Re: Disable HTT on Serverworks GC-HE chipset

At 09:02 AM 3/20/2004, you wrote:
>Hi Scott,
>I have tried without HTT because someone on #bsdcode told me
>to do so (ket_). Maybe you know who he is :-) Not all revisions
>of the chipset seem to be buggy so far, but rev. 0 is for sure.

Hi everyone. Yes, I'm here. :)  Been a bit busy, haven't had time to toss 
in my $0.02. The issues I've seen are strictly limited to the GC-HE when 
HTT is enabled, though I have had issues with other areas on some boards. 
(I won't bore you with the details.) I've heard of and seen them reproduced 
on Linux (2.4.x and 2.6.x) and Windows as well, so it's not just FreeBSD.

>Serversboards with this chipset are:
>- Dell PowerEdge 2650
>- IBM xSeries
>- Supermicro E7500

The E7500 is actually an Intel E7500 chipset. If there are HTT issues with 
the E7500, those are more likely operating system related. As far as I can 
tell, Supermicro doesn't currently offer any Serverworks boards. Tyan, on 
the other hand, has the Thunder GC-HE. The four-way Xeon Dells are also 
Serverworks, but I can't recall the model numbers offhand.

>While using google I found the GC-LE chipsets seems to have problems
>with write-coalescing:

As I told Martin on IRC, I'm personally not sure on this one. It wouldn't 
surprise me, but I haven't had any issues with the GC-LE's personally. I 
wish I could offer some suggestions, but I really don't have enough 
experience with the GC-HE's to know what's going on. However, I know the 
typical GC-HE + HTT symptoms on Linux are excessive context switching 
(>250,000/sec) followed by semi-random panics. Windows is usually a sudden 
drop in performance, which requires a reboot to correct - sometimes the 
drivers can work around this apparently. Also random BSODs on occasion, but 
again, usually without drivers.


-Ketrien I. Saihr-Kesenchedra <ketrien AT error404 DOT nls DOT net>
# Maybe this world is another planet's hell. --Aldous Huxley
Feanor smiles, "We, of course, are enlightened and s/Maybe t/T"