kernel: ata1.00: exception on Dell PowerEdge 2950 with PERC6

[pmorin]

I'm seeing the following issue on two new PowerEdge 2950's w/ PERC6 controllers

One is running FC7 (2.6.21-1.3194.fc7)
One is running FC8 (2.6.24.5-85.fc8)

The OS is freezing periodically and I see the following in /var/log/messages (the error is slightly different in the newer kernel):

Apr 29 13:18:55 gtvmh002 kernel: ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x2 frozen
Apr 29 13:18:55 gtvmh002 kernel: ata1.00: cmd a0/01:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 0 cdb 0x3 data 18 in
Apr 29 13:18:55 gtvmh002 kernel: res 40/00:03:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
Apr 29 13:19:02 gtvmh002 kernel: ata1: port is slow to respond, please be patient (Status 0xd0)
Apr 29 13:19:25 gtvmh002 kernel: ata1: port failed to respond (30 secs, Status 0xd0)
Apr 29 13:19:25 gtvmh002 kernel: ata1: soft resetting port
Apr 29 13:19:26 gtvmh002 kernel: ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33
Apr 29 13:19:26 gtvmh002 kernel: ata1: EH complete

After about 10 to 30 seconds, everything starts working as expected until it freezes again (1, 5, 10, 30, x minutes later). Nothing running on the box seems to care much. I have VMware Server 1.0.5 installed with a couple of Windows boxes running inside. The Windows UI stops responding during the glitch but proceeds like nothing happened once it comes back...

I have other 2950's with PERC5's that are running just fine...

I've tried downloading the source for the LSI mptlinux driver and compiling it again the 2.6.24.5-85.fc8 kernel, but that did not help any...

Anyone else seen this issue or have an idea I could try?

- Paul

[pmorin]

I have a work around for this issue...

Apparently this has to do with how VMware's virtual driver accesses the CD-ROM thru the PERC6 on the PE 2950. If you remove the CD-ROM device by editing the VM's settings, the issue goes away. Of course, now you can't access physical media in the CD-ROM drive from any of the VM's, but at least it runs without freezing up. I still need to verify that I can access CD's mounted directly to ISO images which should work. I just haven't had time to test it...