Inspiron 6000 DVD DMA Issue

Chryzmo · 01-30-2006, 09:45 AM

jyavenard,

Do you know where I can get the patch to apply to the 2.6.14 kernel in order to be able to get my DVD drive to work properly? The patch I found doesn't work with the 2.6.15 kernel and I did not see a different when I used it on the 2.6.14.2 kernel.

jyavenard · 01-30-2006, 11:10 PM

Do a google search on "ich6m-pciid-piix.patch"
I can't post link here, system doesn't allow me as I don't have 5 posts.

BTW, I could apply the patch on 2.6.14.6, but still no DMA for my DVD player

Chryzmo · 02-01-2006, 11:04 PM

I applied the patch to a 2.6.14 kernel and everything went over smoothly, but when I reboot I get this:

Code:

VFS:  Cannot open root device "803" or unknown-block(8,3)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not syncing:  VFS:  Unable to mount root fs on unkown-block(8,3)

I also noticed that LILO points to the /dev/sda drive still. However, I think that it would not try to load the kernel at all if that were the issue. I fixed the /etc/fstab file to point to the correct /dev/hda drive, so that should not be it. I just used my .config file that I've been using when I compiled this new kernel. I'm not sure why I'm getting this kernel panic.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Chryzmo · 02-02-2006, 05:48 PM

OK, I tried a new approach. I noticed that kernel 2.6.16-rc1 is out. I decided to just check out the change log and see is *MAYBE* there was something related to this. I found this:

Code:

[PATCH] add boot option to control Intel SATA/PATA combined mode
    
    Combined mode sucks.  Especially when both libata and the legacy IDE
    drivers try to drive ports on the same device, since that makes DMA
    rather difficult.
    
    This patch addresses the problem by allowing the user to control which
    driver binds to the ports in a combined mode configuration.  In many
    cases, they'll probably want the libata driver to control both ports
    since it can use DMA for talking with ATAPI devices (when
    libata.atapi_enabled=1 of course).  It also allows the user to get old
    school behavior by letting the legacy IDE driver bind to both ports.
    But neither is forced, the patch doesn't change current behavior unless
    one of combined_mode=ide or combined_mode=libata is passed
    on the boot line.  Either of those options may require you to access
    your devices via different device nodes (/dev/hd* in the ide case
    and /dev/sd* in the libata case), though of course if you have udev
    installed nicely you may not notice anything.  :)
    
    Let me know if the documentation is too cryptic, I'd be happy to expand
    on it if necessary.  I think most users will want to boot with
    'combined_mode=libata' and add 'options libata atapi_enabled=1'
    to their modules.conf to get good DVD playing and disk behavior
    (haven't tested CD or DVD writing though).
    
    I'd much rather things behave sanely by default (i.e. DMA for devices on
    both ports), but apparently that's difficult given the various chip
    bugs and hardware configs out there (not to mention that people's
    drives may suddenly change from /dev/hdc to /dev/sdb), so this boot
    option may be the correct long term fix.

So I decided to try out this kernel and follow the directions here. It compiles fine and my DVD drive is no long /dev/hdc. I *think* it is /dev/sg0 as that is what the link /dev/cdrom points to. However, I cannot play DVDs nor can I mount data CDs. I'm not sure why this is.

Also in the instructions here it says to put the link 'options libata atapi_enables=1' in the modules.conf file. Slackware doesn't have on, or atleast I don't. Can I use /etc/modprobe.conf instead?

Another thing I noticed was in my dmesg output I get this:

Code:

ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x1F0 ctl 0x3F6 bmdma 0xBFA0 irq 14
ata1: dev 0 cfg 49:0f00 82:746b 83:7fe9 84:4023 85:f469 86:3e49 87:4023 88:203f
ata1: dev 0 ATA-6, max UDMA/100, 156301488 sectors: LBA48
ata1(0): applying bridge limits
ata1: dev 0 configured for UDMA/100
scsi0 : ata_piix
  Vendor: ATA       Model: Hitachi HTS54108  Rev: MB4O
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 05
ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x170 ctl 0x376 bmdma 0xBFA8 irq 15
ata2: dev 0 cfg 49:0f00 82:0210 83:4011 84:4000 85:0000 86:0001 87:4000 88:0407
ata2: dev 0 ATAPI, max UDMA/33
ata2(0): applying bridge limits
ata2: dev 0 configured for UDMA/33
scsi1 : ata_piix
ata2(0): WARNING: ATAPI is disabled, device ignored.

I guess that answers my question as to why the drive won't mount. But how do I enable ATAPI to enable the drive?

Thanks,
Chris

*Sorry for the really long post.

Murdock1979 · 02-02-2006, 06:01 PM

I can't help you on the new kernel you are using. But for the 2.6.14 kernel patch I used, you must go into lilo.conf itself and change the sda to hda or whatever.

I'll post my lilo.conf as soon as I get to my laptop again.

Later,
Murdock

Chryzmo · 02-02-2006, 11:13 PM

Well I tried that as well. However, from a 2.6.x kernel that uses the /dev/sdax drive labeling you cannot run /sbin/lilo in order to tell it to write the /dev/hdax label to the MBR. So, I was kind of stuck.

I'm still willing to use tha patched kernel, I'd actually rather use it than the new test kernel. But how do I get lilo to update when it doesn't see that /dev/hda drive as even existing?

rushin_911 · 02-02-2006, 11:18 PM

Hello,

I have an Inspiron 6000 and I also had the same issues. I was able to reslove them through some kernel patching and hacking, and by adding a line to the grub boot command, and now even the SD drive works

I'm running the latest Arabian beta 0.6 . I didn't test the suspend command yet and what not but I'm not very interested in it at the moment so...

Anyway here's what I did:
I grabbed the latest stable kernel version 2.6.15.2. Based on this patch ( http://www.math.ucla.edu/~jimc/insp6...2.6.12-rc1.txt ), which is designed for Kenrel 2.6.12-rc1, I modified the files it's supposed to modify by editting the lines with the ( - ) sign so that they match the ( + ) sign. If you notice the line ( #define ATA_ENABLE_ATAPI 1 /* define to enable ATAPI support */ ) isn't found anymore in libata, however it doesn't seem to matter. I also applied the patches for the SD card by following the instructions here ( http://www.fam-lindeman.nl/content/view/12/34/ ), where a link for downloading the patches is available. After that I simply did a normal compile using the kpkg and dpkg commands, and voila

Here is my config file: http://rapidshare.de/files/12431506/....2.config.html
(I know rapidshare sucks for a lot of ppl, sorry)

It's based on the excellent config file found here:
http://socrates.homelinux.org/index....llInspiron6000
(the site is really a good guide)

Becareful about which graphic card support you choose. Since I have an ATI-X300 card I chose the radeon driver. I also tend to make a lot of stuff compiled in the kernel instead of leaving them as models. If you choose the other config you'll have to choose to compile the SD driver since it was written before the patches were provided, and in addition if you decide to make your own config file as the page I provided above mentions:

"If you don't use my config file, make sure you enable SATA in the kernel, with the Intel PIIX controller. I just compiled it into my kernel, because I like to avoid dealing with initrd whenever I can. Note that because the system uses SATA, your hard disk will be accessed via /dev/sda, and the DVD drive via /dev/scd0."

That's really the important step to take in order to make the dvd drive work. The SD drive in my laptop is /dev/mmcblk0p1 and so after I issued a mkdir /mnt/SD command I added this line in /etc/fstab ( /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/SD auto noauto,user,noexec,rw,sync 0 0 ) , works well with "sync" since before I had added it the drive wouldn't mount the SD card again if I took it out before unmounting it.

And finally to get the mutlimedia buttons working I followed the directions above (downloading hotkeys and copying the configuration). To make it boot when KDE starts I created a symbolic link to /usr/bin/hotkeys at ~/.kde/Autostart (took the info from a site I can't remember). I only mention this because I really felt it was a pain getting hotkeys to load automatically, and figured some people might be feeling the same way

Good luck

rushin_911 · 02-03-2006, 10:50 AM

I forgot to mention I had also added the following to my grub boot command : libata.atapi_enabled=1
Otherwise the dvd drive I think won't even be found

Chryzmo · 02-03-2006, 10:50 AM

rushin_911,

Did you have to pass any parameters to the kernel or issue some command to turn ATAPI on? I managed to get the patch applied and the kernel compiled, I'm on it right now. However, the DVD drive still acts the same. It is /dev/hdc, not /dev/scd. I also cannot turn DMA on through the hdparm command.

rushin_911 · 02-03-2006, 10:55 AM

well you would have to issue the command I wrote above (right above your post, seems we posted at the same time). After that the dvd drive works fine (I've tested dvd movies and burned a dvd to make sure, no errors), however even if you issue the hdparm command for DMA this is what will happen:

# hdparm -d1 /dev/scd0

/dev/scd0:
setting using_dma to 1 (on)
HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device

while if you simply issue a regular hdparm command to simply see if it's on or not,,,

# hdparm -d /dev/scd0

/dev/scd0:

The dvd drive still works though so I'm not sure why the outputs are like that (I'm still a beginner so,,,)

Chryzmo · 02-03-2006, 12:28 PM

Again no success...

This si what my lilo.conf looks like:

Code:

# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/sda3
  label = Slackware
  append = "libata.atapi_enabled=1"
# Linux bootable partition config ends

But the drive still appears as /dev/hdc and when I try to play a DVD it is still incredibly choppy. Also when I try to enable DMA, it does not work.

I think that is the way you pass kernel parameters in lilo, right?

rushin_911 · 02-03-2006, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chryzmo

Again no success...

This si what my lilo.conf looks like:

Code:

# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/sda3
  label = Slackware
  append = "libata.atapi_enabled=1"
# Linux bootable partition config ends

But the drive still appears as /dev/hdc and when I try to play a DVD it is still incredibly choppy. Also when I try to enable DMA, it does not work.

I think that is the way you pass kernel parameters in lilo, right?

I'm not sure how you're supposed to pass kenrel parameters in lilo (Arabian uses grub,,,)
I'm still surprised though that the dvd drive appears as hdc (with me nothing appeared if I remember correctly without the command), did you by chance enable the (ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support) option in the kernel? I think this should not be enabled at all so that the SCSI device driver handles the dvd instead.

Try compiling the kernel using either config files that I've provided in my first post and see if the thing works,,,

Tino27 · 02-03-2006, 01:50 PM

You pass parameters in LILO like this ...

image = /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15.1
root = /dev/sda1
label = Linux_2.6.15.1
append = "libata.atapi_enabled=1"
read-only

Chryzmo · 02-03-2006, 02:05 PM

Actually I finally got it!

I did infact have the (ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support) option enabled. I had to disable this and now my DVD drive is sr0 and plays DVDs without a problem. I have not tested CD writing yet, but I'm just glad ot have made a little progress.

I'm almost certain Murdock's fix worked as well, but since I had ATAPI enabled in the kernel, it still acted like it wasn't working.

Thank you everyone for your help