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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mira.net.au!vic.news.telstra.net!act.news.telstra.net!psgrain!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!news.new-york.net!ritz.mordor.com!ritz From: ritz@ritz.mordor.com (Chris Mauritz) Subject: Re: FIX (?!): BusLogic BT-946C firmware problem X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Lines: 37 Organization: Mordor International Message-ID: <Dsu2Ew.EEx@ritz.mordor.com> References: <Pine.BSI.3.91.960611044017.2184A-100000-100000@dca.net> Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 11:25:44 GMT Andrew White (awhite@dca.net) wrote: : : SUMMARY: : The BusLogic PCI SCSI controller (BT-946C) has firmware problems : that cause irrecoverable hangs on the SCSI bus under BSD/OS 2.x. : This message outlines migrating from the BT-946C to another : SCSI controller without reformatting the disk. : : I am sending this message out to the BSDI-users mailing list and to : comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc in the hopes that it saves someone a lot of time and : trouble -- I certainly found this to be a vexing problem. : : The problem I experienced was that one of our BSD/OS servers, running : BSD/OS 2.01 at the time, would suddenly freeze (up to 5 times per day, : ouch!). Shortly thereafter, I would see kernel messages on the console : which repeated every thirty seconds or so. The messages were of the form: : : bha0: command timed out for XX seconds : : The only way to recover from this problem was a cold reboot. Donn Sealy of : BSDI posted this explanation in January 1994 as to what causes this type of : error: [interesting explanation deleted for brevity] I have been using 946'Cs and, most recently, 956C's for over 3 years with 1.0, 2.01, and 2.1. I have never had a problem with SCSI bus hangs as you describe and my machines get fairly heavy usage. Uptimes of 30+ days are not uncommon and reboots are usually due to a software upgrade or hardware tweak. Are you sure this isn't a motherboard related problem? I use Intel Plato II and Tyan Tomcat I (1562) boards without incident. Regards, Chris -- Christopher Mauritz | For info on internet access: ritz@mordor.com | finger/mail info@ritz.mordor.com OR Mordor International | http://www.mordor.com/ 201/212/718 internet access | Modem: (201)433-7343,(212)843-3451