Any progress in FireWire mass storage?

Due to apparent disk problems, I now have a usb2 + firewire
external
disk enclosure. I tried it with firewire first, and it
seemed to work ok
for mounting (read-only) and some directory listings.
Then I tried a large recursive diff; it reported an I/O
error in some
file. When I went to look in that file, the disk (or at
least the data
stream from the disk) stalled. Leaving it for a while made
no change. 
As a desperate measure I yanked the firewire cable. I should
not have
done that since it froze the entire system immediately (just
like it
does with usb).

I remember from a while ago that it was known that firewire
mass storage
doesn't work that well, but since I didn't have any
equipment I didn't
track that. Is it known in some fashion what the problem is?
Is there
anything I can do (not knowing anything about the firewire
protocol or
such things) to help?

(the usb connection seems to work better, so far)

-Olaf.
-- 
___ Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert      -- You author it, and
I'll reader it.
\X/ rhialto/at/xs4all.nl        -- Cetero censeo
"authored" delendum esse.

On 21/04/06, Rhialto <rhialtofalu.nl> wrote:
> Due to apparent disk problems, I now have a usb2 +
firewire external
> disk enclosure. I tried it with firewire first, and it
seemed to work ok
> for mounting (read-only) and some directory listings.
> Then I tried a large recursive diff; it reported an I/O
error in some
> file. When I went to look in that file, the disk (or at
least the data
> stream from the disk) stalled. Leaving it for a while
made no change.
> As a desperate measure I yanked the firewire cable. I
should not have
> done that since it froze the entire system immediately
(just like it
> does with usb).
>

What are you running? I used to have similar problems
earlier, but
from certain point on -current it seems to have been sorted
out. This
is the relevant part of my dmesg:

........
pci5 at ppb4 bus 2
pci5: i/o space, memory space enabled
fwohci0 at pci5 dev 8 function 0: NEC product 0x00e7 (rev.
0x01)
fwohci0: interrupting at ioapic0 pin 19 (irq 9)
fwohci0: OHCI version 1.10 (ROM=1)
fwohci0: No. of Isochronous channels is 4.
fwohci0: EUI64 00:00:4c:01:07:00:0e:bf
fwohci0: Phy 1394a available S400, 2 ports.
fwohci0: Link S400, max_rec 2048 bytes.
ieee1394if0 at fwohci0: IEEE1394 bus
fwip0 at ieee1394if0: IP over IEEE1394
fwohci0: Initiate bus reset
ohci0 at pci5 dev 9 function 0: NEC USB Host Controller
(rev. 0x43)
ohci0: interrupting at ioapic0 pin 16 (irq 11)
ohci0: OHCI version 1.0
usb0 at ohci0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0 at usb0
uhub0: NEC OHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ohci1 at pci5 dev 9 function 1: NEC USB Host Controller
(rev. 0x43)
ohci1: interrupting at ioapic0 pin 17 (irq 5)
ohci1: OHCI version 1.0
usb1 at ohci1: USB revision 1.0
uhub1 at usb1
uhub1: NEC OHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ehci0 at pci5 dev 9 function 2: NEC USB Host Controller
(rev. 0x04)
ehci0: interrupting at ioapic0 pin 18 (irq 10)
ehci0: BIOS has given up ownership
ehci0: EHCI version 1.0
ehci0: companion controllers, 2 ports each: ohci0 ohci1
usb2 at ehci0: USB revision 2.0
uhub2 at usb2
uhub2: NEC EHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub2: 4 ports with 4 removable, self powered
......

fwohci0: BUS reset
fwohci0: node_id=0xc000ffc1, gen=3, CYCLEMASTER mode
ieee1394if0: 2 nodes, maxhop <= 1, cable IRM = 1 (me)
ieee1394if0: bus manager 1 (me)
fwohci0: txd err=14 ack busy_X
fwohci0: txd err=14 ack busy_X
fwohci0: txd err=14 ack busy_X
fwohci0: BUS reset
fwohci0: node_id=0xc000ffc1, gen=4, CYCLEMASTER mode
ieee1394if0: 2 nodes, maxhop <= 1, cable IRM = 1 (me)
ieee1394if0: bus manager 1 (me)
ieee1394if0: New S400 device ID:0050770e0000156e
sbp0 at ieee1394if0: SBP-2/SCSI over IEEE1394
scsibus1 at sbp0: 1 target, 0 luns per target
sd1 at scsibus1 target 0 lun 0: <Prolific, (1394
ATAPI,Rev, 2804>
simplified direct fixed
RBC size: mode sense=80418240, get cap=120103200
sd1: 58644 MB, 58644 cyl, 64 head, 32 sec, 512 bytes/sect x
120103200 sectors
RBC size: mode sense=80418240, get cap=120103200
RBC size: mode sense=80418240, get cap=120103200

.....

# df -h | grep sd1
/dev/sd1f                     26G     8.7G       15G    37% 
  /mnt/nbsd
/dev/sd1e                     27G      21G      3.6G    84% 
  /mnt/nbsd2



> I remember from a while ago that it was known that
firewire mass storage
> doesn't work that well, but since I didn't have any
equipment I didn't
> track that. Is it known in some fashion what the
problem is? Is there
> anything I can do (not knowing anything about the
firewire protocol or
> such things) to help?
>
> (the usb connection seems to work better, so far)
>
> -Olaf.
> --
> ___ Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert      -- You author it, and
I'll reader it.
> \X/ rhialto/at/xs4all.nl        -- Cetero censeo
"authored" delendum esse

On Fri 21 Apr 2006 at 16:44:44 +0100, Chavdar Ivanov wrote:
> What are you running? I used to have similar problems
earlier, but
> from certain point on -current it seems to have been
sorted out. This

I'm running 3.0 on the main box where I tried this, but I
can install
current on my laptop for experiments (both have firewire
although with
different connectors).

> is the relevant part of my dmesg:

Your messages look different from mine. It now occurs to me,
Wasn't
FreeBSD's firewire code imported? That may make a big
difference of
course.  I obviously should try that.

fwohci0 at pci0 dev 7 function 0: VIA Technologies VT6306
IEEE 1394 Host Controller (rev. 0x80)
fwohci0: interrupting at ioapic0 pin 16 (irq 11)
fwohci0: OHCI 1.0, 00:e0:18:00:00:b8:06:f5, 400Mb/s, 2048
max_rec, 4 ir_ctx, 8 it_ctx
fw0 at fwohci0:
00:e0:18:00:00:b8:06:f5:0a:02:ff:ff:f0:01:00:00

(now turning on disk)

fwnode0 at fwohci0 Node 0: UID 00:10:10:05:40:01:87:34
fwnode0: Link Speed: 400Mb/s, max_rec: 2048 bytes
sbpscsi0 at fwnode0
scsibus0 at sbpscsi0: 1 target, 1 lun per target
sd0 at scsibus0 target 0 lun 0: <DMI, WD3000JB-00KFA0,
2.43> disk fixed
sd0: fabricating a geometry
sd0: 279 GB, 286168 cyl, 64 head, 32 sec, 512 bytes/sect x
586072368 sectors

> Chavdar
-Olaf.
-- 
___ Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert      -- You author it, and
I'll reader it.
\X/ rhialto/at/xs4all.nl        -- Cetero censeo
"authored" delendum esse.

On 21/04/06, Rhialto <rhialtofalu.nl> wrote:
> On Fri 21 Apr 2006 at 16:44:44 +0100, Chavdar Ivanov
wrote:
> > What are you running? I used to have similar
problems earlier, but
> > from certain point on -current it seems to have
been sorted out. This
>
> I'm running 3.0 on the main box where I tried this,
but I can install
> current on my laptop for experiments (both have
firewire although with
> different connectors).
>
> > is the relevant part of my dmesg:
>
> Your messages look different from mine. It now occurs
to me, Wasn't
> FreeBSD's firewire code imported? That may make a big
difference of
> course.  I obviously should try that.

From 'man ieee1394if' :

......
HISTORY
     The ieee1394if driver first appeared in FreeBSD 5.0, as
firewire.  It was
     added to NetBSD 4.0 under its present name.
......

so yes, you will have to try -current.




>
> fwohci0 at pci0 dev 7 function 0: VIA Technologies
VT6306 IEEE 1394 Host Controller (rev. 0x80)
...
> > Chavdar
> -Olaf.
> --
> ___ Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert      -- You author it, and
I'll reader it.
> \X/ rhialto/at/xs4all.nl        -- Cetero censeo
"authored" delendum esse

On Sat 22 Apr 2006 at 00:47:49 +0100, Chavdar Ivanov wrote:
> so yes, you will have to try -current.

And indeed, so far it works nicely. I even dropped in a more
or less
-current kernel with 3.0 userland and I haven't noticed any
weird
effects (yet).

-Olaf.
-- 
___ Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert      -- You author it, and
I'll reader it.
\X/ rhialto/at/xs4all.nl        -- Cetero censeo
"authored" delendum esse.

Hello,

> > so yes, you will have to try -current.
> 
> And indeed, so far it works nicely. I even dropped in a
more or less
> -current kernel with 3.0 userland and I haven't
noticed any weird
> effects (yet).

Most of the userland will Just Work but kernel grovellers
like top,
systat etc. won't.

have fun
Michael