Re: [PATCH] ata: libata-sata: retry hardreset when device detected but PHY not established
From: Damien Le Moal
Date: Sat Apr 25 2026 - 19:10:10 EST
On 4/25/26 15:04, Xingui Yang wrote:
> When sata_link_hardreset() detects that the link is offline, it currently
> returns immediately without distinguishing the reason. According to SATA
> specification, the SStatus register's det filed (bits 0-3) indicates:
> - 0x0: No device detected, PHY not communicating
> - 0x1: Device detected but PHY communication not established
> - 0x3: Device detected and PHY communication established
>
> This patch helps improve device detection reliability and adds a check
> when the link is offline but det filed shows 0x1, return -EAGAIN to
> trigger retry, rather than giving up immediately.
>
> Signed-off-by: Xingui Yang <yangxingui@xxxxxxxxxx>
This is a pure ATA patch so please CC the linux-ide list, not the linux-scsi list.
Also, please check your mail setup: your email was in my Junk folder.
> ---
> drivers/ata/libata-sata.c | 12 +++++++++++-
> 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/ata/libata-sata.c b/drivers/ata/libata-sata.c
> index b9d635088f5f..e5bb92c38e38 100644
> --- a/drivers/ata/libata-sata.c
> +++ b/drivers/ata/libata-sata.c
> @@ -667,8 +667,18 @@ int sata_link_hardreset(struct ata_link *link, const unsigned int *timing,
> if (rc)
> goto out;
> /* if link is offline nothing more to do */
> - if (ata_phys_link_offline(link))
> + if (ata_phys_link_offline(link)) {
This is preceeded by a call to sata_link_resume(), which calls
sata_link_debounce() and that function makes sure that DET is stable. So if
after that DET still shows that their is no PHY, there is likely a big problem
with it and it is super slow to be established.
In this case, I do not think that doing another hardreset is the right thing to
do. Have you tried increasing the deadline for hardreset ? That deadline is used
as the limit for the link debounce too.
Do you have a specific controller/device where you see this issue ? What exactly
is the hardware setup where you see this issue ?
> + u32 sstatus;
> +
> + if (sata_scr_read(link, SCR_STATUS, &sstatus) == 0 &&
> + (sstatus & 0xf) == 0x1) {
> + ata_link_warn(link, "device detected but PHY not ready (SStatus %X), retrying\n",
> + sstatus);
> + rc = -EAGAIN;
> + }
> +
> goto out;
> + }
>
> /* Link is online. From this point, -ENODEV too is an error. */
> if (online)
--
Damien Le Moal
Western Digital Research