0078 + slax = no mode-b

[xboxtilburg.tk]

I've done about 5 0078fk's since the release of the toolbox (yes I donated ), everything went just fine until this one:

360 prod.date, 2006-08-20
0078fk july 2006

I boot slax with the 0078 on a 6421A card, the normal result of slax would be after detecting the harddisks it would detect the 0078 and switch to mode-b and start trying to spin the disc up..... but in this case after detecting the harddisks it just goes into booting the live CD (green * in front of the lines passing) I tried 2 different 6241A cards but still no go... tried slax 2.0 and 2.1.

Yesterday someone brogught a 0078 to me, hooked it up and slax worked fine.. disconnect that drive, hook the other drive up.. no-go

The 360/drive is just working fine with movies/games...

Any ideas?

[Exist2Resist]

I had a buddies xbox drive which was a Hit 46, i was unable to flash it, after removing a globe mod, it had altered the FW in such a way that it didnt allow me to access it.
There is a possibility that you wont be able to flash the drive at all, could be a corrupted line of code, or maybe it is a newer version of the 78 which doesnt allow it to be switched into mode B.
You'r guess is as good as anyones.

[Exist2Resist]

Compare the FW revision to the other drives see if there is any difference.

[xboxtilburg.tk]

I'll check the labels tonight.

But if the FW is different, it would be strange cause the drive is July 2006.. the drive I checked with was aug 2006.

[probutus]

sounds very strange to me... In order to analyze the issue; can you please send me the dmesg-output of the slax cd? (once with the drive where it worked and once where it failed?)

[xboxtilburg.tk]

Here is the dmesg from where it's not working.. I don't have a drive where it's working here so I'll post that tomorrow if I can get hold of one.

[xboxtilburg.tk]

Linux version 2.6.18 (root@darkstar) (gcc version 4.1.2 20060928 (prerelease) (Debian 4.1.1-15)) #10 SMP Thu Oct 5 02:10:29 CEST 2006
BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
 BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009fc00 (usable)
 BIOS-e820: 000000000009fc00 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
 BIOS-e820: 00000000000e0000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
 BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 000000000bef0000 (usable)
 BIOS-e820: 000000000bef0000 - 000000000bef8000 (ACPI data)
 BIOS-e820: 000000000bef8000 - 000000000bf00000 (ACPI NVS)
 BIOS-e820: 000000000bf00000 - 000000000c000000 (reserved)
 BIOS-e820: 00000000fff80000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
0MB HIGHMEM available.
190MB LOWMEM available.
On node 0 totalpages: 48880
  DMA zone: 4096 pages, LIFO batch:0
  Normal zone: 44784 pages, LIFO batch:7
DMI 2.3 present.
ACPI: RSDP (v000 AMI                                   ) @ 0x000fc080
ACPI: RSDT (v001 AMIINT AMIINT10 0x00001007 MSFT 0x0100000c) @ 0x0bef0000
ACPI: FADT (v001 AMIINT AMIINT10 0x00001007 MSFT 0x0100000c) @ 0x0bef0030
ACPI: DSDT (v001 AMIINT AMIINT10 0x00001006 MSFT 0x0100000d) @ 0x00000000
ACPI: PM-Timer IO Port: 0x408
Allocating PCI resources starting at 10000000 (gap: 0c000000:f3f80000)
Detected 952.265 MHz processor.
Built 1 zonelists.  Total pages: 48880
Kernel command line: vga=769 max_loop=255 initrd=boot/initrd.gz init=linuxrc load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 ramdisk_size=16384 root=/dev/ram0 rw BOOT_IMAGE=boot/vmlinuz
Local APIC disabled by BIOS -- you can enable it with "lapic"
mapped APIC to ffffd000 (0118a000)
Enabling fast FPU save and restore... done.
Enabling unmasked SIMD FPU exception support... done.
Initializing CPU#0
PID hash table entries: 1024 (order: 10, 4096 bytes)
Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
Dentry cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
Inode-cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
Memory: 184600k/195520k available (4476k kernel code, 10380k reserved, 1392k data, 336k init, 0k highmem)
Checking if this processor honours the WP bit even in supervisor mode... Ok.
Calibrating delay using timer specific routine.. 1905.85 BogoMIPS (lpj=3811704)
Security Framework v1.0.0 initialized
Mount-cache hash table entries: 512
CPU: After generic identify, caps: 0383f9ff 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
CPU: After vendor identify, caps: 0383f9ff 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
CPU: L1 I cache: 16K, L1 D cache: 16K
CPU: L2 cache: 128K
CPU: After all inits, caps: 0383f9ff 00000000 00000000 00000040 00000000 00000000 00000000
Intel machine check architecture supported.
Intel machine check reporting enabled on CPU#0.
Compat vDSO mapped to ffffe000.
Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK.
SMP alternatives: switching to UP code
Freeing SMP alternatives: 20k freed
ACPI: Core revision 20060707
ACPI: setting ELCR to 0200 (from 0c00)
CPU0: Intel Celeron (Coppermine) stepping 0a
SMP motherboard not detected.
Local APIC not detected. Using dummy APIC emulation.
Brought up 1 CPUs
migration_cost=0
checking if image is initramfs...it isn't (no cpio magic); looks like an initrd
Freeing initrd memory: 2005k freed
NET: Registered protocol family 16
ACPI: bus type pci registered
PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfdb91, last bus=1
PCI: Using configuration type 1
Setting up standard PCI resources
ACPI: Interpreter enabled
ACPI: Using PIC for interrupt routing
ACPI: PCI Root Bridge [PCI0] (0000:00)
PCI: Probing PCI hardware (bus 00)
ACPI: Assume root bridge [\_SB_.PCI0] bus is 0
Boot video device is 0000:00:01.0
PCI quirk: region 0400-047f claimed by ICH4 ACPI/GPIO/TCO
PCI quirk: region 0480-04bf claimed by ICH4 GPIO
PCI: Transparent bridge - 0000:00:1e.0
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Routing Table [\_SB_.PCI0._PRT]
ACPI: Power Resource [URP1] (off)
ACPI: Power Resource [URP2] (off)
ACPI: Power Resource [FDDP] (off)
ACPI: Power Resource [LPTP] (off)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKA] (IRQs 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 *11 12 14 15)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKB] (IRQs 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 14 15) *0, disabled.
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKC] (IRQs 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 14 15) *0, disabled.
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKD] (IRQs 3 4 5 6 7 9 *10 11 12 14 15)
Linux Plug and Play Support v0.97 (c) Adam Belay
SCSI subsystem initialized
usbcore: registered new driver usbfs
usbcore: registered new driver hub
PCI: Using ACPI for IRQ routing
PCI: If a device doesn't work, try "pci=routeirq".  If it helps, post a report
PCI: Ignore bogus resource 6 [0:0] of 0000:00:01.0
PCI: Bridge: 0000:00:1e.0
  IO window: disabled.
  MEM window: ebe00000-ebefffff
  PREFETCH window: e3c00000-e3cfffff
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:1e.0 to 64
NET: Registered protocol family 2
IP route cache hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
TCP established hash table entries: 8192 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
TCP bind hash table entries: 4096 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
TCP: Hash tables configured (established 8192 bind 4096)
TCP reno registered
apm: BIOS version 1.2 Flags 0x03 (Driver version 1.16ac)
apm: overridden by ACPI.
VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.5.1
Dquot-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order 0, 4096 bytes)
NTFS driver 2.1.27 [Flags: R/W].
JFS: nTxBlock = 1459, nTxLock = 11673
SGI XFS with ACLs, security attributes, large block numbers, no debug enabled
SGI XFS Quota Management subsystem
Initializing Cryptographic API
io scheduler noop registered
io scheduler anticipatory registered
io scheduler deadline registered
io scheduler cfq registered (default)
pci_hotplug: PCI Hot Plug PCI Core version: 0.5
ACPI: Power Button (FF) [PWRF]
ACPI: Power Button (CM) [PWRB]
ACPI: Sleep Button (CM) [SLPB]
ACPI: CPU0 (power states: C1[C1] C2[C2])
ACPI: Processor [CPU1] (supports 8 throttling states)
ACPI: Thermal Zone [THRM] (37 C)
isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
Real Time Clock Driver v1.12ac
Serial: 8250/16550 driver $Revision: 1.90 $ 4 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 16384K size 1024 blocksize
loop: loaded (max 255 devices)
Compaq SMART2 Driver (v 2.6.0)
HP CISS Driver (v 3.6.10)
Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00alpha2
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
ICH: IDE controller at PCI slot 0000:00:1f.1
ICH: chipset revision 2
ICH: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
    ide0: BM-DMA at 0xff00-0xff07, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:pio
    ide1: BM-DMA at 0xff08-0xff0f, BIOS settings: hdc:pio, hdd:DMA
Probing IDE interface ide0...
hda: ST310014A, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
Probing IDE interface ide1...
hdd: ATAPI-CD ROM-DRIVE-52MAX, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
hda: max request size: 128KiB
hda: 20005650 sectors (10242 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=19846/16/63, UDMA(66)
hda: cache flushes supported
 hda: hda1 hda2 < hda5 >
hdd: ATAPI 52X CD-ROM drive, 128kB Cache, UDMA(33)
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20
ide-floppy driver 0.99.newide
Loading Adaptec I2O RAID: Version 2.4 Build 5go
Detecting Adaptec I2O RAID controllers...
Adaptec aacraid driver (1.1-5[2409]-mh2)
scsi: <fdomain> Detection failed (no card)
sym53c416.c: Version 1.0.0-ac
qlogicfas: no cards were found, please specify I/O address and IRQ using iobase= and irq= options<6>QLogic Fibre Channel HBA Driver
Emulex LightPulse Fibre Channel SCSI driver 8.1.9
Copyright(c) 2004-2006 Emulex.  All rights reserved.
Failed initialization of WD-7000 SCSI card!
megaraid cmm: 2.20.2.7 (Release Date: Sun Jul 16 00:01:03 EST 2006)
megaraid: 2.20.4.9 (Release Date: Sun Jul 16 12:27:22 EST 2006)
megasas: 00.00.03.01 Sun May 14 22:49:52 PDT 2006
GDT-HA: Storage RAID Controller Driver. Version: 3.05
GDT-HA: Found 0 PCI Storage RAID Controllers
3ware Storage Controller device driver for Linux v1.26.02.001.
3ware 9000 Storage Controller device driver for Linux v2.26.02.007.
nsp32: loading...
ipr: IBM Power RAID SCSI Device Driver version: 2.1.3 (March 29, 2006)
libata version 2.00 loaded.
st: Version 20050830, fixed bufsize 32768, s/g segs 256
I2O subsystem v1.325
i2o: max drivers = 8
I2O Configuration OSM v1.323
I2O Bus Adapter OSM v1.317
I2O Block Device OSM v1.325
I2O SCSI Peripheral OSM v1.316
I2O ProcFS OSM v1.316
Fusion MPT base driver 3.04.01
Copyright (c) 1999-2005 LSI Logic Corporation
Fusion MPT SPI Host driver 3.04.01
Fusion MPT FC Host driver 3.04.01
Fusion MPT SAS Host driver 3.04.01
usbmon: debugfs is not available
usbcore: registered new driver hiddev
usbcore: registered new driver usbhid
drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: v2.6:USB HID core driver
PNP: No PS/2 controller found. Probing ports directly.
serio: i8042 AUX port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
md: linear personality registered for level -1
md: raid0 personality registered for level 0
md: raid1 personality registered for level 1
md: raid10 personality registered for level 10
md: multipath personality registered for level -4
md: md driver 0.90.3 MAX_MD_DEVS=256, MD_SB_DISKS=27
md: bitmap version 4.39
device-mapper: ioctl: 4.7.0-ioctl (2006-06-24) initialised: dm-devel@redhat.com
TCP bic registered
Initializing IPsec netlink socket
NET: Registered protocol family 1
NET: Registered protocol family 17
Using IPI Shortcut mode
md: Autodetecting RAID arrays.
md: autorun ...
md: ... autorun DONE.
RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
Time: tsc clocksource has been installed.
Time: acpi_pm clocksource has been installed.
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
Freeing unused kernel memory: 336k freed
input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /class/input/input0
cryptoloop: Unknown parameter `max_loop'
squashfs: version 3.1 (2006/08/19) Phillip Lougher
Registering unionfs 20060916-2203
unionfs: debugging is not enabled
ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet Level 3
ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A
Linux agpgart interface v0.101 (c) Dave Jones
input: ImPS/2 Generic Wheel Mouse as /class/input/input1
fuse init (API version 7.7)
NTFS volume version 3.1.
Intel ISA PCIC probe: not found.
Databook TCIC-2 PCMCIA probe: not found.
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKB] enabled at IRQ 11
PCI: setting IRQ 11 as level-triggered
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:1f.3 -> Link [LNKB] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver v3.0
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKD] enabled at IRQ 10
PCI: setting IRQ 10 as level-triggered
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:1f.2[D] -> Link [LNKD] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:1f.2 to 64
uhci_hcd 0000:00:1f.2: UHCI Host Controller
uhci_hcd 0000:00:1f.2: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
uhci_hcd 0000:00:1f.2: irq 10, io base 0x0000de00
usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
hub 1-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
i8xx TCO timer: initialized (0x0460). heartbeat=30 sec (nowayout=0)
shpchp: Standard Hot Plug PCI Controller Driver version: 0.4
i810_smbus 0000:00:01.0: i810/i815 i2c device found.
agpgart: Detected an Intel i810 E Chipset.
agpgart: detected 4MB dedicated video ram.
agpgart: AGP aperture is 64M @ 0xe4000000
ohci_hcd: 2005 April 22 USB 1.1 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver (PCI)
usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usbcore: registered new driver usb-storage
USB Mass Storage support registered.
usb-storage: device found at 2
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
NO HL detected: |Freecom DataBar USB2.0  3000à\
|
  Vendor: Freecom   Model: DataBar USB2.0    Rev: 3000
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 00
SCSI device sda: 246784 512-byte hdwr sectors (126 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
SCSI device sda: 246784 512-byte hdwr sectors (126 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
 sda: sda1
sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sda
usb-storage: device scan complete

[xboxtilburg.tk]

I managed to find another drive that does not work either, same date: july 2006

I had another PC around with the VIA KT600 chipset... on which the drive switch to mode-b without any problems so it must be the drive/6421L combination.

After in mode-b windows does not detect the drive on the 6421L card, but does on the VIA chipset PC..

[xboxtilburg.tk]

I've found the problem.. a faulty SATA cable, sudden the other PC was not detecting the 0078 anymore, swapped the cable and it worked again.. tried the 6421L card and that worked too..

 

[probutus]

ah, ok, thanks for the info; I was just a bit confused about the output since there was no remark anywhere about the via controller... When you used the faulty cable, was the controller (not the drive) detected by windows?

[xboxtilburg.tk]

I noticed that too...  but now as we speak I tried another 0078, not switching to mode-b (tried 3 other cables aldready so that was not the solution

sym53c416.c: Version 1.0.0-ac
qlogicfas: no cards were found, please specify I/O address and IRQ using iobase= and irq= options<6>QLogic Fibre Channel HBA Driver
Emulex LightPulse Fibre Channel SCSI driver 8.1.9
Copyright(c) 2004-2006 Emulex.  All rights reserved.
Failed initialization of WD-7000 SCSI card!
megaraid cmm: 2.20.2.7 (Release Date: Sun Jul 16 00:01:03 EST 2006)
megaraid: 2.20.4.9 (Release Date: Sun Jul 16 12:27:22 EST 2006)
megasas: 00.00.03.01 Sun May 14 22:49:52 PDT 2006
GDT-HA: Storage RAID Controller Driver. Version: 3.05
GDT-HA: Found 0 PCI Storage RAID Controllers
3ware Storage Controller device driver for Linux v1.26.02.001.
3ware 9000 Storage Controller device driver for Linux v2.26.02.007.
nsp32: loading...
ipr: IBM Power RAID SCSI Device Driver version: 2.1.3 (March 29, 2006)
libata version 2.00 loaded.
sata_via 0000:01:03.0: version 2.0
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKA] enabled at IRQ 11
PCI: setting IRQ 11 as level-triggered
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:01:03.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
sata_via 0000:01:03.0: routed to hard irq line 11
ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xCC00 ctl 0xCC0A bmdma 0xCE00 irq 11
ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xC800 ctl 0xC80A bmdma 0xCE08 irq 11
scsi2 : sata_via
ata1: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 310)
ATA: abnormal status 0x7F on port 0xCC07
scsi3 : sata_via
ata2: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 310)
ATA: abnormal status 0x7F on port 0xC807
st: Version 20050830, fixed bufsize 32768, s/g segs 256
I2O subsystem v1.325
i2o: max drivers = 8
I2O Configuration OSM v1.323
I2O Bus Adapter OSM v1.317
I2O Block Device OSM v1.325
I2O SCSI Peripheral OSM v1.316
I2O ProcFS OSM v1.316
Fusion MPT base driver 3.04.

what does that mean?

[xboxtilburg.tk]

on the KT600 chipset:

ipr: IBM Power RAID SCSI Device Driver version: 2.1.3 (March 29, 2006)
libata version 2.00 loaded.
sata_via 0000:00:0f.0: version 2.0
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:0f.0 -> Link [ALKA] -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
sata_via 0000:00:0f.0: routed to hard irq line 11
ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x9000 ctl 0x9402 bmdma 0xA000 irq 16
ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x9800 ctl 0x9C02 bmdma 0xA008 irq 16
scsi2 : sata_via
ata1: SATA link down 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
ATA: abnormal status 0x80 on port 0x9007
scsi3 : sata_via
ata2: SATA link down 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
ATA: abnormal status 0x7F on port 0x9807
st: Version 20050830, fixed bufsize 32768, s/g segs 256
I2O subsystem v1.325

the same, abnormal status?

[probutus]

I am currently crawling through the kernel source finding the explanation for the abnormal status... Just a question (since I dont have a via controller yet): Does this controller have a BIOS and if yes is the drive detected on startup  (e.g. in the bios screen)?
For what I can see is that this abnormal status seems to come when the kernel checks if there is a drive present (e.g. when it issues the ATAPI inquiry command which should  also be done by the BIOS before; this happens even before my modifications kick in and lets me assume that there is something wrong with the communication to the drive in general) Can you hook up a PC SATA drive to the second port and see if it is detected? For me it seems that the drive locks up the controller completely..

BTW: Do you know where I can get such a via controller as pcmcia card?

[xboxtilburg.tk]

Yes the 6421L controller has a BIOS, it does not detect the drive when it 's not in mode-b. (same as the VIA KT600)

I'll check another sata drive later today.

Both the 6412L and the KT600 take a lot more time passing the detection phase with the drive attached.

I've searched but I can't find a PCMCIA card with that chipset.. I think they are only sold as on-board or PCI. (if you live in euroland I can send you on of my PCI cards?)

[probutus]

Is my assumption correct that:

if the drive is not detected by the bios the drive will not go into modeb via slax and vice versa if the drive is detected in the bios the drive will go into modeb via slax? (this would explain the erroneous behaviour since the drive does not respond to ATAPI inquiry thus makes LINUX to refuse the controller port completely). Can you hook up a standard SATA drive (HDD or DVD doesnt matter) to the second port and see if it gets detected when the hitachi is also attached?

Thanks for the offer of the PCI card but I gave my Desktop to my girlfriend and now she doesnt let me touch it since I once accidentially erased her data... I only have a notebook available currently...

[xboxtilburg.tk]

I don't know if that is correct... Since the PC I use is a NEC the BIOS detectionphase is most of the time covered by a nice logo  But AFAIK the drive is never detected when not in mode-b? but on what codition linux accepts the port anyway is still not clear.

I was trying to get a succesful run on another drive yesterday so I could compare the ressults but both (unmodded) drives didn't work, I'm going to pick a SATA HD and the drive that worked 2 days ago up so I can check again.

- why is there no vi in slax?

[xboxtilburg.tk]

st: Version 20050830, fixed bufsize 32768, s/g segs 256
sata_via 0000:00:08.0: version 2.0
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:08.0[A] -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
sata_via 0000:00:08.0: routed to hard irq line 11
ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xC000 ctl 0xC00A bmdma 0xD000 irq 17
ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xC400 ctl 0xC40A bmdma 0xD008 irq 17
scsi2 : sata_via
ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)
ata1.00: ATA-7, max UDMA/100, 39070080 sectors: LBA48 NCQ (depth 0/32)
ata1.00: ata1: dev 0 multi count 0
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/100
scsi3 : sata_via
ata2: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 310)
ATA: abnormal status 0x80 on port 0xC407
NO HL detected: |ATA     HTS541020G9SA00 MB1O|
scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ATA      HTS541020G9SA00  MB1O PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
SCSI device sda: 39070080 512-byte hdwr sectors (20004 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back
SCSI device sda: 39070080 512-byte hdwr sectors (20004 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back
 sda: unknown partition table

this is with the xbox 20gb SATA drive connected to the 1st port, switching does not make a difference.

Should the bold part be, HL detected, switching to mode-b? (with the HL device listed instead of the HTS....)

[probutus]

that simply means that the HDD is not the sata dvd drive (thats ok); so at least the controller keeps operable and only one port locked up due to no response to 0xA1: response to atapi inquiry...

[xboxtilburg.tk]

I think there's something fishy about the drive itself... I just hooked up another 0078 (still in the same setup), and no-problemo -> mode-b reboot to XP and flashed it.

dmseg of succesful run:

sata_via 0000:00:0f.0: version 2.0
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:0f.0 -> Link [ALKA] -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
sata_via 0000:00:0f.0: routed to hard irq line 11
ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xCC00 ctl 0xCC0A bmdma 0xA000 irq 11
ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xC800 ctl 0xC80A bmdma 0xA008 irq 11
scsi2 : sata_via
ata1: SATA link  UP 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)
ata1.00 ATAPI, max UDMA/100
ata1.00 configured for UDMA/100
scsi3 : sata_via
ata2: SATA link down 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
ATA: abnormal status 0x7F on port 0xC807
HL3120 deteced -> switch to modeB; thanks to kev.nu!
scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access      PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
sda: Spinning up disk...............................

[probutus]

Have you had a look at the VIA firmware if there are any known issues with your installed firmware? Maybe there's a timing problem or something?

Is it possible that some of the firmware experts have a look in the 78-Firmware if there is any difference in the ATAPI-INQUIRY handler? I have absolutely no explanation why the inquiry command fails sometimes and sometimes not...

However; I will keep looking into the issue; If my girlfriend visits her relatives tonight I hopefully can make more progress on that issue... (she currently keeps me busy all the time)...