Manuel Bouyer writes:
> Strange, I don't know what changed which could make it work ...

Perhaps it was just how I was trying to access it.

Even on the 1/21/2000 -current it is not "rock stable".  I see hangs
if I remove the pcmcia card to switch smartmedia chips.  The second
insertion seems to cause the kernel to think that another wd* disk
showed up and any incidental access to the first, now nonexistent disk,
will cause kernel to hang (pause) with a very long timeout of a few
minutes.

I had the impression (perhaps mistaken) that using the bios
suspend-to-ram option helped unstick the kernel hang.

> Yes, or maybe the metatada timestamps.
> What's the exact error message ?

This is the error I saw when I mounted it "rw":

  Jan 21 13:16:13 pasillo /netbsd: wd1: no disk label
  Jan 21 13:17:30 pasillo /netbsd: wd1: no disk label
  Jan 21 13:17:44 pasillo /netbsd: wd1: no disk label
  Jan 21 13:22:49 pasillo /netbsd: wd1: no disk label
  Jan 21 13:31:18 pasillo /netbsd: wdc2:0:0: lost interrupt
  Jan 21 13:31:18 pasillo /netbsd: 	type: ata
  Jan 21 13:31:18 pasillo /netbsd: 	c_bcount: 7168
  Jan 21 13:31:18 pasillo /netbsd: 	c_skip: 1024
  Jan 21 13:31:18 pasillo /netbsd: wd1e: device timeout writing fsbn 23 of 21-36 (wd1 bn 50; cn 1 tn 2 sn 2), retrying
  Jan 21 13:31:19 pasillo /netbsd: wd1: soft error (corrected)
  Jan 21 13:33:15 pasillo /netbsd: wd1: no disk label
  Jan 21 13:34:32 pasillo /netbsd: wd1: no disk label

Here is what happens when I try to read a second smartmedia chip.  One
must unplug the PCMCIA to power-down the smartmedia socket, then
switch smartmedia chips and then reinsert the PCMCIA.

  Jan 21 16:46:17 pasillo /netbsd: wdc2 at pcmcia0 function 0
  Jan 21 16:46:17 pasillo /netbsd: wd1 at wdc2 channel 0 drive 0: <>
  Jan 21 16:46:17 pasillo /netbsd: wd1: drive supports 1-sector pio transfers, lba addressing
  Jan 21 16:46:17 pasillo /netbsd: wd1: 3MB, 250 cyl, 4 head, 8 sec, 512 bytes/sect x 8000 sectors

  Jan 21 17:10:21 pasillo /netbsd: wdc3 at pcmcia0 function 0
  Jan 21 17:10:21 pasillo /netbsd: wdc3 detached
  Jan 21 17:10:21 pasillo /netbsd: wdc3 at pcmcia0 function 0
  Jan 21 17:10:21 pasillo /netbsd: wdc3 detached
  Jan 21 17:12:33 pasillo /netbsd: ?V card, 0x30000080
  Jan 21 17:12:33 pasillo /netbsd: wdc2 channel 0: reset failed for drive 0
  Jan 21 17:12:33 pasillo /netbsd: wdc2:0:0: not ready, st=0xff, err=0x00
  Jan 21 17:12:33 pasillo /netbsd: wdc2 channel 0: reset failed for drive 0
  Jan 21 17:12:33 pasillo /netbsd: wd1d: device timeout reading fsbn 0 (wd1 bn 0; cn 0 tn 0 sn 0), retrying
  Jan 21 17:12:33 pasillo /netbsd: wdc2:0:0: not ready, st=0xff, err=0x00
  Jan 21 17:12:33 pasillo /netbsd: wdc2 channel 0: reset failed for drive 0
  Jan 21 17:12:33 pasillo /netbsd: wd1d: device timeout reading fsbn 0 (wd1 bn 0; cn 0 tn 0 sn 0), retrying
  Jan 21 17:12:34 pasillo /netbsd: wdc2:0:0: not ready, st=0xe7, err=0x00
  Jan 21 17:12:34 pasillo /netbsd: wdc2 channel 0: reset failed for drive 0
  Jan 21 17:12:34 pasillo /netbsd: wd1d: device timeout reading fsbn 0 (wd1 bn 0; cn 0 tn 0 sn 0), retrying
  Jan 21 17:12:34 pasillo /netbsd: wdc2:0:0: not ready, st=0xff, err=0x00
  Jan 21 17:12:34 pasillo /netbsd: wdc2 channel 0: reset failed for drive 0
  Jan 21 17:12:34 pasillo /netbsd: wd1d: device timeout reading fsbn 0 (wd1 bn 0; cn 0 tn 0 sn 0), retrying
  Jan 21 17:12:35 pasillo /netbsd:      ,           ,  (manufacturer 0xffffffff, product 0xffffffff) function 0 not configured
  Jan 21 17:12:35 pasillo /netbsd: wdc2:0:0: not ready, st=0xff, err=0x00
  Jan 21 17:12:35 pasillo /netbsd: wdc2 channel 0: reset failed for drive 0
  Jan 21 17:12:35 pasillo /netbsd: wd1d: device timeout reading fsbn 0 (wd1 bn 0; cn 0 tn 0 sn 0), retrying
  Jan 21 17:12:45 pasillo /netbsd: wdc2:0:0: not ready, st=0xff, err=0x00
  Jan 21 17:12:45 pasillo /netbsd: wdc2 channel 0: reset failed for drive 0
  Jan 21 17:12:45 pasillo /netbsd: wd1d: device timeout reading fsbn 0 (wd1 bn 0; cn 0 tn 0 sn 0)

In case it matters this is all on a stock Sony VAIO 505TX using the
cardbus drivers and running the cardbus/pcmcia chip in pcmcia mode.

-wolfgang
-- 
Wolfgang Rupprecht    <wolfgang@wsrcc.com>     http://www.wsrcc.com/wolfgang/
DGPS signals via the Internet  http://www.wsrcc.com/wolfgang/gps/dgps-ip.html