Custom Firmware v1.1.2.7

[Oleg]

Look at this. My drive is in UDMA2 mode, which is default firmware setting.
I guess there is not much more we can do about improving IDE speed.

Right, it's already at udma2...

Perhaps the focus should be on the ethernet driver?

We need to focus at CPU overclocking. ;-)

In fact, have you tried ttcp with transfering large file via udp?

[Whissi]

..........

[Antiloop]

There is something, I cannot understand:
A dbox2 has got a 67Mhz CPU, but this box can reach nearly 10mbit.

I connected my WL-HDD device via cable to my router (100mbit) and at least to my computer (via this router (=switch)). So a 100mbit connection was established.

I start down/uploading a file and my ftp program (flashfpx) said, that I reached a max transferspeed of 2000kb/s, which are ~14mbit If I didn't calculate wrong... only 14% of 100mbit...

NOFI:
Mhz do not mean anything...

e.g. a Via epia thingie CPU at 533 is not as fast as a Pentium3 running at 533.. etc..

and a AMD XP2000+ running at 1666mhz should be compareble with a P4 2Ghz so it doesn't mean anything..

[Whissi]

..........

[JOCKYW2001]

.... We need to focus at CPU overclocking. ;-)

You mean tweak etc47xx.c here ?

	/*
	 * We want the phy registers to be accessible even when
	 * the driver is "downed" so initialize MDC preamble, frequency,
	 * and whether internal or external phy here.
	 */
	/* default:  100Mhz SB clock and external phy */
	W_REG(&regs->mdiocontrol, 0x94);
	if (ch->etc->deviceid == BCM47XX_ENET_ID) {
		/* 4710A0 has a 100Mhz SB clock and external phy */
		W_REG(&regs->mdiocontrol, 0x94);
	} else if (ch->etc->deviceid == BCM4402_ENET_ID) {
		/* 4402 has 62.5Mhz SB clock and internal phy */
		W_REG(&regs->mdiocontrol, 0x8d);
	} else if (ch->etc->deviceid == BCM4310_ENET_ID) {
		/* 4310 has a 124.8Mhz SB clock and external phy */
		W_REG(&regs->mdiocontrol, 0x99);
	} else if (ch->etc->deviceid == BCM4307_ENET_ID) {
		/* 4307 has 88 MHz SB clock and external phy */
		W_REG(&regs->mdiocontrol, 0x92);

e.g. 0x9A instead of 0x99 ?

[Oleg]

You mean tweak etc47xx.c here ?

e.g. 0x9A instead of 0x99 ?

No, this was just a joke. Our device is identified as BCM47XX_ENET_ID. Changes here will just change internal timings and it will not 10/100 compatible anymore.
There is no way to change CPU speed.

[JOCKYW2001]

No, this was just a joke. Our device is identified as BCM47XX_ENET_ID. Changes here will just change internal timings and it will not 10/100 compatible anymore.
There is no way to change CPU speed.

Asus wouldn't be Asus if there isn't anything left to overclock

Okay, then for the other options:
1. The ethernet watchdog kicks in each second. Will performance improve if we lower that frequency?
2. Is the eth driver in pio mode?
3. Can we do anything else to improve driver performance?

[JOCKYW2001]

... 3. Can we do anything else to improve driver performance?

I read this in et_linux.c and it gives me the creaps. To me it seems there's a lot which can be done to improve ethernet performance.

/*
 * Yeah, queueing the packets on a tx queue instead of throwing them
 * directly into the descriptor ring in the case of dma is kinda lame,
 * but this results in a unified transmit path for both dma and pio
 * and localizes/simplifies the netif_*_queue semantics, too.
 */
static int
et_start(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev)
{
...

[hugo]

looking at my klogd output, I found the following info:

Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.info kernel: Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 6.31
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: PDC20265: IDE controller on PCI bus 01 dev 08
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: PCI: Enabling device 01:01.0 (0004 -> 0007)
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: PDC20265: chipset revision 2
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: PDC20265: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: PDC20265: ROM enabled at 0x000d0000
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: PDC20265: (U)DMA Burst Bit DISABLED Primary PCI Mode Secondary PCI Mode.
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: PDC20265: FORCING BURST BIT 0x00 -> 0x01 ACTIVE
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel:     ide0: BM-DMA at 0x0140-0x0147, BIOS settings: hda:pio, hdb:pio
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel:     ide1: BM-DMA at 0x0148-0x014f, BIOS settings: hdc:pio, hdd:DMA
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: hda: IBM-DADA-25400, ATA DISK drive
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: ide2: ports already in use, skipping probe
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: ing probe
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: ide4: ports already in use, skipping probe
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: ide5: ports already in use, skipping probe
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: ide0 at 0x100-0x107,0x10a on irq 6
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: blk: queue c002f2c8, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.info kernel: hda: 10553760 sectors (5404 MB) w/460KiB Cache, CHS=11168/15/63, UDMA(33)
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.info kernel: Partition check:
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.info kernel:  /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0: [PTBL] [698/240/63] p1 p2
N

Notice the "Assuming 33 Mhz bus", and the "hda: pio, hdb: pio" line. Is there something wrong with the controler? I mean the bus speed is probably ok, but maybe can be tweaked, but the fact hda report as pio?

My hdparm output is

[admin@wl-hdd bin]$ ./hdparm.mipsel -i /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Model=IBM-DADA-25400, FwRev=AD5OA4BA, SerialNo=ZB2ZB018828
 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs }
 RawCHS=11168/15/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4
 BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=460kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
 CurCHS=11168/15/63, CurSects=10553760, LBA=yes, LBAsects=10553760
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
 DMA modes:  sdma0 sdma1 sdma2 mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 *udma2
 AdvancedPM=yes: mode=0x80 (128) WriteCache=enabled
 Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-4 T13 1153D revision 17:  1 2 3 4

 * signifies the current active mode

So the hdparm think it is dma. Isn't it fooled by the system? Maybe it is still pio mode and reports badly under hdparm?

What do you think?

[Antiloop]

looking at my klogd output, I found the following info:

Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.info kernel: Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 6.31
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: PDC20265: IDE controller on PCI bus 01 dev 08
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: PCI: Enabling device 01:01.0 (0004 -> 0007)
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: PDC20265: chipset revision 2
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: PDC20265: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: PDC20265: ROM enabled at 0x000d0000
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: PDC20265: (U)DMA Burst Bit DISABLED Primary PCI Mode Secondary PCI Mode.
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: PDC20265: FORCING BURST BIT 0x00 -> 0x01 ACTIVE
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel:     ide0: BM-DMA at 0x0140-0x0147, BIOS settings: hda:pio, hdb:pio
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel:     ide1: BM-DMA at 0x0148-0x014f, BIOS settings: hdc:pio, hdd:DMA
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: hda: IBM-DADA-25400, ATA DISK drive
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: ide2: ports already in use, skipping probe
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: ing probe
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: ide4: ports already in use, skipping probe
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: ide5: ports already in use, skipping probe
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: ide0 at 0x100-0x107,0x10a on irq 6
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.warn kernel: blk: queue c002f2c8, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.info kernel: hda: 10553760 sectors (5404 MB) w/460KiB Cache, CHS=11168/15/63, UDMA(33)
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.info kernel: Partition check:
Nov 17 11:22:51 wl-hdd user.info kernel:  /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0: [PTBL] [698/240/63] p1 p2
N

Notice the "Assuming 33 Mhz bus", and the "hda: pio, hdb: pio" line. Is there something wrong with the controler? I mean the bus speed is probably ok, but maybe can be tweaked, but the fact hda report as pio?

My hdparm output is

[admin@wl-hdd bin]$ ./hdparm.mipsel -i /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Model=IBM-DADA-25400, FwRev=AD5OA4BA, SerialNo=ZB2ZB018828
 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs }
 RawCHS=11168/15/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4
 BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=460kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
 CurCHS=11168/15/63, CurSects=10553760, LBA=yes, LBAsects=10553760
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
 DMA modes:  sdma0 sdma1 sdma2 mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 *udma2
 AdvancedPM=yes: mode=0x80 (128) WriteCache=enabled
 Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-4 T13 1153D revision 17:  1 2 3 4

 * signifies the current active mode

So the hdparm think it is dma. Isn't it fooled by the system? Maybe it is still pio mode and reports badly under hdparm?

What do you think?

[admin@WLHDD /tmp]$ ./hdparm -T /dev/discs/disc0/disc

/dev/discs/disc0/disc:
Timing cached reads: 100 MB in 2.03 seconds = 49.26 MB/sec
[admin@WLHDD /tmp]$ ./hdparm -t /dev/discs/disc0/disc

/dev/discs/disc0/disc:
Timing buffered disk reads: 22 MB in 3.15 seconds = 6.98 MB/sec

should say enough I think
the WL-HDD is not sufficient to handle more than it does..

please wait for WL-HDD3.5 if you need more power