OS2 World Community Forum

OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical => Storage => Topic started by: Lars on December 16, 2017, 03:17:48 pm

Title: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: Lars on December 16, 2017, 03:17:48 pm
I recently installed version 2.04 which indeed fixes the problem with the system freezing on invoking smartahci.exe which happened with version 2.03.

But now I have this oddity: if I invoke smartahci.exe more than once in a row, the first invocation will work fine but the second invocation will again freeze the system.
I tried this commandline: smartahci.exe -i hd0

Before I open a problem report at AN: Does anyone experience the same problem ? Or is it just me ?
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: Rene Hvidsoe on December 16, 2017, 04:49:05 pm
Hi Lars,

No issues here with the new version 2.04
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: David McKenna on December 16, 2017, 06:40:38 pm
 Lars,

  Can run it over and over here with no issue....
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: Lars on December 16, 2017, 08:10:38 pm
1) I have 16 GB of system memory. How much do you have ?
2) I have an AMD 8-core system ("8350 Eight-Core Processor", I think that is Bulldozer architecture). What do you have ?

I have tried to limit memory via VIRTUALADDRESSLIMIT. That works as described and I can also use memory in excess of the 4 GB boundary as memory for the QSINIT ram disk.

But I have the suspicion that there is a bug in the kernel if more than 4 GB physical memory is installed in that the memory management will go bad. I have many odd effects, from sudden reboots to some Theseus working set script (getws.exe) leading to a kernel trap as soon as I execute it.

I have no special SW installed whatsoever.


Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: David McKenna on December 16, 2017, 08:37:47 pm
 8GB installed memory, the upper part of which is setup as a RAM disk used for the swapper and temp files. Running with an Intel i3-6100 (2 cores) H110 chipset. VIRTUALADDRESSLIMIT=2816. Maybe you should run a memory check?
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: Dave Yeo on December 16, 2017, 09:45:19 pm
You also might want to review your BIOS settings. Here, IIRC, I had to turn on the NX bit to get stable high memory usage (upper part of my 4GB). At least on my C2D, PAE seems to be tied to the NX bit.
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: Lars on December 16, 2017, 10:40:45 pm
"memory check": I am using also Windows 10 64-bit on this very same HW. I have no apparent issues with it. At least not unexplicable crashes.

"setting NX" bit: I have no such option in my BIOS. I am not sure if my instability is limited to use of high memory. I had set VIRTUALADDRESSLIMIT to 512 MB and I still have these strange reboots etc.
I have the strong feeling that the amount of system memory matters. Unfortunately it is not all that easy to reduce it. And I bought it to be usable with a 64-bit OS like Windows 10 ...

Maybe there is an issue with AMD based systems ? You all seem to have Intel based systems.

What I also realised:
1) when I dump OS2AHCI$ to the console I have a lot of these entries:
port #0 interrupt error status: 0x40000001; restarting port

2) when I run "smartahci.exe -i hd1" and then dump OS2AHCI$ I get:
timeout for IORB da811ea (etc.)

I am beginning to believe that I cannot use OS2AHCI.ADD on this AMD based system.
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: ivan on December 16, 2017, 10:58:42 pm
Lars,  while I don't have this latest OS2AHCI I have noticed that there is quite a number of things that are only just working on AMD processor systems.

It is almost as if testing on AMD systems is an afterthought or what units they use for testing are old ones (I would like to get ArcaOS working on my Ryzen 8 core system or even the A12 APU system but...) since it apparently works on Intel's latest and greatest.
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: David McKenna on December 16, 2017, 11:21:48 pm
Lars,

  I have those port interrupt errors in OS2AHCI$ too, on all of my systems I've tried it on. At least here, it is always on the port where I have a DVD drive attached. I tried smartahci, then dumping OS2AHCI$ like you suggest, but I just see the interrupt errors along with the list of attached devices. You might try messing around with the switches on the driver. Here, I must use /!R or I can't boot. Maybe one of those will help. Also, I was able to eek out a little more physical memory (as seen at the top of a 'testlog generic') by lowering the video memory in BIOS. Maybe tweak on that (up or down) and see if there are any changes.
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: Neil Waldhauer on December 17, 2017, 04:27:34 pm
Lars,  while I don't have this latest OS2AHCI I have noticed that there is quite a number of things that are only just working on AMD processor systems.

It is almost as if testing on AMD systems is an afterthought or what units they use for testing are old ones (I would like to get ArcaOS working on my Ryzen 8 core system or even the A12 APU system but...) since it apparently works on Intel's latest and greatest.

I'm one of ArcaOS tean of volunteer testers. I don't have any AMD systems. ArcaOS does not work at all on Intel's latest and greatest. I did provide Arca Noae with an Intel system that didn't work at all, and they made improvements to some of the IBM components that extended support. I don't have the resources to cover all systems, and neither does Arca Noae.
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: Matt Walsh on December 17, 2017, 04:39:36 pm
AHCI 2.04 works fine here on AMD A6 7470K CPU on MSI A88XM-E45 V2 motherboard with 4 gig of RAM.  Flash disk 256 Gig formated JFS and all is well except some odd crashes with Firefox 45.
Matt W.
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: roberto on December 17, 2017, 08:24:46 pm
Here's no problem, with intel i7.
The only suggestion I can think of, compares the config.sys with previous files, every time I see more application failures when modifying the config.sys.
saludos
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: mike on January 01, 2018, 03:34:03 pm
It is almost as if testing on AMD systems is an afterthought or what units they use for testing are old ones (I would like to get ArcaOS working on my Ryzen 8 core system or even the A12 APU system but...) since it apparently works on Intel's latest and greatest.

It should not matter if the system is amd or intel based, as the SATA AHCI interface is a standard and the os2ahci driver should support the hardware. The Bulldozer and not latest Core I7 CPU have a chipset that contains the controller, and not the CPU itself.
Not sure how, but some people got a "OS/2" to work on a Ryzen based system.
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: ak120 on January 01, 2018, 04:26:27 pm
It should not matter if the system is amd or intel based, as the SATA AHCI interface is a standard
I cannot find any proof for this claims. In fact the Advanced Host Controller Interface is a specification by Intel.

Quote
and the os2ahci driver should support the hardware. The Bulldozer and not latest Core I7 CPU have a chipset that contains the controller, and not the CPU itself.
Not sure how, but some people got a "OS/2" to work on a Ryzen based system.
The OS2AHCI adapter device driver is based on older code from Linux or BSD. There has never been a certification process (that would fail) at all.
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: ivan on January 01, 2018, 06:05:09 pm
Quote
Not sure how, but some people got a "OS/2" to work on a Ryzen based system.

That is interesting, could you please ask them to give us some information.  I have not been able to do that on boards with the X370 chipset, the B350 chipset and the A320 chipset using both a Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 CPU.  Even an A12 APU with those chipsets is problematic.

Also, any board with as ASMedia chipset for AHCI is a no go.  From that the only conclusion that can be drawn is that there is NO standard unless it is an Intel or Intel supported chipset with our OS2AHCI driver. 
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: mike on January 01, 2018, 08:14:48 pm
I cannot find any proof for this claims. In fact the Advanced Host Controller Interface is a specification by Intel.
It is true that Intel introduced this AHCI specification but its a general standard like most interface specifications.

Quote
The OS2AHCI adapter device driver is based on older code from Linux or BSD. There has never been a certification process (that would fail) at all.
If I'm not mistaken then the core driver was ported around 2012, BSD code.  A "funny" thing is when we still need to bother with AHCI but should already move to NVMe.  Somebody has an open ticket at AN for a non working AHCI driver on a current system? What is not working, the initialization ?  Lars should open a ticket for his issue anyway.
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: mike on January 01, 2018, 08:26:07 pm
That is interesting, could you please ask them to give us some information.  I have not been able to do that on boards with the X370 chipset, the B350 chipset and the A320 chipset using both a Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 CPU.  Even an A12 APU with those chipsets is problematic.
I will try to find out.. Also don't forget that with Ryzen some ports are severed directly by the integrated chipset from the CPU, with the A12 (Bristol Ridge?) its integrated chipset is disabled when used together with a external chipset like in your case. What means problematic? Write errors?

Quote
Also, any board with as ASMedia chipset for AHCI is a no go.  From that the only conclusion that can be drawn is that there is NO standard unless it is an Intel or Intel supported chipset with our OS2AHCI driver.
This ASMedia ship is not a so called fake raid adapter? There is a standard, just because new hardware doesn't work from the start is another issue, or why work older amd ahci chipsets with no problem?
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: Ian Manners on January 02, 2018, 04:27:02 am
A quick side question,

what size is the ahci-2.04.exe package? I see the latest version is a lot smaller, I haven't been able to install it as the file is corrupt so after a couple of weeks I have just re downloaded it but it still shows as corrupt, unable to run the exe or extract the files.

252988         342  ahci-2.03.exe
 98876           0  ahci-2.04.exe
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: Dave Yeo on January 02, 2018, 04:53:31 am
The version on the 5.0.1.6 ISO is 98876 bytes and it installs fine. Retesting, warpin says it is 2.04. The driver is 63KB and the documentation is 53KB according to Warpin. I pressed cancel at the install phase as I've already installed this version of ArcaOS a few times.
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: David Graser on January 02, 2018, 06:53:35 am
A quick side question,

what size is the ahci-2.04.exe package? I see the latest version is a lot smaller, I haven't been able to install it as the file is corrupt so after a couple of weeks I have just re downloaded it but it still shows as corrupt, unable to run the exe or extract the files.

252988         342  ahci-2.03.exe
 98876           0  ahci-2.04.exe

Are you using XWP with turbo folders enabled?  When installing with FM/2 and Filestar 2, my wpi would not install because the WPS default thought they were text files and was trying to read them as text files.  I disabled Turbo folders and all WPIs and EXEs installed nicely.

David
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: Ian Manners on January 02, 2018, 08:28:32 am
Hi Dave and David,

WPI files open Warpinstaller ok here, my wifes complaining about corrupt files as well so looks like somethings not right with our internet depending on location. I know the Perth(Australia)-Singapore undersea cable is down again so we are going to the world via USA undersea cable at present via Sydney(Australia). I'll try d/ling file again in a weeks time. Thanks for checking.
Title: Re: oddities with OS2AHCI version 2.04
Post by: Yoda on January 03, 2018, 02:51:20 pm
Quote
Not sure how, but some people got a "OS/2" to work on a Ryzen based system.

That is interesting, could you please ask them to give us some information.  I have not been able to do that on boards with the X370 chipset, the B350 chipset and the A320 chipset using both a Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 CPU.  Even an A12 APU with those chipsets is problematic.

Also, any board with as ASMedia chipset for AHCI is a no go.  From that the only conclusion that can be drawn is that there is NO standard unless it is an Intel or Intel supported chipset with our OS2AHCI driver.

AHCI driver is an Open standard, but it is not a fixed standard. Just like USB it evolves, and the driver really should be updated to latest standards.
That said, I have a Ryzen 7 1700X  system with X370 chipset. Trying to get that running with ACPI from Mensys or Arca is impossible, but it does
work without any ACPI. The board also have an ASMedia controller, which I am uncertain about if it works, as I currently am not using it. A third
controller is for a SATA attached NVMe/PCIe card. One of these controllers have to be ignored in the driver, or it takes 3 minutes to boot.

To get the Ryzen 7 CPU up to full speed, you need the OS4kernel. Combined with OS4 ACPI driver, This works with all 8 CPUs + SMT
aka 16 threads. It runs very stable here.

The OS4kernel also gives you support for AVX instructions, which many video related apps use (browers video players etc)

Tested here with AHCI 2.0 - 2.03