Unable to access SATA consistently in L2.6.35 on i.MX53 QSB

[vincentchou]

We recently came across a strange phenomenon that Linux could not see SATA drive after booted into 2.6.35.  However, we could see SATA information and partition table within u-boot.  Has anyone observed the same phenomenon in his/her board? 

Vincent

[jimmychan · Accepted solution]

Please read the i.MX53 QSB BSP reference Manual (mx53_start_linux.pdf) Chapter 23 SATA Driver for more details.

23.4 Linux Menu Configuration Options

The following Linux kernel configurations are provided for SATA driver:

• CONFIG_SATA_AHCI_PLATFORM: Configure options for SATA driver. In the menuconfig this

option is available under "Device Drivers --->Serial ATA (prod) and Parallel ATA (experimental)

drivers -> Platform AHCI SATA support”.

• CONFIG_SATA_AHCI_FSL_NO_HOTPLUG_MODE: Configure options to disable SATA

HOTPLUG mode which is used to close SATA internal clock if SATA device is not found. In the

menuconfig this option is available under "Device Drivers --->Serial ATA (prod) and Parallel ATA

(experimental) drivers -> Freescale i.MX SATA AHCI NO HOTPLUG mode”

In busybox, enable "fdisk" under "Linux System Utilities".

23.7 Usage Example

1. After building the kernel and the SATA AHCI driver and deploying, boot the target, and log in as

root.

2. Make sure that the AHCI and AHCI paltform drivers are built in kernel or loaded into kernel. Use

the following commands to load the drivers into kernel.

# insmod libata.ko

# insmod libahci.ko

# insmod ahci-platform.ko

[vincentchou]

Sorry!  I forgot to reply!  We suspect this is a hardware issue instead of software because it only occurs to a few boards.  Thanks for your help anyway!

Vincent

[belgianwaffle]

Hi Vincent,

Did you ever solve the issue? We are seeing 10% of our boards have the SATA issue with Linux version 2.6.35. It works fine in U-Boot.

I'm trying to get Linux version 3.14.33 working to see if it was a kernel bug.

[vincentchou]

We did not stay on i.MX53 for too long due to certain hardware limitation.  Now we have already migrated to i.MX6 completely.  So far we have not come across the same issue on i.MX6.