RocketRAID 2680 and FreeBSD, A tragic story

B

Bobbla

So, the story goes.. Been looking at ways to get more SATA ports.. and 2680 was the cheapest available. And I thought it would work, because I've been reading a little and it seems to work. But in some sorta shady way, but working still.

So now I'm here asking for help because it just won't work (yeah, surprise there..) :(

I've got the FreeBSD 8.0 AMD64, custom kernel (PF related). I have sort of followed the 2680 Installation guide for FreeBSD.. the rr2680.ko is loaded and present after boot, but to no help as far as I can tell..

And the latest development in this sad sad story is that I initialized the disks connected to the 2680, and now I get these two messages when I try to import a old zpool..
Code: 
ahcich2: Timeout on port0
(ada2:ahcich2:0:0:0): Synchronize cache failed

So bottom line is help I suppose... :x
 
not so much justice...

yeah, so just to shamelessly bump this to the top.. and hopefully get some help..


UPDATE :D

The timeout seems to have gone on vacation, however I can still not see any new hard drives.

in other news.. dmesg | egrep rr
Code: 
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (pci/rr2680, 0xffffffff80445630, 0xffffffff80ba3f20) error 22
rr2680: RocketRAID 268x controller driver v1.0.08.1222 (Dec 22 2008 14:08:40)
rr2680: no controller detected.

And then there is some of the output from pciconf -lv
Code: 
[color="DarkOrange"]none2[/color]@pci0:2:0:0:	class=0x010000 card=0x00001103 chip=0x26801103 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Triones Technologies Inc. (HighPoint)'
    class      = mass storage
    subclass   = SCSI

the controller is the only HighPoint hardware I have on this computer as far as I know.. and I have never heard of a technology called none.. I'm guessing this means something like no drivers señor..?

either that or I have no idea what I'm talking about..


edit... can someone at least tell me something useful? like how to see if it is a software, a hardware, a (lack of) knowledge problem or a combination?

I can enter the raid card bios where one can config disk in raid ect..
I can load the rr2680.ko module/driver from the highpoint website marked freebsd 8.0..

Even if its located under 8.0 the name really seem to indicate 7.0, but then again why put it under 8.0?

Install guide and other drivers for among other things older versions of bsd.

bah, I feel so lonely and ignored... hmm, so I suppose misery loves company...

edit... Corrected a link to point to the actual content..
from: http://www.highpoint-tech.com/usa_new/series_rr2600.htm
to: http://www.highpoint-tech.com/usa_new/rr2600_download.htm
 
I have another question.. the computer shows:



... so how can I see them from the BSD side? Or can I?

edit: what I really mean is.. what does it take for the OS to see what the bios sees?
 
Have you tried [cmd=]kldload hptrr[/cmd] as root? Just quick guess.

I had an HPRR and an Intel motherboard that would not work together. I could use it with other boards just fine. Just not that one.
 
If you enter the RocketRaid setup and configure the disks with the builtin raid it will show up as da0 or such. If I remember right you hit Ctl-H to enter the setup at boot time.
 
bluetick said:
Have you tried [cmd=]kldload hptrr[/cmd] as root? Just quick guess.
Click to expand...

It's already loaded as a part of the kernel..
Code: 
kldload: can't load hptrr: File exists

bluetick said:
If you enter the RocketRaid setup and configure the disks with the builtin raid it will show up as da0 or such. If I remember right you hit Ctl-H to enter the setup at boot time.
Click to expand...

Yes yes :) Been there done that, tried single disk JBOD and now have legacy drives. But no cigar... :( I read somewhere that you had to make them into legacy disks in order to make it work properly.. but none of my 6 hard disk drives connected to the controller show up. And the rr2680 doesn't show up in /dev as the install guide said it would.
 
Try placing this in /boot/loader.conf to block loading the hptrr. Then load the highpoint driver from the Highpoint web site. HTH

Code: 
hw.hptrr.attach_generic=0
 
Tried today, but no cigar as far as I can see.

I looked in /dev but no change.. and I'm not really sure if its the right way to see if something is loaded, but I used kldstat -v | grep pci/hp and it gave me this

Code: 
261 pci/hptrr
260 pci/hptmv
93 pci/hptiop

and I also tried to hint.hptrr.0.disabled="1" but it gave the same result as above as far as I can see.. :/

I don't suppose anyone could tell me if the kldstat -v command is the way to go if I want to see what is loaded with the kernel.

Can anyone tell me if the HighPoint support is any good?
 
Sorry I couldn't answer quicker.. been a busy little bee :D

bluetick said:
I think if you choose debug mode from the FreeBSD boot menu you'll get the info you seek.
Click to expand...

You mean the bootloader prompt? Been there, didn't get to do anything useful as far as I know. Told me the hptrr.1 driver was loading.. Is there anything in particular you want me to look for or was that it?

And I also compiled a new kernel without hptrr.ko and some other highpoint stuff... and some other useless stuff.. but still no cigar.

And I've been talking to Highpoint support, and they told me that the driver is in testing.. But I don't know.. it seems somewhat unlikely. How long does it take to make a driver? And why do they have "a FreeBSD 8.0" driver on their website? This seems suspiciously untruthful :\
 
Well, the RocketRAID 2680 didn't work out that great. I have now dug up some old pci controllers and are using them as a temporary solution. On the question about FreeBSD 8.0 drivers release schedule the HighPoint support told me:

&quot said:
Dear customer,

It's about 1 or 2months.Appreciate the time.Have a nice day!

Regards
HighPoint Global Support Center
Click to expand...

I have the feeling this is your standard support answer, but who knows maybe in a month or two my pessimistic counter will decrement. But I have my doubts. But now I have to go find something to do in order to "appreciate" my time forwards..

So now I suppose the rant is over, but I wouldn't say that this issue is solved.. maybe in a month or two.. :p


And Thank You bluetick, even if things didn't work out. :f

(that last part came out wrong.. :e)


edit: just in case, if someone else is going to buy the rr2680, BE CERTAIN that there are working drivers that you can use. And check if there are anyone who got it to work with your OS version.

(and remember just because I didn't get it to work doesn't mean someone else didn't.. so check)
 
I just tried to get the controller running using the rr26xx v1.4 driver which has been marked legitimate as 8.0 module... but no luck :(. So you don't have to try that.

Their support really s*cks :x x(, I just found another thread from begin 2010 where Highpoint support responded with the exact same answer that the module for 8.0 will be available within 2 months. :q Thread
 
royvandam said:
I just found another thread from begin 2010 where Highpoint support responded with the exact same answer that the module for 8.0 will be available within 2 months. :q Thread
Click to expand...
Indeed. I was going to refer you to that thread, but you found it on your own.

Some hardware manufacturers do an excellent job with their FreeBSD drivers and consider it a very important platform (as an example, the Intel network drivers). Some other vendors do FreeBSD drivers on a time-available basis when they aren't doing anything else, and some are "FreeBSD? What's FreeBSD?". Those last ones tend to tell you to use their Linux drivers - shows you how much they know...

I'd also caution you against using object-only (.ko) vendor drivers - just because they support FreeBSD now, doesn't mean their priorities won't change in the future.

I'm not familiar with support for vanilla add-in SATA controllers, unfortunately. I'm using either the motherboard Intel chipset SATA ports or 3Ware 9650 cards (which are wonderful, but a bit of overkill if you're just using them to attach drives and not using any of the advanced features).
 
Well I poked Highpoint support again and this is their reaction:

HighPoint Global Support Center said:
Dear customer,

Sorry for the inconvenience.teh driver is not available now,but we'll submit the customer need to the software department,and according to the count of the need they will develop and test the new software,so it will take a while to be release the driver.Appreciate the time and patience.Have a nice day!

Regards
HighPoint Global Support Center
Click to expand...

So I guess we just have to bombard the support center with driver requests. And alongside that I'm messing around and gaining intel to write the driver myself. So maybe if my brains help me there will be an open driver :stud.
 
bluetick said:
Try placing this in /boot/loader.conf to block loading the hptrr. Then load the highpoint driver from the Highpoint web site. HTH

Code: 
hw.hptrr.attach_generic=0
Click to expand...



Updated my computer today, this setting has stopped working. The hptrr driver will still load on boot with this setting.

I had to compile a kernel without hptrr to gain access to the drives again. HTH others.
 
Bump, I'm not sure if this really helps but lets hope ;)

Summer is over and stuff if getting back to normal, so I have just installed FreeBSD on a "new" disk with old hardward. Old disk died.. And so I was wondering.. anyone know if there has been any progress?

bluetick said:
Updated my computer today, this setting has stopped working. The hptrr driver will still load on boot with this setting.

I had to compile a kernel without hptrr to gain access to the drives again. HTH others.
Click to expand...

I have compiled a new kernel without the hptrr and can't say I have gained a lot. I have loaded the rr2680, but does not seems to do any good. dmesg | egrep rr
Code: 
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (pci/rr2680, 0xffffffff803615e0, 0xffffffff809aaf20) error 22
rr2680: RocketRAID 268x controller driver v1.0.08.1222 (Dec 22 2008 14:08:40)
rr2680: no controller detected.

pciconf -lv
Code: 
[color="DarkOrange"]none1[/color]@pci0:2:0:0:	class=0x010000 card=0x00001103 chip=0x26801103 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Triones Technologies Inc. (HighPoint)'
    class      = mass storage
    subclass   = SCSI

That said, know its been long since last time but how did you(bluetick or anyone else :p) gain access so magically?
Also.. thanks to those who have helped me and hopefully those who will. :e
 
tingo said:
Did you try to update from -RELEASE to - STABLE?
Click to expand...

No, don't think so. Why? I mean isn't STABLE for security updates?
BTW. I now run FreeBSD 8.2-p2.. if I remember correctly. :e
 
Bobbla said:
No, don't think so. Why? I mean isn't STABLE for security updates?
BTW. I now run FreeBSD 8.2-p2.. if I remember correctly. :e
Click to expand...
The -p-something releases are the official security releases.

-STABLE is a lot more than that. From the outside, you can consider it pretty much "whatever they can MFC from -CURRENT without changing interfaces and breaking existing programs". Not everything in -CURRENT that meets those criteria will in fact show up in -STABLE - a lot will depend on how much work it is to do it (if the interfaces have changed and it isn't a simple case of fuzzing and offsets in patches), how much user demand there is for the feature, and whether the developer(s) have the ability to do what they feel is sufficient testing on an older release.

Major things do make it from -CURRENT to -STABLE - a recent example is the ZFS v28 import.

In general, a "can you upgrade to -STABLE" question serves to discover if the problem was already fixed along the way, and also if it can be easily reproduced in an environment more developers have.

[Solely my experience as a FreeBSD user since 4.x, not a developer, yadda yadda yadda.]
 
Terry_Kennedy said:
In general, a "can you upgrade to -STABLE" question serves to discover if the problem was already fixed along the way, and also if it can be easily reproduced in an environment more developers have.
Click to expand...

Dunno, I guess I could go over to STABLE if anyone finds a solution to my problem that requires it. I think the problem is quite easy to replicate, all you need is to plug in the card, (try to) load drivers and see if it works on not.

By the way, HighPoint have "changed" the FreeBSD 8.0 drivers from filename indicating FreeBSD 7.0 to filename indicating FreeBSD 6.1, and they are of different size.

When I try to load the 6.1 file:
[CMD=""]kldload rr2680.ko[/CMD]
Code: 
link_elf_obj: symbol msleep undefined
linker_load_file: Unsupported file type
kldload: can't load rr26800.ko Exec format error

or during boot, from dmesg:
Code: 
link_elf_obj: symbol msleep undefined
kld file rr2680.ko - could not finalize loading

While if the 7.0 file gives me the "no card detected" message in the (4th) post above. At boot it gives me the same output, however it does not say the "no detection" part. Even thought it does not seem to detect it.

I dunno what to think.. I mean, to me it seems like the 7.0 does load. But for some reason it does not find the card? its plugged in and at boot there is a blue HighPoint controller card bios thingy.. :\
 
Bobbla said:
Dunno, I guess I could go over to STABLE if anyone finds a solution to my problem that requires it.
Click to expand...
Well, it would be quite easy for you to try. All you need to do is download a FreeBSD 8.2-stable snapshot, burn to a CD, boot your machine, and load the drivers from the Fixit / livecd environment.
Bobbla said:
I think the problem is quite easy to replicate, all you need is to plug in the card, (try to) load drivers and see if it works on not.
Click to expand...
But that requires anyone who wants to try this to have that card.
 
tingo said:
Well, it would be quite easy for you to try.
Click to expand...
Define easy, and how do you think try vs accomplish differs? :p

tingo said:
But that requires anyone who wants to try this to have that card.
Click to expand...
pff, no problem I could easily email or fax the card. j/k :p

Anyways.. what I have done now is to run the FreeBSD 8.2-STABLE-201105 in Fixit mode and I loaded the rr2680 driver. The question is, how do I know if it works?? As far as I can see nothing happens. [CMD=""]kldload rr2680.ko[/CMD] No output on the screen, the -v option isn't really useful either. I know the driver is loaded because I can see it with [CMD=""]kldstat[/CMD] No idea if it really works, but I remain pessimistic.
[CMD=""]pciconf -lv | grep 1103[/CMD]
Code: 
none1@pci0:2:0:0:	class=0x010000 card=0x00001103 chip=0x26801103 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
Have I done anything wrong with the STABLE thingy(1st time I use it) and/or do anyone have some suggestions?
 
Bobbla said:
Anyways.. what I have done now is to run the FreeBSD 8.2-STABLE-201105 in Fixit mode and I loaded the rr2680 driver. The question is, how do I know if it works?? As far as I can see nothing happens. [CMD=""]kldload rr2680.ko[/CMD] No output on the screen, the -v option isn't really useful either. I know the driver is loaded because I can see it with [CMD=""]kldstat[/CMD] No idea if it really works, but I remain pessimistic.
Click to expand...
I think that a compiled-in kernel driver will attach a device (if it thinks the device is one it supports) before your loadable module gets a chance. That may not be the case here, but it has tripped people up in the past when one of the kernel drivers mistakenly attaches a device that it actually doesn't support.

To be honest, I think your best bet is going to be to remove the Highpoint card and install something that has better FreeBSD support. The usual caveats about "have a good backup first", etc. apply, of course.

Even if you get a working kldload-able driver, you are dependent on the hardware manufacturer for updates. Drivers built for older versions of FreeBSD may not function properly (or at all) on newer FreeBSD versions. With a driver that is (also) available in source form, it is far more likely that the source can be made to work with newer FreeBSD versions.
 
Chapter 2..

So, basically your saying give up? That sounds defeatist..

I've been trying to bother the highpoint support web thingy, asked about any information about the system in which their so called FreeBSD 8.0 drivers worked in. They replied that there was no information. Gonna ask if I can get the source for the drivers, I highly doubt I'll get anything but dry support excuse ie, no. Their support website is only giving me internal errors at the moment so when Mr. ISS 7.0 feels better I'll go back and ask..

A little off topic.. But if I they are promoting their product as FreeBSD 8.0 compatible when it isn't, doesn't that make it fraud?

Also, more off topic(maybe even another topic).. But does this mean a HDD is about to die?
[CMD=""]zpool status -v[/CMD]
Code: 
ad8: FAILURE - READ_DMA48 status=51<READY,DSC,ERROR> error=40<UNCORRECTABLE> LBA=343212162
ad8: FAILURE - READ_DMA48 status=51<READY,DSC,ERROR> error=40<UNCORRECTABLE> LBA=343212162
  pool: storagepool 
 state: FAULTED 
status: An intent log record could not be read. 
        Waiting for adminstrator intervention to fix the faulted pool. 
action: Either restore the affected device(s) and run 'zpool online', 
        or ignore the intent log records by running 'zpool clear'. 
   see: http://www.sun.com/msg/ZFS-8000-K4
 scrub: none requested 
config: 

        NAME           STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM 
        storagepool     FAULTED      0     0     0  bad intent log 
          raidz1       ONLINE       0     0     0 
            ad18       ONLINE       0     0     0 
            ad16       ONLINE       0     0     0 
            ad22       ONLINE       0     0     0 
            ad12       ONLINE       0     0     0 
            ad20       ONLINE       0     0     0 
            ad14       ONLINE       0     0     0 
          raidz1       ONLINE       0     0     0 
            ad2        ONLINE       0     0     0 
            ad3        ONLINE       0     0     0 
            ad4        ONLINE       0     0     0 
            ad6        ONLINE       0     0     0 
            ad8        ONLINE       0     0     0 
            ad10       ONLINE       0     0     0
So what does it mean, and what is the difference between the "zpool online" and "zpool clear". Everything seems ok, the HDD's at least.. :\ Not my day...

Also, I know of the Hardware Notes but is there anywhere else I can obtain good info on what works with FreeBSD? When I say good info I mean stuff has been tested and results were awesome kinda stuff.. I also know about google, but still.. anyone?

Edit: Forgot to mention, I got the HDD problem after a crash..
 
Have you tried initializing the drives prior to attaching them to the 2680? You might be able to access the bare drives with JBOD after that.
 
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