[powerstation-owners] New experimental Firmware

[Adrian Reber]

On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 03:15:42PM +0100, Stefan Nürnberger wrote:
> I tried following kernel versions:
> - vanilla 2.6.27.4
> - vanilla 2.6.27.7
> - 2.6.24-r3 (gentoo patchset)
> 
> All exhibit the same behaviour. The system freezes without any console 
> output, seconds after the usb disk is detected. The firmware recognizes 
> the disk while scanning the usb ports, if it is switched on prior to 
> boot. In this case linux will lock up during the boot process 
> (presumably when the device is detected).

To be honest I am surprised that the firmware detects the devices.

> With 2.6.24 the system does not freeze immediately but about 20 seconds 
> after the device is detected. Output from 'dmesg' shows that the device 
> is detected normally. But the special device file (/dev/sdb*) seems not 
> to be created or is removed shortly after. There is no output in dmesg 
> right before the freeze except for the device detection. Especially 
> there is nothing unusual.
> 
> The same is true for usb sticks at the 2.0 ports.
> 
> I now thought it could be related to my linux installation. Something 
> with udev or similar. So I tried to mount the device with the gentoo 
> minimal install cd for powerstation. The device is recognized and device 
> files /dev/sdb* are created but when I try to mount it, the machine 
> still freezes. Maybe this is a firmware bug, after all.

My first thought is that it is probably not a firmware bug. Because the
firmware is gone at that point and Linux is the only thing running and
touching the devices.

> I have no time for further tests right now. Anyway, If you have some 
> idea what could cause this or how to further debug, please let me know.

What happens if you boot to the firmware prompt and turn then the devices
on? Does it still crash in Linux? It could be that the firmware does not
correctly disable the controller before booting Linux and there is still
some DMA transaction active.

Could you somehow get me the output of the serial console with the
devices enabled? I am not sure it will help but maybe I can detect
something odd.

		Adrian