View source for Problems with SATA and Linux

{| width="100%"
|style="vertical-align:top;padding-right:20px;width:10px;white-space:nowrap;" | __TOC__
|style="vertical-align:top" |
Some ThinkPad models use an [[Intel ICH6-M]] SATA/PATA controller for the system hard disk. This causes several complications for Linux installation. The following lists these problems and known workarounds. Note that the details are often version- and distribution-specific.

===Models using a SATA disk interface===
Models using a SATA controller and a SATA system disk:
*ThinkPad {{R60}}, {{R60e}}
*ThinkPad {{T60}}, {{T60p}}, {{T61}}
*ThinkPad {{X60}}, {{X60s}}
*ThinkPad {{Z60t}}, {{Z60m}}
*ThinkPad {{Z61e}}, {{Z61t}}, {{Z61m}}, {{Z61p}}
Models using a SATA controller and a PATA (IDE) system disk with a SATA-to-PATA bridge:
*ThinkPad {{T43}}, {{T43p}}
*ThinkPad {{R52}}
*ThinkPad {{X41}}, {{X41T}}

{{NOTE|Some of these problems (namely SMART support, power management and disk information) are solved in Linux 2.6.15 with the inclusion of libata pass-through. See the SATA driver [http://linux-ata.org/features.html features], [http://linux-ata.org/software-status.html software status] and [http://linux-ata.org/driver-status.html hardware status].}}
|}

==Hang on resume from suspend to RAM==

Linux kernels prior to 2.6.16 (ata_piix) and 2.6.19 (ahci) do not support suspend and resume for SATA devices. As a result, the machine hangs upon the first disk access after resume. A kernel patch ([http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/5/2/46 LKML posting]) fixes this by adding SATA power management support.

Kernel 2.6.16 and later fixes this problem for most systems. The Thinkpad T60 and X60s still need some patches to get resume working using 2.6.16, see [[Talk:Problems with SATA and Linux#Patch against SATA-resume problem with T60|here]]. The T60p resumes properly with 2.6.17-rc6, the T60 and X60 should also.  You need to enable ata_piix and disable AHCI in the bios. The latest fedora (FC5) 2.6.17 kernel seems to have fixed the resume problem on the T60p, still need to disable AHCI though. Applying [http://cvs.fedora.redhat.com/viewcvs/rpms/kernel/FC-5/linux-2.6-console-suspend.patch this FC5 patch] makes suspend-to-ram work with AHCI enabled.

===Patches===
* [http://shamrock.dyndns.org/~ln/linux/sata_pm.2.6.12.diff Patch for kernel 2.6.12]
* [http://shamrock.dyndns.org/~ln/linux/sata_pm.2.6.13-rc5.diff Patch for kernel 2.6.13-rc5]
* [http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/9/23/97 Patch for kernel 2.6.14]
* [http://www.xenotime.net/linux/SATA/2.6.15-rc/libata_suspend.patch Patch for kernel 2.6.15-rc4]
* [http://tpctl.sourceforge.net/tmp/sata_pm.2.6.15-rc6.patch Patch for kernels 2.6.15-rc6 through 2.6.15]

Some distributions already include this patch (e.g., {{Ubuntu}} Breezy, {{Gentoo}}'s gentoo-sources 2.6.15-r1), but some don't (e.g., {{Fedora}} 4). If your distribution doesn't include the patch, you will need to compile your own kernel with this patch included.

===Links===
* RedHat Bugzilla [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=169201 bug 169201: "SATA drives fail on laptop suspend"]
* [http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/11/15/385 Fix to libata.h recommended on LKML] in case you get "ata: abnormal state 0x80 on port 0x1F7"
* RedHat Bugzilla [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=183138 bug 183138": "SATA failure after pm-suspend/resume ata1: handling error/timeout"]

==Failed resume from suspend to disk==

Suspend to disk (using [[swsusp]] or [[Software Suspend 2]]) needs to load the memory image from the SATA disk. For this to work, you either need an initrd with all the necessary SATA modules, or the SATA drivers compiled into the kernel.

==DVD drive not recognized==

The <tt>ata_piix</tt> SATA driver grabs ownership over the IDE ports when it is loaded, but (by default) does not support PATA ATAPI devices such as the Ultrabay optical drives. Thus, if the <tt>ide</tt> driver is compiled as a module and loaded after <tt>ata_piix</tt>, the DVD drive will not be recognized by either driver.

Either of the following configurations will work:
* For kernel 2.6.14 and newer: enable ATAPI support in the SATA system using {{bootparm|libata.atapi_enabled|1}} (see below; this is experimental).
* Compile IDE into the kernel (non-module).
* Compile both IDE and SATA as modules and make sure IDE is loaded first (the module is called 'ide_generic').

Note that the optical drive must be in the Ultrabay during system boot (Ultrabay device swapping is currently unsupported).

==No DMA on DVD drive==

Using the IDE driver, DMA support cannot be enabled on an Ultrabay optical drive:

 # hdparm -d1 /dev/hdc
 
 /dev/hdc:
  setting using_dma to 1 (on)
  HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted
  using_dma    =  0 (off)

As a result, the optical drive is slow, and in particular, too slow to play video DVDs.

One workaround is to use the <tt>ata_piix</tt> driver (instead of the IDE driver) for the optical drive. This requires enabling the ATAPI support of the <tt>ata_piix</tt> driver, which is under active development and not yet stable. You must also make sure that the IDE driver (<tt>ide-generic</tt>) does not grab the devices before <tt>ata_piix</tt>. 
Using this will probably devour all your data and go on to eat all the food in your fridge. But if you have full backups and an empty fridge, do the following:

* Grab the latest kernel (must be 2.6.14 or newer; the relevant code is under active development).
* Do one of the following:
** Enable the <tt>ata_piix</tt> and <tt>libata</tt> drivers as built-in, and add {{bootparm|libata.atapi_enabled|1}} to your kernel command line (e.g., in {{path|/boot/grub/menu.lst}} or {{path|/etc/lilo.conf}}. Don't forget to run lilo after changes).
** Enable <tt>ata_piix</tt> and <tt>libata</tt> as modules (this is often the default) and add "<tt>options libata atapi_enabled=1</tt>" to your {{path|/etc/modprobe.conf}} (or the equivalent in your distribution). 
* Do one of the following:
** Disable the IDE system.
** Build the IDE driver as built-in (this is often the default) and add the {{bootparm|hdc|noprobe}} kernel argument (e.g., in in {{path|/boot/grub/menu.lst}} or {{path|/etc/lilo.conf}}. Don't forget to run lilo after changes).
** Build the IDE driver as module and add "<tt>options ide hdc=noprobe</tt>" to your {{path|/etc/modprobe.conf}} (or the equivalent in your distribution).
* If you chose to use modules above, regenerate your <tt>initrd</tt> file.

Note : If you are using a ''Debian Sid'' system, and want to use Debian precompiled kernels, then type the following command in a ''root'' shell (This creates a new <tt>initrd</tt> with enabled ATAPI support of <tt>ata_piix</tt> and loads <tt>ata_piix</tt> before the IDE driver): 
 '''# echo options libata atapi_enabled=1>/etc/modprobe.d/atapienable && update-initramfs -u'''
Note : If your work was successful, your CD-ROM drive will no longer be accesiible through /dev/hdc, but /dev/scd0.

If this all doesn't work, use {{cmd|lspci -vn|}} to check whether one of the following chipsets is used in the Thinkpad:
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2"
|-
!PCI ID 
!Name
|-
|8086:7111
|Intel 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE
|-
|8086:24db
|Intel 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) IDE Controller
|-
|8086:25a2
|Intel 6300ESB PATA Storage Controller
|}
If yes, enable support for these chipsets has to be enabled by setting
 #define ATA_ENABLE_PATA
in {{path|include/linux/libata.h}} (and report your ThinkPad model in the discussion page).

There have been reports that DVD burning doesn't work under this configuration, but it seems to work with kernel 2.6.14 and later (tested on a ThinkPad {{T43}} and {{T43p}} with a [[UltraBay Slim DVD Multi-Burner Plus]]).

===Problem with kernel 2.6.16 kernel and suspend2 2.2.1===
DVD access fails with kernel 2.6.16.* and [[Software Suspend 2|suspend2]] 2.2.1. Thia is fixed by later versions of suspend2, or by deleting the 4000-libata-rollup-2616-rc3.patch (see 
[http://lists.suspend2.net/lurker/message/20060322.082452.873dc526.en.html this post notice] by Alexander E. Patrakov).

===Links===
* RedHat Bugzilla [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=163418 bug 163418: "can't enable DMA on DVD drive"]
* Enabling DMA on a SATA DVD drive, kernel 2.6.18 [http://thomer.com/howtos/dma_on_sata_dvd.html]

==No DMA on system hard disk==

In recent Linux kernels, there are two modules capable of handling the ICH6 disk controller:
* <tt>ata_piix</tt>: the disk shows as {{path|/dev/sda}} and DMA is enabled.
* Generic IDE driver (<tt>ide-disk</tt>): the disk shows as {{path|/dev/hda}} and DMA is disabled.

The simplest way to enable DMA is to force the IDE driver to ignore the system hard disk by passing the {{bootparm|hda|noprobe}} and {{bootparm|hda|none}} kernel argument. The driver will then be handled by the <tt>ata_piix</tt> driver. Note that this will change its device name to {{path|/dev/sda}} (which may require changes in {{path|/etc/fstab}} and the boot loader) and may cause other problems as listed above.

(Observed on a ThinkPad T43 with Fedora Core kernel 2.6.13-1.1526_FC4.)
(Observed on a ThinkPad X40 with Debian kernel 2.6.18-4-686.) [[User:Hendry|Hendry]] 20:05, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

==No SMART support==

Prior to kernel 2.6.15, the Linux SATA system did not support SMART commands (e.g., via smartctl).

The necessary capability is "libata pass-through", which was incorporated into Linux 2.6.15-rc1 and later. A patch is available for older kernels:
* Kernel 2.6.12: http://rtr.ca/dell_i9300/kernel/kernel-2.6.12/03_libata_passthru.patch
* Kernel 2.6.13: http://rtr.ca/dell_i9300/kernel/kernel-2.6.13/02_libata_passthru.patch
* Kernel 2.6.14: http://www.foo.fh-furtwangen.de/~koenigr/02_libata_passthru.fixed.again.patch
* Kernel 2.6.14 with the above suspend-to-RAM patch: http://linux.spiney.org/system/files?file=02_libata_passthru.fixed.patch

After applying the patch, run smartctl with the "-d ata" parameter:
:{{cmdroot|smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda}}

From smartmontools version 5.37 "-d sat" is preferred to "-d ata". The smartctl command will auto-detect SATA disks so:
:{{cmdroot|smartctl -a /dev/sda}}
should just work. The smartd daemon still requires "-d sat" in /etc/smartd.conf .

==No disk power management==

Prior to kernel 2.6.15, the Linux SATA system did not support power management commands on these models.

The above patches for SMART support resolves this, and in particular enables the following commands:
* {{cmdroot|hdparm -y}} (spin down)
* {{cmdroot|hdparm -S num}} (automatic spin down timeout)
* {{cmdroot|hdparm -B num}} (advanced power management level)
Note that this command is still rejected:
* {{cmdroot|hdparm -M num}} (acoustic management)
(Tested with patched kernels 2.6.13.1 and 2.6.12-4 and a 60GB 7200RPM disk model HTS726060M9AT00.)

Refer to [[How to make use of Harddisk Power Management features]] for details about using
HD power management.  Refer to [[Laptop-mode]] if you are interested into spinning down your HD.

==No disk information==

Prior to kernel 2.6.15, on these models the disk information could not be read by the standard commands such as:
*{{cmdroot|hdparm -i /dev/sda}}
*{{cmdroot|hdparm -I /dev/sda}}
The latter is fixed by the above patch for SMART support.

==No swapping of UltraBay device==

The <tt>ata_piix</tt> driver in mainline Linux kernels supports hot-swapping and warm-swapping of PATA and SATA devices. This requires kernel 2.6.18 or newer (with older kernels, you must power off the laptop before swapping such devices). See [[How_to_hotswap_UltraBay_devices#When_using_the_ata_piix_driver|How_to_hotswap_UltraBay_devices]] for further information.

Swapping of the [[UltraBay Slim Battery]] works out-of-the box.

==BIOS error 2010 on user-installed hard disk==

While not a Linux issue, note that there is an issue with installing alternative PATA (IDE) hard disks as the system drive. Unless the disk is one of the few approved disks listed inside the BIOS, you will get an BIOS error 2010 during system boot, and the disk may operate unreliably. See [[Problem with non-ThinkPad hard disks]].

==RHEL3.0 Update 7 on T60p==

RHEL3.0 Update 7 will install on a {{T60p}}, but you need to make an adjustment.  Both uni-processor and SMP kernels get installed, with the SMP kerrnel the default.  However, the SMP kernel can't seem to find the disk drive.  You can work around this by use "e" at the GRUB kernel prompt, then on the "kernel" line appending " noapic".  After the system boots, you'll want to edit /boot/grub/grub.conf to add the " noapic" option to the kernel line as well.

==Mandriva 2006 on T60==

Mandriva 2006.0 has a problem with SATA on a {{T60}}, to fix this you need to make an adjustment. The install procedure can't seem to find the SATA disk drive, you can work around this by adding the "noapic" kernel option during CD/DVD boot. You *might* need to add this to lilo or GRUB for normal operations, after install completes. The problem with not using apic during normal operations is that you might have problems with power management, please see article on [[Software Suspend 2]]

==Problem burning CD/DVD==

To a CD/DVD problem, try to burn a CD/DVD as "root"-user on command-line with the option "-dummy" and "-v" enabled, do not use K3B or similar. Doing so you will get more informations and waste less CD/DVD's. 

Experiment with the parameters "burnfree" and "dev". With cdrecord on debian etch, burnfree seems not work, disable it. With wodim on debian etch: try parameter "dev=/dev/scd0", the default "dev=1,0,0" seems not to work.

==Spurious NCQ completions==

The HDD firmware support for NCQ appears to be buggy ([http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/6/6/15 LKML posting] and [http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/6/6/195 LKML posting]).