In RHEL 5.1 and the RHEL 5.2 beta if a check condition status is received by the Linux SCSI stack and it goes into error recovery mode, the resulting sense data response is handled improperly and will cause the device to be marked offline. This can occur when SCSI devices are loaded early in the boot process and are not yet fully able to process a SCSI inquiry command. In RHEL 5.0 this case was handled properly, but in RHEL 5.1 the response buffer is copied incorrectly causing a bus reset and the device to be marked offline. The issue has been confirmed fixed by http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commitdiff;h=8cc574a3c5cea70229f243a6b57fd69e60491d82 with the standard RHEL 5.1 2.6.18-53 source RPM.
This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for inclusion in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux maintenance release. Product Management has requested further review of this request by Red Hat Engineering, for potential inclusion in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Update release for currently deployed products. This request is not yet committed for inclusion in an Update release.
in kernel-2.6.18-111.el5 You can download this test kernel from http://people.redhat.com/dzickus/el5
An advisory has been issued which should help the problem described in this bug report. This report is therefore being closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For more information on therefore solution and/or where to find the updated files, please follow the link below. You may reopen this bug report if the solution does not work for you. http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2009-0225.html