Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 44109
Installer hangs & crashes with aic7xxx module
Last modified: 2007-04-18 12:33:39 EDT
From Bugzilla Helper: User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.01; Windows NT 5.0) Description of problem: When installing RedHat Linux 7.1 using expert mode and choosing the aic7xxx module, the installer crashes transferring the image to the harddisk. I recieve an error signal 11. If I choose the experimental aic7xxx module doing an expert install, the install hangs when doing the image transfer. I am using an Adaptec uh2940 on an x86 platform. Mandrake 8.0 & RedHat 7.0 will install fine. RedHat 7.1 will not install. How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1.Install RedHat 7.1 2.Chose Expert Mode 3.Pick either the default aic7xxx or experimentatl aic7xxx module. Actual Results: Install crashes with signal 11 error message or just hangs indefinitely. Expected Results: I should be able to install RedHat 7.1 without any errors. Additional info:
Kernel problem. Reassigning.
After reading a recommendation at www.mandrake.com on adaptec issues, I upgraded the BIOS (firmware) on my Adaptec 2940UW SCSI controller from version 1.25 to version 2.20. I was then able to install RedHat 7.1 and run it with no issues. In short, It appears that the Adaptec module AIC7xxx was updated to keep up with firmware changes on the Adaptec cards. If you have an old SCSI BIOS (firmware) revision on your SCSI card, you will have problems using the new updated Adaptec driver included in RedHat 7.1. -Andrew
I am experiencing similar problems on a FIC VA-503+ K6-3/450. I have a ST34501W and a XM-6201 CD. The problems started as a hang on boot after upgrading the kernel from 2.2.19 to 2.4.[123]. Contact with the aic7xxx maintainer and several driver versions provided no change in the symptoms, which were a complete system hang (no KB, hard reset required) after the xxx instructions downloaded message. Subsequently, I tried a Redhat 7.1 install which hung when the 'loading aic7xxx driver' message displayed. A hard reset was required, KB did not work. I plan to disable wide negotiation and try an upgrade to bios 2.20.
I tried disabling wide negotation as mentioned in a Usenet article with no effect on the hang. I also upgraded the adapter BIOS to 2.20 with no effect. The AHA-2940UW has been tried in all three PCI slots and in combination with the other PCI cards (Matrox Mil2 and 3Com 3c905cx-tx). This board uses a MVP3 chipset and is set to 'non PNP OS'. This bug should have the severity adjusted to high and the priority set to high also, IMHO. What should be done to try and resolve the problem?
I have been experiencing the same problem with the aic7xx driver load locking durring install of Red Hat 7.1. I have an Adaptec AHA-2940 with SCSI BIOS level v1.32. I call Adaptec and they informed me that the original AHA-2940 would not be supported, but that the AHA-2940 Ultra Kit, or the 29160N SCSI controllers would support the Linux 7.1 install. Is there a way to use the old drive with the new kernel? I would rather not have to spend $275.00 for a new controller.
Does anyone have any comments on why the older AHA2940UWs would not be supported while the units with the Wide-Narrow bridge would be? This is looking more and more like what has been described as a PCI routing problem. I have tried kernels 2.4.5 and 2.4.6 and see this as the last two messages: SCSI system driver: ...... PCI: Assigned IRQ5 for device 00:0A:0 and then the system is hung - no keyboard - big red switch time. I have tried UP build kernels, with/without IOAPIC. Also, BIOS/direct settings for PCI inquiry. Same results. RH70 runs fine on 2.2.17 with the 3c59x driver updates. When trying to boot with 2.2.16-22 (RH71), I see things like: PCI: Found IRQ 5 for device 00:07:2 IRQ routing conflict in pirq table for device 00:07:2 usb-uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0xe000 IRQ 11 . ... eth0: scatter/gather enabled. h/w checksums enabled. Then it hangs, displaying 'Loading AIC7xxx driver' on virtual screen 1 I see there are some fixes in this area in the ac tree and will try 2.4.5-ac24 for fun. Is anyone actively working this issue?
First, this bug is being closed. The original problem as reported by aglowery was resolved by the third comment. The second problem, reported by edt is not related to the first problem (and it does indeed look like an interrupt routing problem, and I would be looking for an updated BIOS for your motherboard to solve the PIRQ routing table conflict, and I'm sure the reason that compiling a UP kernel with IOAPIC support didn't solve your problem is that your motherboard isn't an SMP motherboard, doesn't have an IOAPIC, and therefore we can't find and use an MP interrupt routing table instead of the PIRQ table, and since we can't find the MP table, we fall back to PIRQ routing anyway, so the UP-IOAPIC option is useless to you). But, since edt's problem isn't the same as the original, it doesn't belong on this bug report and I'm not going to hold this one open for it. The third problem reported by chughes1 sounds like the problem aglowery had, and a BIOS updated on the 2940UW might very well solve the problem. Until chughes1 has done that, we won't know. If an Adaptec BIOS update doesn't solve your problem chughes1, then please open a new bug report.