PROBLEM: ICH5 SATA controller not working in enhanced mode using SMP (2.4.21-ac4)

Hi 
 
I try to run a SMP system (hyperthreading cpu) with enhanced SATA enabled 
and i have failed to do so for a few days now. I found a thread on lkml that
talks 
about that issue which seems to be successfully resolved when -ac4 kernel 
and its new scsi sata driver are used. 
 
http://lists.insecure.org/lists/linux-kernel/2003/Jul/0301.html 
 
I followed the instructions and talked to Jeff Mock (he is running the
kernel 
successfully with enhanced sata mode and posted the problem to the list) -
we 
exchanged kernel configs, but my system still hangs on boot... Now here are
my 
observations: 
 
When I am booting with kernel-2.4.21-ac4-smp the system hangs. Here are the 
last three lines of output: 
----- 
SCSI subsystem driver revision: 1.00 
ata1: SATA max UDMA/100 cmd 0xEF88 ctl 0xEF86 bmdma 0xEEB0 irq 18 
ata2: SATA max UDMA/100 cmd 0xEF68 ctl 0xEF82 bmdma 0xEEB8 irq 18 
 
When I am booting 2.4.21-ac4 in uniprocessor mode output looks like: 
----- 
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00 
ata_piix version 0.9 
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:1f.2 to 64 
ata1: SATA max UDMA/100 cmd 0xEF88 ctl 0xEF86 bmdma 0xEEB0 irq 18 
ata2: SATA max UDMA/100 cmd 0xEF68 ctl 0xEF82 bmdma 0xEEB8 irq 18 
ata1: dev 0 ATA, max UDMA/133, 156301488 sectors 
ata1: dev 0 configured for UDMA/100 
ata2: thread exiting 
scsi0 : ata_piix 
scsi1 : ata_piix 
  Vendor: ATA       Model: ST380013AS        Rev: 0.51 
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 05 
libata version 0.51 loaded. 
 
Jeff Mocks kernel output looks like this: 
----- 
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00 
ata_piix version 0.9 
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:1f.2 to 64 
ata1: SATA max UDMA/100 cmd 0xEC00 ctl 0xE802 bmdma 0xDC00 irq 18 
ata2: SATA max UDMA/100 cmd 0xE400 ctl 0xE002 bmdma 0xDC08 irq 18 
ata1: dev 0 ATA, max UDMA/133, 240121728 sectors 
ata1: dev 0 configured for UDMA/100 
ata2: dev 0 ATA, max UDMA/133, 240121728 sectors 
ata2: dev 0 configured for UDMA/100 
scsi0 : ata_piix 
scsi1 : ata_piix 
   Vendor: ATA       Model: Maxtor 6Y120M0    Rev: 0.51 
   Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 05 
   Vendor: ATA       Model: Maxtor 6Y120M0    Rev: 0.51 
   Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 05 
libata version 0.51 loaded. 
 
The difference between our systems is that i have a I865PE board with ICH5 
controller and he has a I875P board with ICH5 controller. Both of us are
running 
a mix of PATA and SATA drives and use SMP enabled kernels. Jeff has 2 
SATA drives i have only one (i hope that's not the problem). 
I have tried to use the following kernels (smp support enabled) with
enhanced 
SATA enabled in BIOS: 
2.4.20-gentoo-patched: not working at all 
2.4.21: works but does not detect "second cpu" 
2.4.21-ac4: hangs, detects smp 
2.4.22-pre3: works but does not detect "second cpu" 
2.4.22-pre3-ac1: does not compile (undefined reference to `xapic_support') 
2.5.74: works, detects smp - but no onboard Gbit NIC driver or nvidia driver

available 
 
Using 2.4.21-ac4 without smp support, the scsi SATA driver works (as shown 
above), the machine boots and accesses the SATA disk on /dev/sda. As I need 
SMP support for improved compile times (has high priority on gentoo systems 
;-)) I currently run a 2.4.21-ac4 smp-kernel with legacy (compatible) SATA 
mode enabled in BIOS. I'd like to use SATA in enhanced mode, so I'm asking 
for some hints what to try to get SATA _and_ SMP working. A 2.5 series
kernel 
is currently no option for me as i have no NIC and nvidia driver for it. 
Unpatched kernels don't detect my AGP controller correctly and seem to have 
problems detecting P4 HT cpus as "smp" system... 
 
Conclusion: I think the problem is related to SMP and my chipset somehow, if

anybody can prove that, i might be able to return my mobo and only pay up
for 
a I875 based board in return. If it's not the chipset then there's a problem
with 
the driver it think - a wild guess from me would be that there's a thread 
locking/starvation problem when the sata devices are checked ('thread
exited' 
is mentioned on uniproc-boot, smp-boot doesn't get that far?) 
 
Thanks in advance for any help or hints, i'm not on the list please put me
on CC 
when answering. 
 
 Mike 
 

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