[gentoo-user] Incredibly slow disk access

[gentoo-user] Incredibly slow disk access

[Wayn0]

Hi All,

I have installed gentoo on my laptop recently and I am having a huge 
problem with speed.

The problem is the insanely slow disk access that I am getting.

here is some output:

manticore ~ # hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
  Timing cached reads:   5702 MB in  2.00 seconds = 2857.11 MB/sec
  Timing buffered disk reads:    6 MB in  3.37 seconds =   1.78 MB/sec

manticore ~ # /etc/init.d/hdparm start
  * Running hdparm on /dev/hda ...
  HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted 
    [ ok ]
  * Running hdparm on /dev/hdd ...
  HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted 
    [ ok ]


I read on a forum somewhere that this could be caused by the HAL daemon 
so I shut that down and no luck :-(

Any ideas?

Thanks
Wayn0
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Re: [gentoo-user] Incredibly slow disk access

[William Kenworthy]

Check the options for your chipset in the kernel - look at device
drivers and ata/... devices.  Looks like its just defaulted to the
minimum as it hasnt seen what chipset you are using.

Also consider moving to libata - seems better where I have tried it.

BillK


On Tue, 2008-01-08 at 02:26 +0200, Wayn0 wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> I have installed gentoo on my laptop recently and I am having a huge 
> problem with speed.
> 
> The problem is the insanely slow disk access that I am getting.
> 
> here is some output:
> 
> manticore ~ # hdparm -tT /dev/hda
> 
> /dev/hda:
>   Timing cached reads:   5702 MB in  2.00 seconds = 2857.11 MB/sec
>   Timing buffered disk reads:    6 MB in  3.37 seconds =   1.78 MB/sec
> 
> manticore ~ # /etc/init.d/hdparm start
>   * Running hdparm on /dev/hda ...
>   HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted 
>     [ ok ]
>   * Running hdparm on /dev/hdd ...
>   HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted 
>     [ ok ]
> 
> 
> I read on a forum somewhere that this could be caused by the HAL daemon 
> so I shut that down and no luck :-(
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> Thanks
> Wayn0
-- 
William Kenworthy <billk@iinet.net.au>
Home in Perth!
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Re: [gentoo-user] Incredibly slow disk access

[Dale]

William Kenworthy wrote:
> Check the options for your chipset in the kernel - look at device
> drivers and ata/... devices.  Looks like its just defaulted to the
> minimum as it hasnt seen what chipset you are using.
>
> Also consider moving to libata - seems better where I have tried it.
>
> BillK
>
>
> On Tue, 2008-01-08 at 02:26 +0200, Wayn0 wrote:
>   
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I have installed gentoo on my laptop recently and I am having a huge 
>> problem with speed.
>>
>> The problem is the insanely slow disk access that I am getting.
>>
>> here is some output:
>>
>> manticore ~ # hdparm -tT /dev/hda
>>
>> /dev/hda:
>>   Timing cached reads:   5702 MB in  2.00 seconds = 2857.11 MB/sec
>>   Timing buffered disk reads:    6 MB in  3.37 seconds =   1.78 MB/sec
>>
>> manticore ~ # /etc/init.d/hdparm start
>>   * Running hdparm on /dev/hda ...
>>   HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted 
>>     [ ok ]
>>   * Running hdparm on /dev/hdd ...
>>   HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted 
>>     [ ok ]
>>
>>
>> I read on a forum somewhere that this could be caused by the HAL daemon 
>> so I shut that down and no luck :-(
>>
>> Any ideas?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Wayn0
>>     

Also check that DMA is enabled.  If you have the wrong or no chipset
selected in your kernel, it won't be there.  lspci may be a good one to
check as well.

Dang, that is slow tho.

Dale

:-)  :-) 
-- 
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Re: [gentoo-user] Incredibly slow disk access

[Mark Shields]

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On Jan 7, 2008 8:37 PM, Dale <dalek1967@bellsouth.net> wrote:

> William Kenworthy wrote:
> > Check the options for your chipset in the kernel - look at device
> > drivers and ata/... devices.  Looks like its just defaulted to the
> > minimum as it hasnt seen what chipset you are using.
> >
> > Also consider moving to libata - seems better where I have tried it.
> >
> > BillK
> >
> >
> > On Tue, 2008-01-08 at 02:26 +0200, Wayn0 wrote:
> >
> >> Hi All,
> >>
> >> I have installed gentoo on my laptop recently and I am having a huge
> >> problem with speed.
> >>
> >> The problem is the insanely slow disk access that I am getting.
> >>
> >> here is some output:
> >>
> >> manticore ~ # hdparm -tT /dev/hda
> >>
> >> /dev/hda:
> >>   Timing cached reads:   5702 MB in  2.00 seconds = 2857.11 MB/sec
> >>   Timing buffered disk reads:    6 MB in  3.37 seconds =   1.78 MB/sec
> >>
> >> manticore ~ # /etc/init.d/hdparm start
> >>   * Running hdparm on /dev/hda ...
> >>   HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted
> >>     [ ok ]
> >>   * Running hdparm on /dev/hdd ...
> >>   HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted
> >>     [ ok ]
> >>
> >>
> >> I read on a forum somewhere that this could be caused by the HAL daemon
> >> so I shut that down and no luck :-(
> >>
> >> Any ideas?
> >>
> >> Thanks
> >> Wayn0
> >>
>
> Also check that DMA is enabled.  If you have the wrong or no chipset
> selected in your kernel, it won't be there.  lspci may be a good one to
> check as well.
>
> Dang, that is slow tho.
>
> Dale
>
> :-)  :-)
> --
> gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
>
>
I'd also recommending after checking for the above, also check what level of
UDMA is set.  Try this:  hdparm -I /dev/hda | grep -i dma

Yours should say probably either udma3 or udma4.  My SATA-I drive is set to
udma5, for example:

hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep -i dma
        DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5 udma6

-- 
- Mark Shields

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Re: [gentoo-user] Incredibly slow disk access

[Renat Golubchyk]

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On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 20:51:02 -0500 "Mark Shields" <laebshade@gmail.com>
wrote:
> I'd also recommending after checking for the above, also check what
> level of UDMA is set.  Try this:  hdparm -I /dev/hda | grep -i dma
> 
> Yours should say probably either udma3 or udma4.

Why not udma5 ? All my PATA drives (desktop and notebook) run at udma5
for some years now without any problems.


Cheers,
Renat

-- 
Probleme kann man niemals mit derselben Denkweise loesen,
durch die sie entstanden sind.
                                              (Einstein)

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Re: [gentoo-user] Incredibly slow disk access

[Wayn0]

Renat Golubchyk wrote:
> On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 20:51:02 -0500 "Mark Shields" <laebshade@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>> I'd also recommending after checking for the above, also check what
>> level of UDMA is set.  Try this:  hdparm -I /dev/hda | grep -i dma
>>
>> Yours should say probably either udma3 or udma4.
> 
> Why not udma5 ? All my PATA drives (desktop and notebook) run at udma5
> for some years now without any problems.

Thanks to everybody that's replied so far.

I may have missed something kernel wise but my sata drives are 
registering as hd* and it refuses to switch on dma.

I have no doubt this is a kernel config, just not sure where to look.
I don't have the laptop with me at the moment so I will post the kernel 
config this evening.

or perhaps somebody knows right off the bat what the problem is and what 
I need to enable and disable.

I am using the latest gentoo-sources 2.6.23-r8 if memory serves.


Thanks again

Wayn0

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Re: [gentoo-user] Incredibly slow disk access

[William Kenworthy]

If you have sata drives, and they are showing up as hdx, you have
something seriously misconfigured.  They should be showing as sdx.

Deselect everything in ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL and select the relevant boxes
in serial ATA.  Dont forget fstab will need redoing to match.

I always thought that if you select both, serial ata should take
precedence, and in some cases you can access via both, but I have at
least one machine that will only work as sata with all the older ata
stuff deselected.

BillK


On Tue, 2008-01-08 at 09:47 +0200, Wayn0 wrote:
> Renat Golubchyk wrote:
> > On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 20:51:02 -0500 "Mark Shields" <laebshade@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >> I'd also recommending after checking for the above, also check what
> >> level of UDMA is set.  Try this:  hdparm -I /dev/hda | grep -i dma
> >>
> >> Yours should say probably either udma3 or udma4.
> > 
> > Why not udma5 ? All my PATA drives (desktop and notebook) run at udma5
> > for some years now without any problems.
> 
> Thanks to everybody that's replied so far.
> 
> I may have missed something kernel wise but my sata drives are 
> registering as hd* and it refuses to switch on dma.
> 
> I have no doubt this is a kernel config, just not sure where to look.
> I don't have the laptop with me at the moment so I will post the kernel 
> config this evening.
> 
> or perhaps somebody knows right off the bat what the problem is and what 
> I need to enable and disable.
> 
> I am using the latest gentoo-sources 2.6.23-r8 if memory serves.
> 
> 
> Thanks again
> 
> Wayn0
> 
-- 
William Kenworthy <billk@iinet.net.au>
Home in Perth!
-- 
gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] Incredibly slow disk access

[Wayn0]

William Kenworthy wrote:
> If you have sata drives, and they are showing up as hdx, you have
> something seriously misconfigured.  They should be showing as sdx.
> 
> Deselect everything in ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL and select the relevant boxes
> in serial ATA.  Dont forget fstab will need redoing to match.
> 
> I always thought that if you select both, serial ata should take
> precedence, and in some cases you can access via both, but I have at
> least one machine that will only work as sata with all the older ata
> stuff deselected.
> 
> BillK

Cheers,

This is why it's doing my head in. I have a desktop with both sata pata 
drives in with a very similar kernel config and it work as expected :-/

I will try removing all the ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL stuff tonight, and report 
back later.

Thanks again for the help

> 
> 
> On Tue, 2008-01-08 at 09:47 +0200, Wayn0 wrote:
>> Renat Golubchyk wrote:
>>> On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 20:51:02 -0500 "Mark Shields" <laebshade@gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>> I'd also recommending after checking for the above, also check what
>>>> level of UDMA is set.  Try this:  hdparm -I /dev/hda | grep -i dma
>>>>
>>>> Yours should say probably either udma3 or udma4.
>>> Why not udma5 ? All my PATA drives (desktop and notebook) run at udma5
>>> for some years now without any problems.
>> Thanks to everybody that's replied so far.
>>
>> I may have missed something kernel wise but my sata drives are 
>> registering as hd* and it refuses to switch on dma.
>>
>> I have no doubt this is a kernel config, just not sure where to look.
>> I don't have the laptop with me at the moment so I will post the kernel 
>> config this evening.
>>
>> or perhaps somebody knows right off the bat what the problem is and what 
>> I need to enable and disable.
>>
>> I am using the latest gentoo-sources 2.6.23-r8 if memory serves.
>>
>>
>> Thanks again
>>
>> Wayn0
>>

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Re: [gentoo-user] Incredibly slow disk access

[Mick]

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On Tuesday 08 January 2008, Wayn0 wrote:
> William Kenworthy wrote:
> > If you have sata drives, and they are showing up as hdx, you have
> > something seriously misconfigured.  They should be showing as sdx.
> >
> > Deselect everything in ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL and select the relevant boxes
> > in serial ATA.  Dont forget fstab will need redoing to match.
> >
> > I always thought that if you select both, serial ata should take
> > precedence, and in some cases you can access via both, but I have at
> > least one machine that will only work as sata with all the older ata
> > stuff deselected.
> >
> > BillK
>
> Cheers,
>
> This is why it's doing my head in. I have a desktop with both sata pata
> drives in with a very similar kernel config and it work as expected :-/
>
> I will try removing all the ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL stuff tonight, and report
> back later.

For sata drives use this, not hdparm:

# eix -l sdparm
* sys-apps/sdparm
     Available versions:  
                        0.97
                        0.98
                ~       0.99
                        1.00
                        1.01
                ~       1.02
     Homepage:            http://sg.torque.net/sg/sdparm.html
     Description:         Utility to output and modify parameters on a SCSI 
device, like hdparm

-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] Incredibly slow disk access

[Wayn0]

William Kenworthy wrote:
> If you have sata drives, and they are showing up as hdx, you have
> something seriously misconfigured.  They should be showing as sdx.
> 
> Deselect everything in ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL and select the relevant boxes
> in serial ATA.  Dont forget fstab will need redoing to match.
> 
> I always thought that if you select both, serial ata should take
> precedence, and in some cases you can access via both, but I have at
> least one machine that will only work as sata with all the older ata
> stuff deselected.
> 
> BillK

Thanks Bill,

removing all the ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL stuff sorted it out.

:-)


Wayn0
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Re: [gentoo-user] Incredibly slow disk access

[Andrew Gaydenko]

BTW, which speed can be treated as "not slow"? hdparm for my SATA SAMSUNG 
HD401LJ shows ~60MB/Sec. Is it normal?
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Re: [gentoo-user] Incredibly slow disk access

[Dale]

Wayn0 wrote:
> William Kenworthy wrote:
>> If you have sata drives, and they are showing up as hdx, you have
>> something seriously misconfigured.  They should be showing as sdx.
>>
>> Deselect everything in ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL and select the relevant boxes
>> in serial ATA.  Dont forget fstab will need redoing to match.
>>
>> I always thought that if you select both, serial ata should take
>> precedence, and in some cases you can access via both, but I have at
>> least one machine that will only work as sata with all the older ata
>> stuff deselected.
>>
>> BillK
>
> Thanks Bill,
>
> removing all the ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL stuff sorted it out.
>
> :-)
>
>
> Wayn0

Would you mind posting what speeds you get now?  I'm curious myself.

Thanks

Dale

:-)  :-) 
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Re: [gentoo-user] Incredibly slow disk access

[Hal Martin]

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I have a Western Digital 250GB SATA-II drive on an NForce4 integrated
SATA-II controller, here are my readings...

hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep -i dma
        DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   1646 MB in  2.00 seconds = 823.19 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  172 MB in  3.03 seconds =  56.77 MB/sec

Machine is an Athlon X2 3800+ running Gentoo 2007.0 AMD64

A Western Digital 500GB SATA-II drive, connected through a SATA-I PCI
card on another Gentoo box reports:

hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep -i dma
        DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5 udma6
                DMA Setup Auto-Activate optimization

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   312 MB in  2.01 seconds = 155.28 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  162 MB in  3.02 seconds =  53.65 MB/sec

The onboard Maxtor 60GB IDE drive reports:

hdparm -I /dev/hda | grep -i dma
        DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 *udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5

/dev/hda:
 Timing cached reads:   312 MB in  2.01 seconds = 155.17 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:   76 MB in  3.05 seconds =  24.88 MB/sec

Machine is a Dell PowerEdge 350, PIII server running Gentoo 2007.0 i386.

I'm curious, is your optical drive also SATA? If it's not, then how do
you intend to access it without ATA/ATAPI drivers?

-Hal

Dale wrote:
> Wayn0 wrote:
>   
>> William Kenworthy wrote:
>>     
>>> If you have sata drives, and they are showing up as hdx, you have
>>> something seriously misconfigured.  They should be showing as sdx.
>>>
>>> Deselect everything in ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL and select the relevant boxes
>>> in serial ATA.  Dont forget fstab will need redoing to match.
>>>
>>> I always thought that if you select both, serial ata should take
>>> precedence, and in some cases you can access via both, but I have at
>>> least one machine that will only work as sata with all the older ata
>>> stuff deselected.
>>>
>>> BillK
>>>       
>> Thanks Bill,
>>
>> removing all the ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL stuff sorted it out.
>>
>> :-)
>>
>>
>> Wayn0
>>     
>
> Would you mind posting what speeds you get now?  I'm curious myself.
>
> Thanks
>
> Dale
>
> :-)  :-) 
>   


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Re: [gentoo-user] Incredibly slow disk access

[Mark Shields]

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On Jan 8, 2008 12:53 AM, Renat Golubchyk <ragermany@gmx.net> wrote:

> On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 20:51:02 -0500 "Mark Shields" <laebshade@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > I'd also recommending after checking for the above, also check what
> > level of UDMA is set.  Try this:  hdparm -I /dev/hda | grep -i dma
> >
> > Yours should say probably either udma3 or udma4.
>
> Why not udma5 ? All my PATA drives (desktop and notebook) run at udma5
> for some years now without any problems.
>
>
> Cheers,
> Renat
>
> --
> Probleme kann man niemals mit derselben Denkweise loesen,
> durch die sie entstanden sind.
>                                              (Einstein)
>

It was just a guess.  Take it with a grain of salt.

-- 
- Mark Shields

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