCED is not set
CONFIG_IDEDMA_PCI_AUTO=y
# CONFIG_IDEDMA_ONLYDISK is not set
# CONFIG_HPT34X_AUTODMA is not set
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA=y
# CONFIG_IDEDMA_IVB is not set
CONFIG_IDEDMA_AUTO=y
CONFIG_SCSI_SYM53C8XX_DMA_ADDRESSING_MODE=1
# CONFIG_IEEE1394_SBP2_PHYS_DMA is not set

However,

/sbin/lspci | grep IDE

returns

00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4369 (rev 01)
00:14.2 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 436e (rev 01)

hdparm -d1 /dev/hdc returns

[root@StefanLinux /lib/modules/2.6.9-1.667/source]$ /sbin/hdparm -d1 /dev/hdc

/dev/hdc:
setting using_dma to 1 (on)
HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted
using_dma = 0 (off)

My motherboard chipset is based on the ATi RS350 chipset - so I am surmising I cannot get DMA enabled using /sbin/hdparm -d1 /dev/hdc or /dev/hdd BECAUSE of the 2.6.9-1.667 kernel not having a driver for the ATi RS350 chipset's IDE interface? Is this correct? Is there any way I can fix this? Anybody else got the 2.6.9-1.667 kernel to do DMA on a GA-8 Ati series motherboard?

Any help appreciated!

Thanks...

Hi guys,

I finally got this working by getting the 2.6.12 kernel from kernel.org. I had to fiddle a lot with the settings using xconfig, and finally tumbled to the fact (after browsing my motherboard manual for the GA8-TRS350MT) that it had an ATI SB300 (IXP 300) Southbridge chip in the chipset. I noticed when looking through the .conf for the 2.6.12 kernel that this option was commented (i. e. not active) so I went and made it =y in the .conf file. (I also changed some other options, don't know if they would affect this).

Anyway, recompiled the kernel with the IXP line in the .conf, then re-installed the Nvidia driver for Xwindows, and VIOLA! I've got DMA on my HDD and both my DVD and DVD-RAM drives.

If anybody needs help to get their DMA working on a GA8-TRS350MT, drop me a line at spamnot@<removethis>polard.com and I'll be happy to send you my .config for building a 2.6.12 kernel that will make the DMA work on your GA8-TRS350MT based motherboard (the manual title says ATi RS350 chipset, but I guess that refers to the GFX chips used).

Regards,