[Soekris] harddisk errors with a 4801 under linux

[Jan Ceuleers]

Albert Dengg wrote:
> it seems to work now, though the performance is not that great...
> (~3MB/s with 100 percent cpu usage when doing a dd from /dev/zero to the
> disk), which is not that unexpected...
> so the question is, is that a known problem with the hw in genreal and i
> have to live with it orsomething i should give a closer look to find 
> out what is going wrong?

Perhaps your problem (whatever it is) is not triggered if you choose a 
slower UltraDMA mode (hdparm -X)? Or turn off 32-bit transfers (hdparm -c)?

man hdparm is your friend. Experiment. But do this having pxebooted the 
machine, so that you can test the hard disk without relying on it for 
running the system.

Test transfer speeds using hdparm -tT, while checking syslog for any 
errors. Don't stress-test the system unless you have provided additional 
cooling.

Another thing to check: do you also have a CF card installed? If so, 
does your hard disk problem also occur without the CF card?

Good luck.

Jan