Subject: Still losing on SLC.
To: None <thorpej@nas.nasa.gov>
From: None <greywolf@defender.VAS.viewlogic.com>
List: port-sparc
Date: 04/29/1996 10:28:42
Still losing on an SLC.

SLC, 16MB RAM, Sun0669 + Sun0327, CD-ROM, EXB-8200.

I will try shortening the connector cables, but here is a summary of my
problems thus far:

 * When accessing more than one SCSI device at a time, I get:
	esp0:  RESELECT (7 bytes in FIFO!)
   This happens most frequently when I'm trying, say, to do a restore(8)
   of the filesystems from tape (it fails during LARGE files, mostly, but
   can fail anywhere).  Snapshot 1.1B-960412 kernel and userland; haven't
   tried to rebuild the world from 4/23 yet.  Same problem on:
	SS1+, 24MB RAM, 2xSUN0424 disks with the occasional 4mm DAT hooked
	to it.

 * Can't newfs a filesystem on the 669 disk, and fsck reports errors on
   block 16, then 432-447 and 448-463, all filesystems.  The 327 has no
   problems whatsoever.	

I'm no SCSI whiz; in fact, I'm probably not as technical on this whole thing
as I would *like* to be.  But anyone with a family will attest that the
family takes 90% of your time, while work takes the other 90% of your time.

Is there a way to disable SCSI reselection?  Right now, I'm not terribly
interested in performance half as much as I'm interested in stability, and
until I can locate some hints in this direction, I'm stuck running StunOS :-(.

[No, this is not a "fix the f*cking OS" letter; I'm looking for something
quick that I might be able to try.  I'm running the same OS on a ss1+ at
work which I dink with regularly, and if I can find a solution for the 1+,
I'll lay odds that it will work on the SLC.]

				--*greywolf;
--
"Everyone wants it Better, Faster, and Cheaper.  Pick two and call me back."
				(thanks to martin.loeffler@utoronto.ca)