> 
> In message <199804010121.UAA25450@cyber3.servtech.com>, Brad Salai writes:
> >Do you think the K6 might be the problem probing the 2940? 
> 
> Honestly, no, I think it's probably a driver bug...  I don't know yet,
> I haven't actually fixed it, I just started using the 2930 and disabling
> the probe of the 2940.

My recent experiences with a 2940 might be germaine at this point.  I've
been using one in a P100 for over a year.  Once I started upgrading
(about 1.2F or G) I started getting all kinds of odd little problems
with the drive.  I never did pin down precisely what, but every time I
upgraded, the problems got worse.  I never tried to downgrade to verify
the quality of the controller, but I replaced it with a 1542 I had
laying around and the system has been rock solid for more than two
months, where before I was lucky to get two days out of it.  

Is it possible that the driver for the 2940 might have recently gotten
"too good" for its own good?  The hangs I was seeing were typical of
"lost interrupt" hangs (remember the IDE 'solid light of death'?)  On a
faster system, mightn't the problems be even worse than on my lowly
P100?  The same setup (tape drive, hard drive, termination, etc.) works
great again.

> 
> But, keep in mind, the drivers for those are fairly similar; it's probably
> pretty minor and easily fixed.
> 
> >I'm building my first 386 box, and have collected most of the parts. I waited 
> >until the end to think about a processor and am considering the K6. However, I
> > do have a 2940, and would be _sad_ if I bought the processor, and the board d
> >idn't work. A P233MMX is only about $20 or so more, safer choice?
> 
> Slower choice, certainly... :)  My experience is that the K6 really is about
> 25% faster on "real work".
> 
> I wouldn't worry too much.
> 
> -s
> 


-- 
Dave Burgess                   Network Engineer - Nebraska On-Ramp, Inc.
*bsd FAQ Maintainer / SysAdmin for the NetBSD system in my spare bedroom
"Just because something is stupid doesn't mean there isn't someone that 
doesn't want to do it...."