[Soekris] CompactFlash Card I/O error

[Jeff Quast]

On 10/11/06, tzzhc4 <tzzhc4 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Did you ever figure out the issue with this? I am getting the same errors
> with Debian Sarge on my net4801 with a new 4GG CF card (previously I had a
> 340mb microdrive which worked without issue). The box runs fine for a while
> then hangs dumps errors about DMA:
>
> ma_timer_expiry: dma status == 0x01
>
> Then I get a few screens of I/O errors:
>
> end_request: I/O error, dev hdb, sector 3246045
> end_request: I/O error, dev hdb, sector 3246053
> end_request: I/O error, dev hdb, sector 3246013
> end_request: I/O error, dev hdb, sector 3273173
> end_request: I/O error, dev hdb, sector 3226125
>
> I have reformatted without issue, tried reloading, also tried the drive in a
> box other then my Soekris but could NOT get the error to happen. It only
> happens when the CF is running in Soekris.
>
> Any ideas?
>
>
>
> Roberto Jose Roque Paz wrote:
> >
> > Hi:
> >
> >     I'm running several net4501 with Debian based Linux distribution. I'm
> > using 256 Mb Sandisk CompactFlash Card, mounted read-only. I'm using ext2
> > filesystem, devfsd, and linux kernel version 2.6.11.11. After certain
> > amount
> > of time soekris is up (15 minutes, or a few hours, o maybe a few days), y
> > see this entries in syslog file:
> >
> > Aug 24 09:52:46 host kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev hda, sector
> > 120330
> > Aug 24 09:52:46 host kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev hda, sector
> > 120330
> > Aug 24 09:52:46 host kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev hda, sector
> > 120330
> >
> >     Those messages appears when i'm try to run some commands in console
> > (like ps, or df, but the list varies). I get a message like this:
> >
> > host:/¡$ ps axf
> > -bash: /bin/ps: Input/output error
> >
> >     this means that the shell is having trouble reading (not writting) a
> > file from disk. After a "hard reboot" everything works file again (at
> > least
> > for certain amount of time).
> >
> >     Was anyone suffering a behavior like this one?
> >
> >     Thank you in advance.
> >
> > --
> >
> > Roberto Paz
> >

I have a suspicion that this is an issue with _power requirements_.

I purchased a 4GB CF card for use on a zaurus (
http://www.openbsd.org/zaurus.html ). Even when the unit is plugged
in, i get very similar errors (though not exact, as this is openbsd,
not linux). I suspected the card to be bad -- further testing showed
it worked fine in my WRAP router ( http://www.pcengines.ch ). Both are
running the same operating system -- though different architectures
and different bus's

If you put the CF card to your ear, you will hear it spin-up for a
read request, and much like its larger full-sized IDE cousin when
power requirements are not met, it gets close to a full spin, quits,
and retries in harmony with the errors. This immediatly led me to
believe power requirement was at error, as I have had 15k rpm scsi
disks show very much the same errors and physical behavior (near
spin-up, dmesg error, spin-down, repeat) when used with a weak power
supply.

Since a soekris takes variable DC input ranges ( I only suspect this
to be true, check the documentation!), try an input range near the
higher end of allowed input range. As other users on here have had
success stories (though varying) with these types of CF cards
("microdrive", actual hard disk within).

I have found some laptop power adapters to fit fine in my wrap's input
plug, and supply closer to the higher end of input (about 18v/2a for
instance).

Can any users succesfully reporting operation using a CF microdrive on
soekris here share with the list their soekris model, DC adapter, CF
card model, and any additional cards?