external hard disk sleeps but never wakes up

nass · 12-02-2011, 11:45 AM

hello everyone,
I have an external disk connected to a file server.
while the disk remains idle it goes to sleep.
once I want access something though the drive will not powerup again.
I have to unplug and plugin again the cable.

The problem repeats itself whether i connect the drive through firewire, usb or e-sata ports.

It is rather well known case and considered a bug in several cases:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=480389
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=433287
http://serverfault.com/questions/937...up-when-needed

supposedly the problem was resolved after the 2.6.24 kernel, but i'm still having problems with a 2.6.28.6 kernel (slack11)

anyone got any experience to share with this?

Thank you

macemoneta · 12-03-2011, 03:07 PM

Does this workaround work for you? If not, it's a different bug. If so, the Slack kernel you're using probably doesn't have the patch.

nass · 12-03-2011, 07:17 PM

i've set my udev similar to the workaround you mentioned macemoneta.
since its a firewire drive connected here,

i first checked using udevinfo (now udevadm) where the disk is located under /sys.

found that is exists in several places
(/sys/bus/ieee1394 , or /sys/bus/scsi/ , or /sys/class/scsi_disk , or /sys/block ....

in the end i device to used the 2nd way (/sys/bus/scsi/) and the disk is located at:

root@slack11:~# udevinfo -a -p /sys/bus/scsi/devices/8\:0\:0\:0

Quote:

Udevinfo starts with the device specified by the devpath and then
walks up the chain of parent devices. It prints for every device
found, all possible attributes in the udev rules key format.
A rule to match, can be composed by the attributes of the device
and the attributes from one single parent device.

looking at device '/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:05:06.0/fw-host0/0090a9d19a8029f2/0090a9d19a8029f2-0/host8/target8:0:0/8:0:0:0':
KERNEL=="8:0:0:0"
SUBSYSTEM=="scsi"
DRIVER=="sd"
SYSFS{device_blocked}=="0"
SYSFS{type}=="0"
SYSFS{scsi_level}=="5"
SYSFS{vendor}=="WD "
SYSFS{model}=="My Book "
SYSFS{rev}=="1028"
SYSFS{state}=="running"
SYSFS{timeout}=="30"
SYSFS{iocounterbits}=="32"
SYSFS{iorequest_cnt}=="0x1df"
SYSFS{iodone_cnt}=="0x1df"
SYSFS{ioerr_cnt}=="0x3"
SYSFS{modalias}=="scsi:t-0x00"
SYSFS{evt_media_change}=="0"
SYSFS{queue_depth}=="1"
SYSFS{queue_type}=="none"
SYSFS{ieee1394_id}=="0090a9d19a8029f2:0:0"

looking at parent device '/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:05:06.0/fw-host0/0090a9d19a8029f2/0090a9d19a8029f2-0/host8/target8:0:0':
ID=="target8:0:0"
BUS==""
DRIVER==""
SYSFS{uevent}==""

looking at parent device '/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:05:06.0/fw-host0/0090a9d19a8029f2/0090a9d19a8029f2-0/host8':
ID=="host8"
BUS==""
DRIVER==""
SYSFS{uevent}==""

looking at parent device '/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:05:06.0/fw-host0/0090a9d19a8029f2/0090a9d19a8029f2-0':
ID=="0090a9d19a8029f2-0"
BUS=="ieee1394"
DRIVER=="sbp2"
SYSFS{address}=="0x0000fffff0000434"
SYSFS{length}=="0"
SYSFS{ignore_driver}=="0"
SYSFS{specifier_id}=="0x00609e"
SYSFS{version}=="0x010483"
SYSFS{model_id}=="0x001102"
SYSFS{model_name_kv}=="My Book"

looking at parent device '/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:05:06.0/fw-host0/0090a9d19a8029f2':
ID=="0090a9d19a8029f2"
BUS=="ieee1394"
DRIVER==""
SYSFS{uevent}=="PHYSDEVBUS=ieee1394"
SYSFS{guid}=="0x0090a9d19a8029f2"
SYSFS{guid_vendor_id}=="0x0090a9"
SYSFS{capabilities}=="0x0083c0"
SYSFS{vendor_id}=="0x0090a9"
SYSFS{nodeid}=="0xffc0"
SYSFS{bus_options}=="IRMC_0_ CMC_0_ ISC_0_ BMC_0_ PMC_0_ GEN_1_ LSPD_3_ MAX_REC_64_ MAX_ROM_1_ CYC_CLK_ACC_255_"
SYSFS{vendor_name_kv}=="WD"

looking at parent device '/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:05:06.0/fw-host0':
ID=="fw-host0"
BUS=="ieee1394"
DRIVER=="nodemgr"
SYSFS{node_count}=="2"
SYSFS{selfid_count}=="2"
SYSFS{nodes_active}=="2"
SYSFS{in_bus_reset}=="0"
SYSFS{is_root}=="1"
SYSFS{is_cycmst}=="1"
SYSFS{is_irm}=="1"
SYSFS{is_busmgr}=="0"

looking at parent device '/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:05:06.0':
ID=="0000:05:06.0"
BUS=="pci"
DRIVER=="ohci1394"
SYSFS{vendor}=="0x104c"
SYSFS{device}=="0x8024"
SYSFS{subsystem_vendor}=="0x1458"
SYSFS{subsystem_device}=="0x1000"
SYSFS{class}=="0x0c0010"
SYSFS{irq}=="18"
SYSFS{local_cpus}=="3"
SYSFS{local_cpulist}=="0-1"
SYSFS{modalias}=="pci:v0000104Cd00008024sv00001458sd00001000bc0Csc00i10"
SYSFS{enable}=="1"
SYSFS{broken_parity_status}=="0"
SYSFS{msi_bus}==""

looking at parent device '/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0':
ID=="0000:00:1e.0"
BUS=="pci"
DRIVER==""
SYSFS{vendor}=="0x8086"
SYSFS{device}=="0x244e"
SYSFS{subsystem_vendor}=="0x0000"
SYSFS{subsystem_device}=="0x0000"
SYSFS{class}=="0x060401"
SYSFS{irq}=="0"
SYSFS{local_cpus}=="3"
SYSFS{local_cpulist}=="0-1"
SYSFS{modalias}=="pci:v00008086d0000244Esv00000000sd00000000bc06sc04i01"
SYSFS{enable}=="1"
SYSFS{broken_parity_status}=="0"
SYSFS{msi_bus}=="1"

looking at parent device '/devices/pci0000:00':
ID=="pci0000:00"
BUS==""
DRIVER==""
SYSFS{uevent}==""

from all that, i used the bolded ones to create udev rule:

Quote:

ACTION=="add", \
SUBSYSTEM=="scsi", DRIVER=="sd" \
SUBSYSTEMS=="ieee1394", DRIVERS=="sbp2", \
RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'echo 1 >/sys/class/scsi_disk/%k/allow_restart'"

I hope I did it right.

oddly enough, before writing the udev rule, I chekced the '/sys/class/scsi_disk/%k/allow_restart' that is stated in the workaround. It values was 1... so i'm afraid the tweak will not work...

still i'll keep my hopes up till tomorrow morning..

thank you for your help