Unable to connect eSATA HDD to eSATA SheevaPlug

[simoncn]

I recently purchased an eSATA SheevaPlug with multiboot configuration (Squeeze on internal flash and Wheezy on 4GB SDHC). I haven't made any changes to the "out of the box" setup.

I'm trying to connect the SheevaPlug to a 2.5 inch SATA drive in an externally powered USB/eSATA enclosure using an eSATA cable. When I boot from the SDHC card, I get lots of error messages on the boot console and when I login the drive isn't listed by fdisk -l. If I connect the same drive using a USB cable instead, the boot output looks fine and I do see the drive in fdisk -l. If I boot from NAND flash with eSATA, I see similar errors but in greater quantity.

Does the SheevaPlug support eSATA drives "out of the box"? If so, then the problems I am seeing are presumably caused by my eSATA enclosure and/or cable. Any advice would be very gratefully received.

Here's the boot error output I get when the drive is connected via eSATA:

Synthesizing the initial hotplug events...done.
Waiting for /dev to be fully populated...sata_mv sata_mv.0: version 1.28
sata_mv sata_mv.0: slots 32 ports 2
scsi0 : sata_mv
scsi1 : sata_mv
ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 irq 21
ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 irq 21
ata1: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl F300)
ata2: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready=0)
ata2: SRST failed (errno=-16)
ata2: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready=0)
ata2: SRST failed (errno=-16)
ata2: limiting SATA link speed to 1.5 Gbps
ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl F310)
------------[ cut here ]------------
WARNING: at drivers/ata/libata-sff.c:1053 ata_sff_hsm_move+0x4c/0x73c()
Modules linked in: sata_mv mv_cesa
[<c0033698>] (unwind_backtrace+0x0/0xec) from [<c0042618>] (warn_slowpath_common+0x4c/0x64)
[<c0042618>] (warn_slowpath_common+0x4c/0x64) from [<c0042648>] (warn_slowpath_null+0x18/0x1c)
[<c0042648>] (warn_slowpath_null+0x18/0x1c) from [<c02bcd04>] (ata_sff_hsm_move+0x4c/0x73c)
[<c02bcd04>] (ata_sff_hsm_move+0x4c/0x73c) from [<c02bd550>] (ata_sff_pio_task+0x15c/0x184)
[<c02bd550>] (ata_sff_pio_task+0x15c/0x184) from [<c0059508>] (process_one_work+0x294/0x46c)
[<c0059508>] (process_one_work+0x294/0x46c) from [<c005b9e8>] (worker_thread+0x1f0/0x33c)
[<c005b9e8>] (worker_thread+0x1f0/0x33c) from [<c005f028>] (kthread+0x80/0x88)
[<c005f028>] (kthread+0x80/0x88) from [<c002f3cc>] (kernel_thread_exit+0x0/0x8)
---[ end trace c52248409d20cde9 ]---
ata2.00: failed to IDENTIFY (I/O error, err_mask=0x2)
ata2: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready=0)
ata2: SRST failed (errno=-16)
ata2: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready=0)
ata2: SRST failed (errno=-16)
ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl F310)
ata2.00: failed to IDENTIFY (I/O error, err_mask=0x2)
ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl F310)
ata2.00: failed to IDENTIFY (I/O error, err_mask=0x2)
ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl F310)

Here's what I see when I connect the same drive and enclosure using USB:

rtc-mv rtc-mv: setting system clock to 2011-04-15 17:29:56 UTC (1302888596)
Waiting 5sec before mounting root device...
usb 1-1: new high speed USB device using orion-ehci and address 2
scsi0 : usb-storage 1-1:1.0
scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Hitachi  HTS543232A7A384       PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 625142448 512-byte logical blocks: (320 GB/298 GiB)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 38 00 00 00
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
 sda: unknown partition table
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
EXT3-fs: barriers not enabled

[NewIT_James]

simon,

Other Linux users seem to have had the same problem which appears to be a kernel bug.

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/engine?do=post_view_flat;post=1362623;page=1;mh=-1;list=linux;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC

http://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1104.3/00199.html

I would suggest trying a recent kernel and see if it's been patched yet.

Here is the Latest sheeva.with Linux kernel.
http://sheeva.with-linux.com/sheeva/3/3.1/3.1/

or the GuiPlug v2.7 image uses kernel v3.0.7
http://www.downloadsnewit.co.uk/SD-images/Sheevaplug/GuiPlug/v2.7/

or do you have access to another eSata caddy to try?

[simoncn]

James,
Thanks for these suggestions. The referenced issue doesn't seem to be the same as mine. It relates to a problem with the eSATA connection becoming frozen when hotplugging the eSATA drive. In my case I have eSATA connected when booting the system, so there's no hotplugging involved.

I'd be willing to try a kernel update, though this sounds a bit scary. Are there instructions somewhere for how to do this? Also, if the new kernel doesn't help or causes other problems, are there instructions for how to get back to the kernel level that I'm running currently?

Before doing a kernel update, I'd prefer to eliminate the possibility of an issue with the caddy. I don't have another caddy to try, but I'd be willing to buy one if I knew which make/model of eSATA caddy is compatible with the SheevaPlug. Does anyone at New IT have eSATA working? If so, which caddy are they using?

Simon

[graemev]

Does anyone at New IT have eSATA working? If so, which caddy are they using?

Simon

I just spent many wasted hours, only to discover the newIT eSATA cable connector is 'too short'  ... it works 100% of the time with other cables ... even hot-plug works ... newIT cable never works ... in my case I get a red light when eSATA connects.