CentOS - Nov 2009 - Workaround for RH #502499?

I have a workstation with a Gigbyte board and an Intel Corporation 82801EB
(ICH5) SATA Controller (rev 02) that's apparently getting bitten by
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=502499

It's running CentOS 5.4 32 bit, and the user is suffering from high load and
sluggish response whenever a disk write of more than a few MB is made.  iostat
shows the disk at 100%.

[root at marge ~]# uname -a
Linux marge.gizmopartners.com 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5 #1 SMP Tue Nov 3 16:18:27 EST
2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

[root at marge ~]# hdparm -i /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Model=WDC WD2000JB-00GVC0, FwRev=08.02D08, SerialNo=WD-WCAL83129186
 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq
}
 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=57600, SectSize=600, ECCbytes=74
 BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=8192kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=268435455
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 
 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 
 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5 
 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
 Drive conforms to: Unspecified:  ATA/ATAPI-1 ATA/ATAPI-2 ATA/ATAPI-3
ATA/ATAPI-4 ATA/ATAPI-5 ATA/ATAPI-6

 * signifies the current active mode

Any suggestions welcomed.

Thanks!

--Chris

On 17/11/09 17:12, Chris Boyd wrote:
> I have a workstation with a Gigbyte board and an Intel Corporation 82801EB
(ICH5) SATA Controller (rev 02) that's apparently getting bitten by
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=502499
>
> It's running CentOS 5.4 32 bit, and the user is suffering from high
load and sluggish response whenever a disk write of more than a few MB is made. 
iostat shows the disk at 100%.
>
I've seen vibration impact disk i/o on sata disks as well. Make sure 
this is not your major problem ( eg. run the disks outside the machine 
for a few days - depending on your environment, that might be possible ).

-KB

On 11/17/2009 06:12 PM, Chris Boyd wrote:
> I have a workstation with a Gigbyte board and an Intel Corporation 82801EB
(ICH5) SATA Controller (rev 02) that's apparently getting bitten by
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=502499
...
> [root at marge ~]# hdparm -i /dev/hda
SATA and hda?

Can you boot with the additional option:

hda=noprobe

and see if you get the disk as sda and better performance?

Mogens

-- 
Mogens Kjaer, Carlsberg A/S, Computer Department
Gamle Carlsberg Vej 10, DK-2500 Valby, Denmark
Phone: +45 33 27 53 25, Mobile: +45 22 12 53 25
Email: mk at crc.dk Homepage: http://www.crc.dk