Re: Triton DMA
Alan Cox (alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk)
Thu, 27 Nov 1997 22:33:58 +0000 (GMT)
> >someone who gets filesystem corruption when copying large amounts of data
> >from an ext2fs to an vfat filesystem. The problem was perfectly
> >reproducible. After disabling the Triton DMA support the problem was gone.
>
> There are a number of these reports. It appears that with different
> hardware there are different results and I have yet to find any pattern to
> it. All I've been able to do is for people that have problems, recommend
> that they turn the support off and the problem usually goes away.
Its worth noting that
a) Some BIOSes turn DMA on when they shouldnt
b) DMA mode tests your RAM and especially cache harder so if you've got
a problem you'll find it
c) Most such transactions are faster and IDE cables are low quality and
without parity so a slightly iffy cable is death