Re: [Xen-users] HD timeouts with busy xen domains

[Rick van der LInde <h.r.vanderlinde@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Itai Tavor wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Now that I've got that 3-day-long, let's-waste-some-time-with-a- 
> broken-dom0 episode, I can get back to the real problems that are  
> preventing me from getting any use out of my Xen-based server.
> What is happening, basically, is that as soon as some guest domains  
> get busy, the hard disks go south for the winter.
> I know this is not really a Xen issue (at least not directly) but as  
> the problem only happens in a Xen setup, I thought I'd try to ask  
> about it here.
> The server has four SATA hard disks. It has worked with the same  
> hardware setup for many months, with processor- and disk-intensive  
> applications, with no problems. Now, I can start dom0 and guest  
> domains with no problem, and they run fine as long as they don't try  
> to do a lot. But as soon as they get busy - say, compiling something  
> - the console shows an endless stream of:
> ata1: command 0x35 timeout, stat 0x50 host_stat 0x64
> ata2: command 0x25 timeout, stat 0x50 host_stat 0x64
> ata4: command 0x35 timeout, stat 0x50 host_stat 0x4
>
> And the system stops responding, until I reset the server or throw it  
> out the window (well, not yet, but it's coming).
> I've seen posts saying that these errors are related to APIC, so I  
> tried adding "noapic acpi=off" to the dom0 kernel command line. No  
> change.
> If anyone's wondering why ata3 isn't in the list... it's a different  
> drive - a 250GB WD while 1, 2 and 4 are 400GB Seagates. Interesting?
> Any ideas/suggestions?
Hi,

Are you working with an ICH6 or ICH7 chipset for SATA connections. If 
zo. check your BIOS settings (IDE Operation Mode). I've experienced this 
before. Somehow the Enhanced Mode setting can cause troubles. You can 
have it set to "Enhanced Mode", but need to make sure only SATA is 
enabled (not SATA + PATA). After setting this to SATA, the PATA devices 
are still accessible and the timeou problems disappeared for me.
Hope this may help you.

Rick

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users