AMD SB850 Raid - Should an output like this happen?

[Giacomo Montagner]

On Sat, 05 Feb 2011 11:17:51 +0100
Thomas Jackowski <thomas+lists.redhat.ataraid at jackowski.de> wrote:

> ERROR: pdc: wrong # of devices in RAID set "pdc_cficbgcda-1" [1/2] on
> /dev/sdd
> ERROR: pdc: wrong # of devices in RAID set "pdc_cficbgcda-1" [1/2] on
> /dev/sdc
> ERROR: pdc: wrong # of devices in RAID set "pdc_cficbgcda-0" [1/2] on
> /dev/sdb
> ERROR: pdc: wrong # of devices in RAID set "pdc_cficbgcda-0" [1/2] on
> /dev/sda

Hi, 
I'm quite scared by those error messages; it happens to me, too: 

# dmraid -r
ERROR: ddf1: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 18446744073709421056
ERROR: hpt37x: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 4608
ERROR: hpt45x: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 18446744073709547008
ERROR: pdc: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 137438913024
ERROR: pdc: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 137438920192
ERROR: pdc: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 137438927360
ERROR: pdc: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 137438934528
ERROR: sil: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 18446744073709289984
/dev/sdd: pdc, "pdc_ddbffbcej", mirror, ok, 1953124992 sectors, data@ 0
/dev/sdc: pdc, "pdc_dcidibfa", stripe, ok, 976562432 sectors, data@ 0
/dev/sdb: pdc, "pdc_ddbffbcej", mirror, ok, 1953124992 sectors, data@ 0
/dev/sda: pdc, "pdc_dcidibfa", stripe, ok, 976562432 sectors, data@ 0


ERROR: ddf1: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 18446744073709421056
ERROR: hpt37x: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 4608
ERROR: hpt45x: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 18446744073709547008
ERROR: pdc: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 137438913024
ERROR: pdc: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 137438920192
ERROR: pdc: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 137438927360
ERROR: pdc: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 137438934528
ERROR: sil: seeking device "/dev/dm-8" to 18446744073709289984
ERROR: pdc: wrong # of devices in RAID set "pdc_dcidibfa" [1/2] on /dev/sdc
ERROR: pdc: wrong # of devices in RAID set "pdc_dcidibfa" [1/2] on /dev/sda
*** Active Set
name   : pdc_ddbffbcej
size   : 1953124992
stride : 128
type   : mirror
status : ok
subsets: 0
devs   : 2
spares : 0


That "seeking device" error is due (I think) to a partitioning problem (that is an extended 
partition over the striped set), but what worries me are the "wrong # of devices in RAID set"
error messages. 

I tried a consistency check of the mirrored set using Windows(!) and motherboard "original" 
tools; the first time it said that the mirror set was not initialized (I still don't understand
how to initialize the mirror using dmraid), while dmraid never reported this "uninitialized" 
status. I initialized the array and came back to Linux, did some I/O, then checked again and 
everything seemed fine. dmraid always said "mirror ok". The first time I built the mirros (from 
the controller's BIOS), I thought a first-time-auto-rebuild would happen in background. Apparently 
I was mistaken). 

Now I see those "wrong # of devices in RAID set" messages and feel uncomfortable, afaik they have 
always been there. 

My controller:
00:11.0 RAID bus controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 SATA Controller [RAID5 mode]


Hope someone can shed some light on this. 

Cheers, 
Giacomo



-- 
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