Messages

76

User Zone / Re: ata4: softreset failed. ata4.00 disabled (SATA devices not working sometimes)

« on: February 02, 2020, 04:48:46 am »

Have you tried to disconnect the BD-drive, whether the problem disappears or persists?

Not yet, I am trying to diagnose the problem by changing only one small thing (step-by-step). But I am almost quite sure it works if no NVMe SSD is attached so it looks like a hardware incompatibility.

Currently I have applied the libata.force=norst kernel parameter to disable hard and soft resets
and the optical drive is working currently (but the problem is non-deterministic so I have to wait until the error occurs again).

I have already unplugged the attached Seagate SATA HDD so I would exclude this device from the suspects.

Next step would be to change the cable, then disconnect (no more SATA devices)...

BTW The kernel.org doc for kernel parameters explains the options for libata.force quite well:

https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.14/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.html

libata.force=   [LIBATA] Force configurations.  The format is comma separated list of "[ID:]VAL" where ID is
                        PORT[.DEVICE].  PORT and DEVICE are decimal numbers matching port, link or device.  Basically, it matches
                        the ATA ID string printed on console by libata.  If the whole ID part is omitted, the last PORT and DEVICE
                        values are used.  If ID hasn't been specified yet, the configuration applies to all ports, links and devices.

                        If only DEVICE is omitted, the parameter applies to the port and all links and devices behind it.  DEVICE
                        number of 0 either selects the first device or the first fan-out link behind PMP device.  It does not
                        select the host link.  DEVICE number of 15 selects the host link and device attached to it.

                        The VAL specifies the configuration to force.  As long as there's no ambiguity shortcut notation is allowed.
                        For example, both 1.5 and 1.5G would work for 1.5Gbps. The following configurations can be forced.

                        * Cable type: 40c, 80c, short40c, unk, ign or sata.  Any ID with matching PORT is used.

                        * SATA link speed limit: 1.5Gbps or 3.0Gbps.

                        * Transfer mode: pio[0-7], mwdma[0-4] and udma[0-7]. udma[/][16,25,33,44,66,100,133] notation is also allowed.

                        * [no]ncq: Turn on or off NCQ.

                        * [no]ncqtrim: Turn off queued DSM TRIM.

                        * nohrst, nosrst, norst: suppress hard, soft and both resets.

                        * rstonce: only attempt one reset during hot-unplug link recovery

                        * dump_id: dump IDENTIFY data.

                        * atapi_dmadir: Enable ATAPI DMADIR bridge support

                        * disable: Disable this device.

                        If there are multiple matching configurations changing the same attribute, the last one is used.

77

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: System cleaning

« on: February 02, 2020, 04:10:07 am »

I am not sure having understood what exactly you mean...

Can you please quote the "famous message" you get?

Is your root file system running out of space? Or your boot partition?

If it is the boot partition this is usually caused by the kernel updates taking a lot of space and you have to uninstall them via your package manager
(keep the last two or three kernel updates in case you have boot problems with the most recent kernel)...

78

User Zone / Re: GPU DMA issue diagnoses and impact (missing DMA kernel support beyond 32 bits)

« on: February 02, 2020, 04:05:06 am »

This is no longer an issue with kernel 5.4 and higher.

Yes, I have read this but I would like to understand the background to make decent decisions on future hardware purchases ("compatibility mode" sounds like "performance impact")

79

User Zone / Re: ata4: softreset failed. ata4.00 disabled (SATA devices not working sometimes)

« on: February 01, 2020, 04:29:37 pm »

nvram -p ibm,skiboot --update-config fast-reset=0
as root on your OS (need powerpc-utils installed) will make your reboots slower, but it should mitigate the problem.

I have already tried this but with no reliable success - even cold starts don't help sometimes.

I suspect a kind of non-deterministic "race condition" (very difficult to diagnose from the logs -ideas welcome since I can reproduce the problem quite often ;-)

80

User Zone / Re: Configure Xorg for AST2500 max resolution of 1920x1200 on Ubuntu Server 19.10

« on: February 01, 2020, 04:26:39 pm »

I have found the correct settings now by modiying the xorg.conf from the Raptor wiki just a little bit.

The reason why it didn't work were the conservative HorizSync and VertRefresh settings. After commenting them it did work (at least in Fedora 31)

Code: [Select]

# AST2500
Section "Device"
    Identifier     "GPU0"
    Driver         "modesetting"
    BusID          "PCI:2@5:0:0"
    VendorName     "ASpeed Corporation"
EndSection

# configure as appropriate for your monitor -- a standard 1080p screen is assumed below
Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
#    HorizSync       30.0-70.0
#    VertRefresh     50.0-70.0
    Modeline       "1920x1080" 172.80 1920 2040 2248 2576 1080 1081 1084 1118 -HSync +Vsync
# 1920x1200 59.88 Hz (CVT 2.30MA) hsync: 74.56 kHz; pclk: 193.25 MHz
    Modeline       "1920x1200"  193.25  1920 2056 2256 2592  1200 1203 1209 1245 -hsync +vsync
EndSection

# this is absolutely necessary, it tells xorg which GPU to use for the screen
Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    Device         "GPU0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes      "1920x1080" "1920x1200"
    EndSubSection
EndSection
I would be happy if somebody could confirm that these settings are working - I will add them then to the according Raptor wiki page.

81

User Zone / Re: ata4: softreset failed. ata4.00 disabled (SATA devices not working sometimes)

« on: February 01, 2020, 04:08:00 pm »

THX for the background :-)

So does this mean if I add

Code: [Select]

libata.force=norst to the kernel boot parameters that the SATA controller is negotiating correctly then (or does this only suppress the dmesg output ;-) ?

82

User Zone / ata4: softreset failed. ata4.00 disabled (SATA devices not working sometimes)

« on: February 01, 2020, 12:41:33 pm »

From time to time during the boot phase my SATA devices (HDD and BD reader) are disabled due to initialisation problems:

Code: [Select]

[    0.990587] ata4: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0x600c100000000 port 0x600c100000280 irq 30
[    1.487797] ata4: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
[    1.491980] ata4.00: ATAPI: ASUS    BW-16D1HT, 3.10, max UDMA/133
[    1.499775] ata4.00: configured for UDMA/133
[   97.577022] ata4: softreset failed (1st FIS failed)
[  147.576656] ata4: reset failed, giving up
[  147.576658] ata4.00: disabled

The NVMe SSD is still working (always).

Rebooting does not help, sometimes even a cold start does not help (so the problems smells like a boot time Linux problem).

After this error also petitboot does no longer recognize the SATA devices (even when I choose the menu item "rescan devices").

I could reproduce this problem with Ubuntu Server 19.10 (kernel 5.3.x) as well as with Fedora 31 with a newer kernel (5.4.x)

What is the reason for that and how can I fix this?

BTW: There is a wiki entry at voidlinux bit it does not explain the background (reasons + impact):

https://wiki.voidlinux.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions#How_to_get_rid_of_.22ataN:_softreset_failed_.28device_not_ready.29.22_.3F

83

User Zone / GPU DMA issue diagnoses and impact (missing DMA kernel support beyond 32 bits)

« on: February 01, 2020, 12:32:27 pm »

The Raptor wiki mentions

All AMD GPUs currently have DMA issues (limited to 32-bit, which can cause crashes) due to missing Linux kernel support for DMA windows between 33 and 63 bits in length.
The root cause is GPU vendors (and occasionally some non-GPU vendors) cutting costs and only including 40-bit capable (Intel-style) DMA controllers.
A compatibility mode is expected to be included in Linux 5.4 and above that will resolve this issue

https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/POWER9_Hardware_Compatibility_List/PCIe_Devices#Graphics_Cards

What I would like to understand:

• How can I diagnose this (am I affected)?
• What is the impact of this issue (crashes under which conditions)?

84

User Zone / Virtual machine to run x86 software on ppc64le a host

« on: February 01, 2020, 12:21:31 pm »

Is there any working virtual machine software available?

I saw a wiki page at voidlinux but I am not sure which features are exactly supported on Power9...

https://wiki.voidlinux.org/VirtualBox

85

User Zone / Re: Fedora Linux Thread

« on: February 01, 2020, 04:15:53 am »

Is there any way to enable a suspend-mode in Fedora? Because, when I press the suspend button I get a black screen. Power consumption drops from 54W to 51W. My guess, only the AST is suspended? Then I couldn't wake up the computer again.

I have exactly the same problem on Ubuntu 19.10 (and Fedora 31 as well) - also with almost no reduction of power consumption and a dead black screen - and seen no solution so far...

86

Blackbird / Re: Regular users issues

« on: January 30, 2020, 06:27:23 pm »

_Do debian graphical installer work ootb? I’ve heard it has issues

Install via a Fedora Server 31 DVD burned from the ISO file.

Fedora has a nice graphical installer (with mouse support ;-) and works very stable on my Blackbird: https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/User:FlyingBlackbird

87

Applications and Porting / Re: Software and Games for GPU new generation

« on: January 30, 2020, 06:20:38 pm »

... the new AMD Navi10 GPUs, I was wondering with which software in particular, in your opinion it is possible to exploit them a little

Install 0. A. D. (3D open source game contained in all major Linux distros). Great graphics and can be played even via network and multiple players...

88

Applications and Porting / Re: Blu-ray applications

« on: January 30, 2020, 06:18:39 pm »

Hi guys, I'm looking for applications to be able to read bluray discs correctly, do you have any application to recommend?  Unfortunately today VLC is not available on Power, I was hoping for that but it is not available ...

Try MakeMKV: https://www.makemkv.com/

For Linux you have to compile the sources: https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=224

89

User Zone / Re: Rough edges and how I work around them (or not)

« on: January 30, 2020, 06:15:44 pm »

-snip-

For the longest time, I was under the impression that my distro enables trim by default. Checking systemctl reveals that it is not even running. Looks like I have a project to do!

There is a bug in SSD trimming (discard) with NVMe SSDs in the kernel until version 5.4:

[FIXED in stable kernels 4.19 and 5.4] https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=202665 IOMMU related errors when performing discard on some NVMe devices (mainly NVMe SSDs). Current workaround is booting with the kernel parameter "'iommu=soft'', see the https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=530436c45ef2e446c12538a400e465929a0b3ade patch

I am currently using Fedora Server 31 with Kernel 5.4.13-201.fc31.ppc64le and cannot observe NVMe problems or crashes anymore like with Ubuntu Server 19.10 and Kernel 5.1.x (but I have to do more tests for that).

90

Applications and Porting / RStudio desktop working on Raptor's power computer (ppc64le)?

« on: January 29, 2020, 03:06:21 pm »

I am using the statistical programming language R (which is available for ppc64le as ready-to-use package) a lot for data management and analytics
but the development IDE RStudio Desktop (https://rstudio.com/products/rstudio/download/#download) is still not available.

Could anybody compile RStudio successfully on ppc64le?

BTW: RStudio Server seems to be available (I did not test it so far) but "only" dockerized:

https://github.com/ppc64le/build-scripts/tree/master/rstudio
https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/236077788-Running-RStudio-Server-on-IBM-Power8