[lug] sad hardware announcement :(

Wed Jul 19 17:31:19 MDT 2000

"Stephen G. Smith" wrote:
> 
> FYI....We have the exact same problem with the Win2k Server and Advanced
> Server....
> The BIOS beta code update DID fix the problem...
> Hope this helps..
> 
> SGS

I'm interested to know which motherboard it is. Despite SuperMicro
stating that the board is stable on NT, I've found Win2k workstation to
mysteriously lockup at times also (I never believe anyone when they say
a windows product is stable...usually they mean relative to something).
If this is one of the SuperMicro i840 chipset boards, can you tell me
which bios version you now have that is stable?

Thanks!
D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com

> 
> >From: "D. Stimits" <stimits at idcomm.com>
> >Reply-To: lug at lug.boulder.co.us
> >To: BLUG <lug at lug.boulder.co.us>
> >Subject: [lug] sad hardware announcement :(
> >Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 21:08:41 -0600
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> >
> >I have used SuperMicro motherboards for years now, and recently picked
> >up a PIIIDM3, which at first seemed stable. I'm not sure how many of you
> >have noted sporadic reports of some server boxes locking up under high
> >i/o, but Redhat and others have made notes on this. I've found out that
> >this is a problem with all of the SuperMicro i840 chipset boards as
> >well.
> >
> >The problem isn't entirely high i/o, but this tends to generate the
> >conditions that trigger it. The problem is an unknown IO-APIC, which is
> >a device responsible for reprogrammable IRQ steering between multiple
> >cpu's. When i/o doesn't lock up the system prior to logging failure, a
> >note is found as the last entry of /var/log/messages, "kernel:
> >unexpected IRQ vector 217 on CPU#0!" (or on CPU#1). In other locations
> >of the log, you'll likely see the entry "WARNING: unexpected IO-APIC,
> >please mail".
> >
> >After speaking with SuperMicro, they simply state "it runs fine on NT",
> >and they won't help. In the past they were interested in Linux, but
> >SuperMicro has apparently changed its mind and is not interested
> >anymore. I've contacted Allen Cox to see what else can be done, but for
> >now, you should consider all i840 SuperMicro boards incompatible with
> >Linux (I also saw very similar reports on FreeBSD and other open source
> >o/s's).
> >
> >The temporary workaround is to boot with the kernel option "noapic".
> >This removes irq redirection to the 2nd cpu, meaning all device i/o is
> >entirely on the first cpu. Additionally, some PCI devices which might
> >have been at an irq value will be changed or at an unreachable irq.
> >There is some explanation of this sort of problem in the kernel source
> >Documentation directory: "IO-APIC.txt".
> >
> >At this point, I am looking for a new motherboard, dual cpu, with 4x
> >AGP-pro (I'm looking at high end OpenGL graphics cards) and 64 bit, 66
> >MHz PCI slots (required for ultra 160, which I plan to continue using).
> >Iwill has a dual slot 2 board, the DCA200, which unfortunately requires
> >rdram (expensive and increased latency, with no ability to reuse my
> >current pc133 ram), which might be the route to go if nothing else
> >appears. Anyone know if this board really is stable under linux? The
> >Intel OR840 would be a candidate, but it lacks 64 bit PCI. Does anyone
> >know if the Via Apollo Pro 133A chipset is a solution? Do any of the
> >133A boards have 64 bit PCI slots?
> >
> >And is there anyone who is interested in buying a good non-linux
> >motherboard, a PIIIDM3 SuperMicro?
> >
> >Thanks,
> >D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com
> >
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