Hi all,
I've asked about this problem before. I didn't get an answer that solved the problem, but I did get lots of good advice that has helped me along the road to understanding it at least.
The problem is that my brand new, super-high-spec PC running SuSE 9.0 has intermittent periods of running horribly slowly.
I nailed the intermittent periods down to cron; every time it runs, the machine grinds to a near standstill. But it isn't cron that's at fault - it's not doing anything that should cause problems by itself. (in fact, there's a lot of other programs do the same; it's just cron is one of the most noticable because it's unexpected)
It was suggested that it I might have hard disk DMA switched off, and that turns out to be exactly right. So that seemed simple: turn DMA on, and it will all work beautifully. Except it didn't. Sadly, I don't seem able to turn it on. Both YaST and hdparm locked the computer up solidly when I tried changing the setting, forcing a hard reset.
hdparm -I gives me a whole load of details, including a line or two about DMA, but I have to say this is now somewhat above my level of expertise. (I'm much happier with software than hardware
)
So I've attached the entire output from hdparm -I, in the hope that someone can explain to me why I've not been able to turn the DMA on, and how I can do it. Or failing that, any other way of speeding up my machine will be just as good.
Many many thanks in advance for any help you can give me
Code:
# hdparm -I /dev/hde
/dev/hde:
ATA device, with non-removable media
_ _ _ _Model Number: _ _ _ Maxtor 6Y160M0
_ _ _ _Serial Number: _ _ _Y437VPNE
_ _ _ _Firmware Revision: _YAR51EW0
Standards:
_ _ _ _Supported: 7 6 5 4
_ _ _ _Likely used: 7
Configuration:
_ _ _ _Logical _ _ _ _ max _ _ current
_ _ _ _cylinders _ _ _ 16383 _ 65535
_ _ _ _heads _ _ _ _ _ 16 _ _ _1
_ _ _ _sectors/track _ 63 _ _ _63
_ _ _ _--
_ _ _ _CHS current addressable sectors: _ _4128705
_ _ _ _LBA _ _user addressable sectors: _268435455
_ _ _ _LBA48 _user addressable sectors: _312581808
_ _ _ _device size with M = 1024*1024: _ _ _152627 MBytes
_ _ _ _device size with M = 1000*1000: _ _ _160041 MBytes (160 GB)
Capabilities:
_ _ _ _LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
_ _ _ _Queue depth: 1
_ _ _ _Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, no device specific minimum
_ _ _ _R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16 _Current = 16
_ _ _ _Advanced power management level: unknown setting (0x0000)
_ _ _ _Recommended acoustic management value: 192, current value: 254
_ _ _ _DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5 udma6
_ _ _ _ _ _ Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
_ _ _ _PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
_ _ _ _ _ _ Cycle time: no flow control=120ns _IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
_ _ _ _Enabled Supported:
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _NOP cmd
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _READ BUFFER cmd
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _WRITE BUFFER cmd
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _Host Protected Area feature set
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _Look-ahead
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _Write cache
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _Power Management feature set
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Security Mode feature set
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _SMART feature set
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _FLUSH CACHE EXT command
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _Mandatory FLUSH CACHE command
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _Device Configuration Overlay feature set
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _48-bit Address feature set
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _Automatic Acoustic Management feature set
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _SET MAX security extension
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Advanced Power Management feature set
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _DOWNLOAD MICROCODE cmd
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _SMART self-test
_ _ _ _ _ * _ _SMART error logging
Security:
_ _ _ _Master password revision code = 65534
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _supported
_ _ _ _not _ _ enabled
_ _ _ _not _ _ locked
_ _ _ _not _ _ frozen
_ _ _ _not _ _ expired: security count
_ _ _ _not _ _ supported: enhanced erase
Checksum: correct
#
