amrd controller works in x86 but not x64 FreeBSD 9.0

[urbanriot]

I have an issue with a first generation SATA controller card, an LSI MegaRAID SATA 150-6 with markings Ser523 Rev B2.

I'm not sure if this is a fakeraid issue or it's a true RAID card or what, but basically the card works just fine with FreeBSD 9.0 x86 but the system hangs with FreeBSD 9.0 x64.

So let's say I've created a RAID5 array with 3 x 500GB drives. During install, either x64 or x86 view the virtual drive just fine, they both see a 900GB drive and allow me to install on it.

Boot up in x86 FreeBSD 9.0, no problem, can login.

Boot up in x64 FreeBSD 9.0, the system 'craps out', hangs at scanning da0, da1, etc. It doesn't seem to see amrd0 as the x86 DVD / install sees it or as the x64 DVD sees it.

Can anyone provide a suggestion? Is the x64 driver broken?

 

[urbanriot]

Changed my googling criteria and found the following - http://fixunix.com/freebsd/551768-re-lsi-megaraid-sata-150-6-a.html

According to

sysctl -da | grep amr

hw.amr.force_sg32: Force the AMR driver to use 32bit scatter gather

(instead of 64bit?) For details see:

/usr/src/sys/dev/amr/amr_pci.c

Seems this has been an issue since 2008. Not sure what the implications of this are but it sounds like a programmer should fix this for x64 distribution so people have an out of the box working system.

If someone capable is available and knows how this can be set, I'd be happy to test changes if this would benefit anyone else down the road and it can be added to the distribution source.

 

[SirDice]

I suggest filing a PR about it.

You can also try the BETA of 9.1, perhaps it's already been fixed.

 

[crispx]

New to BSD, had the same issue loading to a LSI 9261.

Based on SirDice's suggestion, I burned a 9.1RC1 bootable CD iso.
It detected the arrays and I was able to load the setup stub code to the bootable LSI vd.
The running setup was able to connect to the repositories without a problem.
The install completed without a hitch.

Good suggestion SirDice.
Thx