1 ========================
2 libATA Developer's Guide
3 ========================
10 libATA is a library used inside the Linux kernel to support ATA host
11 controllers and devices. libATA provides an ATA driver API, class
12 transports for ATA and ATAPI devices, and SCSI<->ATA translation for ATA
13 devices according to the T10 SAT specification.
15 This Guide documents the libATA driver API, library functions, library
16 internals, and a couple sample ATA low-level drivers.
21 :c:type:`struct ata_port_operations <ata_port_operations>`
22 is defined for every low-level libata
23 hardware driver, and it controls how the low-level driver interfaces
24 with the ATA and SCSI layers.
26 FIS-based drivers will hook into the system with ``->qc_prep()`` and
27 ``->qc_issue()`` high-level hooks. Hardware which behaves in a manner
28 similar to PCI IDE hardware may utilize several generic helpers,
29 defining at a bare minimum the bus I/O addresses of the ATA shadow
32 :c:type:`struct ata_port_operations <ata_port_operations>`
33 ----------------------------------------------------------
40 void (*port_disable) (struct ata_port *);
43 Called from :c:func:`ata_bus_probe` error path, as well as when unregistering
44 from the SCSI module (rmmod, hot unplug). This function should do
45 whatever needs to be done to take the port out of use. In most cases,
46 :c:func:`ata_port_disable` can be used as this hook.
48 Called from :c:func:`ata_bus_probe` on a failed probe. Called from
49 :c:func:`ata_scsi_release`.
51 Post-IDENTIFY device configuration
52 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
56 void (*dev_config) (struct ata_port *, struct ata_device *);
59 Called after IDENTIFY [PACKET] DEVICE is issued to each device found.
60 Typically used to apply device-specific fixups prior to issue of SET
61 FEATURES - XFER MODE, and prior to operation.
63 This entry may be specified as NULL in ata_port_operations.
70 void (*set_piomode) (struct ata_port *, struct ata_device *);
71 void (*set_dmamode) (struct ata_port *, struct ata_device *);
72 void (*post_set_mode) (struct ata_port *);
73 unsigned int (*mode_filter) (struct ata_port *, struct ata_device *, unsigned int);
76 Hooks called prior to the issue of SET FEATURES - XFER MODE command. The
77 optional ``->mode_filter()`` hook is called when libata has built a mask of
78 the possible modes. This is passed to the ``->mode_filter()`` function
79 which should return a mask of valid modes after filtering those
80 unsuitable due to hardware limits. It is not valid to use this interface
83 ``dev->pio_mode`` and ``dev->dma_mode`` are guaranteed to be valid when
84 ``->set_piomode()`` and when ``->set_dmamode()`` is called. The timings for
85 any other drive sharing the cable will also be valid at this point. That
86 is the library records the decisions for the modes of each drive on a
87 channel before it attempts to set any of them.
89 ``->post_set_mode()`` is called unconditionally, after the SET FEATURES -
90 XFER MODE command completes successfully.
92 ``->set_piomode()`` is always called (if present), but ``->set_dma_mode()``
93 is only called if DMA is possible.
100 void (*sff_tf_load) (struct ata_port *ap, struct ata_taskfile *tf);
101 void (*sff_tf_read) (struct ata_port *ap, struct ata_taskfile *tf);
104 ``->tf_load()`` is called to load the given taskfile into hardware
105 registers / DMA buffers. ``->tf_read()`` is called to read the hardware
106 registers / DMA buffers, to obtain the current set of taskfile register
107 values. Most drivers for taskfile-based hardware (PIO or MMIO) use
108 :c:func:`ata_sff_tf_load` and :c:func:`ata_sff_tf_read` for these hooks.
115 void (*sff_data_xfer) (struct ata_device *, unsigned char *, unsigned int, int);
118 All bmdma-style drivers must implement this hook. This is the low-level
119 operation that actually copies the data bytes during a PIO data
120 transfer. Typically the driver will choose one of
121 :c:func:`ata_sff_data_xfer_noirq`, :c:func:`ata_sff_data_xfer`, or
122 :c:func:`ata_sff_data_xfer32`.
129 void (*sff_exec_command)(struct ata_port *ap, struct ata_taskfile *tf);
132 causes an ATA command, previously loaded with ``->tf_load()``, to be
133 initiated in hardware. Most drivers for taskfile-based hardware use
134 :c:func:`ata_sff_exec_command` for this hook.
136 Per-cmd ATAPI DMA capabilities filter
137 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
141 int (*check_atapi_dma) (struct ata_queued_cmd *qc);
144 Allow low-level driver to filter ATA PACKET commands, returning a status
145 indicating whether or not it is OK to use DMA for the supplied PACKET
148 This hook may be specified as NULL, in which case libata will assume
149 that atapi dma can be supported.
151 Read specific ATA shadow registers
152 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
156 u8 (*sff_check_status)(struct ata_port *ap);
157 u8 (*sff_check_altstatus)(struct ata_port *ap);
160 Reads the Status/AltStatus ATA shadow register from hardware. On some
161 hardware, reading the Status register has the side effect of clearing
162 the interrupt condition. Most drivers for taskfile-based hardware use
163 :c:func:`ata_sff_check_status` for this hook.
165 Write specific ATA shadow register
166 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
170 void (*sff_set_devctl)(struct ata_port *ap, u8 ctl);
173 Write the device control ATA shadow register to the hardware. Most
174 drivers don't need to define this.
176 Select ATA device on bus
177 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
181 void (*sff_dev_select)(struct ata_port *ap, unsigned int device);
184 Issues the low-level hardware command(s) that causes one of N hardware
185 devices to be considered 'selected' (active and available for use) on
186 the ATA bus. This generally has no meaning on FIS-based devices.
188 Most drivers for taskfile-based hardware use :c:func:`ata_sff_dev_select` for
191 Private tuning method
192 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
196 void (*set_mode) (struct ata_port *ap);
199 By default libata performs drive and controller tuning in accordance
200 with the ATA timing rules and also applies blacklists and cable limits.
201 Some controllers need special handling and have custom tuning rules,
202 typically raid controllers that use ATA commands but do not actually do
207 This hook should not be used to replace the standard controller
208 tuning logic when a controller has quirks. Replacing the default
209 tuning logic in that case would bypass handling for drive and bridge
210 quirks that may be important to data reliability. If a controller
211 needs to filter the mode selection it should use the mode_filter
214 Control PCI IDE BMDMA engine
215 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
219 void (*bmdma_setup) (struct ata_queued_cmd *qc);
220 void (*bmdma_start) (struct ata_queued_cmd *qc);
221 void (*bmdma_stop) (struct ata_port *ap);
222 u8 (*bmdma_status) (struct ata_port *ap);
225 When setting up an IDE BMDMA transaction, these hooks arm
226 (``->bmdma_setup``), fire (``->bmdma_start``), and halt (``->bmdma_stop``) the
227 hardware's DMA engine. ``->bmdma_status`` is used to read the standard PCI
228 IDE DMA Status register.
230 These hooks are typically either no-ops, or simply not implemented, in
233 Most legacy IDE drivers use :c:func:`ata_bmdma_setup` for the
234 :c:func:`bmdma_setup` hook. :c:func:`ata_bmdma_setup` will write the pointer
235 to the PRD table to the IDE PRD Table Address register, enable DMA in the DMA
236 Command register, and call :c:func:`exec_command` to begin the transfer.
238 Most legacy IDE drivers use :c:func:`ata_bmdma_start` for the
239 :c:func:`bmdma_start` hook. :c:func:`ata_bmdma_start` will write the
240 ATA_DMA_START flag to the DMA Command register.
242 Many legacy IDE drivers use :c:func:`ata_bmdma_stop` for the
243 :c:func:`bmdma_stop` hook. :c:func:`ata_bmdma_stop` clears the ATA_DMA_START
244 flag in the DMA command register.
246 Many legacy IDE drivers use :c:func:`ata_bmdma_status` as the
247 :c:func:`bmdma_status` hook.
249 High-level taskfile hooks
250 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
254 void (*qc_prep) (struct ata_queued_cmd *qc);
255 int (*qc_issue) (struct ata_queued_cmd *qc);
258 Higher-level hooks, these two hooks can potentially supercede several of
259 the above taskfile/DMA engine hooks. ``->qc_prep`` is called after the
260 buffers have been DMA-mapped, and is typically used to populate the
261 hardware's DMA scatter-gather table. Most drivers use the standard
262 :c:func:`ata_qc_prep` helper function, but more advanced drivers roll their
265 ``->qc_issue`` is used to make a command active, once the hardware and S/G
266 tables have been prepared. IDE BMDMA drivers use the helper function
267 :c:func:`ata_qc_issue_prot` for taskfile protocol-based dispatch. More
268 advanced drivers implement their own ``->qc_issue``.
270 :c:func:`ata_qc_issue_prot` calls ``->tf_load()``, ``->bmdma_setup()``, and
271 ``->bmdma_start()`` as necessary to initiate a transfer.
273 Exception and probe handling (EH)
274 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
278 void (*eng_timeout) (struct ata_port *ap);
279 void (*phy_reset) (struct ata_port *ap);
282 Deprecated. Use ``->error_handler()`` instead.
286 void (*freeze) (struct ata_port *ap);
287 void (*thaw) (struct ata_port *ap);
290 :c:func:`ata_port_freeze` is called when HSM violations or some other
291 condition disrupts normal operation of the port. A frozen port is not
292 allowed to perform any operation until the port is thawed, which usually
293 follows a successful reset.
295 The optional ``->freeze()`` callback can be used for freezing the port
296 hardware-wise (e.g. mask interrupt and stop DMA engine). If a port
297 cannot be frozen hardware-wise, the interrupt handler must ack and clear
298 interrupts unconditionally while the port is frozen.
300 The optional ``->thaw()`` callback is called to perform the opposite of
301 ``->freeze()``: prepare the port for normal operation once again. Unmask
302 interrupts, start DMA engine, etc.
306 void (*error_handler) (struct ata_port *ap);
309 ``->error_handler()`` is a driver's hook into probe, hotplug, and recovery
310 and other exceptional conditions. The primary responsibility of an
311 implementation is to call :c:func:`ata_do_eh` or :c:func:`ata_bmdma_drive_eh`
312 with a set of EH hooks as arguments:
314 'prereset' hook (may be NULL) is called during an EH reset, before any
315 other actions are taken.
317 'postreset' hook (may be NULL) is called after the EH reset is
318 performed. Based on existing conditions, severity of the problem, and
319 hardware capabilities,
321 Either 'softreset' (may be NULL) or 'hardreset' (may be NULL) will be
322 called to perform the low-level EH reset.
326 void (*post_internal_cmd) (struct ata_queued_cmd *qc);
329 Perform any hardware-specific actions necessary to finish processing
330 after executing a probe-time or EH-time command via
331 :c:func:`ata_exec_internal`.
333 Hardware interrupt handling
334 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
338 irqreturn_t (*irq_handler)(int, void *, struct pt_regs *);
339 void (*irq_clear) (struct ata_port *);
342 ``->irq_handler`` is the interrupt handling routine registered with the
343 system, by libata. ``->irq_clear`` is called during probe just before the
344 interrupt handler is registered, to be sure hardware is quiet.
346 The second argument, dev_instance, should be cast to a pointer to
347 :c:type:`struct ata_host_set <ata_host_set>`.
349 Most legacy IDE drivers use :c:func:`ata_sff_interrupt` for the irq_handler
350 hook, which scans all ports in the host_set, determines which queued
351 command was active (if any), and calls ata_sff_host_intr(ap,qc).
353 Most legacy IDE drivers use :c:func:`ata_sff_irq_clear` for the
354 :c:func:`irq_clear` hook, which simply clears the interrupt and error flags
355 in the DMA status register.
362 int (*scr_read) (struct ata_port *ap, unsigned int sc_reg,
364 int (*scr_write) (struct ata_port *ap, unsigned int sc_reg,
368 Read and write standard SATA phy registers. Currently only used if
369 ``->phy_reset`` hook called the :c:func:`sata_phy_reset` helper function.
370 sc_reg is one of SCR_STATUS, SCR_CONTROL, SCR_ERROR, or SCR_ACTIVE.
377 int (*port_start) (struct ata_port *ap);
378 void (*port_stop) (struct ata_port *ap);
379 void (*host_stop) (struct ata_host_set *host_set);
382 ``->port_start()`` is called just after the data structures for each port
383 are initialized. Typically this is used to alloc per-port DMA buffers /
384 tables / rings, enable DMA engines, and similar tasks. Some drivers also
385 use this entry point as a chance to allocate driver-private memory for
386 ``ap->private_data``.
388 Many drivers use :c:func:`ata_port_start` as this hook or call it from their
389 own :c:func:`port_start` hooks. :c:func:`ata_port_start` allocates space for
390 a legacy IDE PRD table and returns.
392 ``->port_stop()`` is called after ``->host_stop()``. Its sole function is to
393 release DMA/memory resources, now that they are no longer actively being
394 used. Many drivers also free driver-private data from port at this time.
396 ``->host_stop()`` is called after all ``->port_stop()`` calls have completed.
397 The hook must finalize hardware shutdown, release DMA and other
398 resources, etc. This hook may be specified as NULL, in which case it is
404 This chapter describes how errors are handled under libata. Readers are
405 advised to read SCSI EH (Documentation/scsi/scsi_eh.txt) and ATA
406 exceptions doc first.
411 In libata, a command is represented with
412 :c:type:`struct ata_queued_cmd <ata_queued_cmd>` or qc.
413 qc's are preallocated during port initialization and repetitively used
414 for command executions. Currently only one qc is allocated per port but
415 yet-to-be-merged NCQ branch allocates one for each tag and maps each qc
418 libata commands can originate from two sources - libata itself and SCSI
419 midlayer. libata internal commands are used for initialization and error
420 handling. All normal blk requests and commands for SCSI emulation are
421 passed as SCSI commands through queuecommand callback of SCSI host
424 How commands are issued
425 -----------------------
428 First, qc is allocated and initialized using :c:func:`ata_qc_new_init`.
429 Although :c:func:`ata_qc_new_init` doesn't implement any wait or retry
430 mechanism when qc is not available, internal commands are currently
431 issued only during initialization and error recovery, so no other
432 command is active and allocation is guaranteed to succeed.
434 Once allocated qc's taskfile is initialized for the command to be
435 executed. qc currently has two mechanisms to notify completion. One
436 is via ``qc->complete_fn()`` callback and the other is completion
437 ``qc->waiting``. ``qc->complete_fn()`` callback is the asynchronous path
438 used by normal SCSI translated commands and ``qc->waiting`` is the
439 synchronous (issuer sleeps in process context) path used by internal
442 Once initialization is complete, host_set lock is acquired and the
446 All libata drivers use :c:func:`ata_scsi_queuecmd` as
447 ``hostt->queuecommand`` callback. scmds can either be simulated or
448 translated. No qc is involved in processing a simulated scmd. The
449 result is computed right away and the scmd is completed.
451 For a translated scmd, :c:func:`ata_qc_new_init` is invoked to allocate a
452 qc and the scmd is translated into the qc. SCSI midlayer's
453 completion notification function pointer is stored into
456 ``qc->complete_fn()`` callback is used for completion notification. ATA
457 commands use :c:func:`ata_scsi_qc_complete` while ATAPI commands use
458 :c:func:`atapi_qc_complete`. Both functions end up calling ``qc->scsidone``
459 to notify upper layer when the qc is finished. After translation is
460 completed, the qc is issued with :c:func:`ata_qc_issue`.
462 Note that SCSI midlayer invokes hostt->queuecommand while holding
463 host_set lock, so all above occur while holding host_set lock.
465 How commands are processed
466 --------------------------
468 Depending on which protocol and which controller are used, commands are
469 processed differently. For the purpose of discussion, a controller which
470 uses taskfile interface and all standard callbacks is assumed.
472 Currently 6 ATA command protocols are used. They can be sorted into the
473 following four categories according to how they are processed.
476 ATA_PROT_NODATA and ATA_PROT_DMA fall into this category. These
477 types of commands don't require any software intervention once
478 issued. Device will raise interrupt on completion.
481 ATA_PROT_PIO is in this category. libata currently implements PIO
482 with polling. ATA_NIEN bit is set to turn off interrupt and
483 pio_task on ata_wq performs polling and IO.
486 ATA_PROT_ATAPI_NODATA and ATA_PROT_ATAPI_DMA are in this
487 category. packet_task is used to poll BSY bit after issuing PACKET
488 command. Once BSY is turned off by the device, packet_task
489 transfers CDB and hands off processing to interrupt handler.
492 ATA_PROT_ATAPI is in this category. ATA_NIEN bit is set and, as
493 in ATAPI NODATA or DMA, packet_task submits cdb. However, after
494 submitting cdb, further processing (data transfer) is handed off to
497 How commands are completed
498 --------------------------
500 Once issued, all qc's are either completed with :c:func:`ata_qc_complete` or
501 time out. For commands which are handled by interrupts,
502 :c:func:`ata_host_intr` invokes :c:func:`ata_qc_complete`, and, for PIO tasks,
503 pio_task invokes :c:func:`ata_qc_complete`. In error cases, packet_task may
504 also complete commands.
506 :c:func:`ata_qc_complete` does the following.
508 1. DMA memory is unmapped.
510 2. ATA_QCFLAG_ACTIVE is cleared from qc->flags.
512 3. :c:func:`qc->complete_fn` callback is invoked. If the return value of the
513 callback is not zero. Completion is short circuited and
514 :c:func:`ata_qc_complete` returns.
516 4. :c:func:`__ata_qc_complete` is called, which does
518 1. ``qc->flags`` is cleared to zero.
520 2. ``ap->active_tag`` and ``qc->tag`` are poisoned.
522 3. ``qc->waiting`` is cleared & completed (in that order).
524 4. qc is deallocated by clearing appropriate bit in ``ap->qactive``.
526 So, it basically notifies upper layer and deallocates qc. One exception
527 is short-circuit path in #3 which is used by :c:func:`atapi_qc_complete`.
529 For all non-ATAPI commands, whether it fails or not, almost the same
530 code path is taken and very little error handling takes place. A qc is
531 completed with success status if it succeeded, with failed status
534 However, failed ATAPI commands require more handling as REQUEST SENSE is
535 needed to acquire sense data. If an ATAPI command fails,
536 :c:func:`ata_qc_complete` is invoked with error status, which in turn invokes
537 :c:func:`atapi_qc_complete` via ``qc->complete_fn()`` callback.
539 This makes :c:func:`atapi_qc_complete` set ``scmd->result`` to
540 SAM_STAT_CHECK_CONDITION, complete the scmd and return 1. As the
541 sense data is empty but ``scmd->result`` is CHECK CONDITION, SCSI midlayer
542 will invoke EH for the scmd, and returning 1 makes :c:func:`ata_qc_complete`
543 to return without deallocating the qc. This leads us to
544 :c:func:`ata_scsi_error` with partially completed qc.
546 :c:func:`ata_scsi_error`
547 ------------------------
549 :c:func:`ata_scsi_error` is the current ``transportt->eh_strategy_handler()``
550 for libata. As discussed above, this will be entered in two cases -
551 timeout and ATAPI error completion. This function calls low level libata
552 driver's :c:func:`eng_timeout` callback, the standard callback for which is
553 :c:func:`ata_eng_timeout`. It checks if a qc is active and calls
554 :c:func:`ata_qc_timeout` on the qc if so. Actual error handling occurs in
555 :c:func:`ata_qc_timeout`.
557 If EH is invoked for timeout, :c:func:`ata_qc_timeout` stops BMDMA and
558 completes the qc. Note that as we're currently in EH, we cannot call
559 scsi_done. As described in SCSI EH doc, a recovered scmd should be
560 either retried with :c:func:`scsi_queue_insert` or finished with
561 :c:func:`scsi_finish_command`. Here, we override ``qc->scsidone`` with
562 :c:func:`scsi_finish_command` and calls :c:func:`ata_qc_complete`.
564 If EH is invoked due to a failed ATAPI qc, the qc here is completed but
565 not deallocated. The purpose of this half-completion is to use the qc as
566 place holder to make EH code reach this place. This is a bit hackish,
569 Once control reaches here, the qc is deallocated by invoking
570 :c:func:`__ata_qc_complete` explicitly. Then, internal qc for REQUEST SENSE
571 is issued. Once sense data is acquired, scmd is finished by directly
572 invoking :c:func:`scsi_finish_command` on the scmd. Note that as we already
573 have completed and deallocated the qc which was associated with the
574 scmd, we don't need to/cannot call :c:func:`ata_qc_complete` again.
576 Problems with the current EH
577 ----------------------------
579 - Error representation is too crude. Currently any and all error
580 conditions are represented with ATA STATUS and ERROR registers.
581 Errors which aren't ATA device errors are treated as ATA device
582 errors by setting ATA_ERR bit. Better error descriptor which can
583 properly represent ATA and other errors/exceptions is needed.
585 - When handling timeouts, no action is taken to make device forget
586 about the timed out command and ready for new commands.
588 - EH handling via :c:func:`ata_scsi_error` is not properly protected from
589 usual command processing. On EH entrance, the device is not in
590 quiescent state. Timed out commands may succeed or fail any time.
591 pio_task and atapi_task may still be running.
593 - Too weak error recovery. Devices / controllers causing HSM mismatch
594 errors and other errors quite often require reset to return to known
595 state. Also, advanced error handling is necessary to support features
596 like NCQ and hotplug.
598 - ATA errors are directly handled in the interrupt handler and PIO
599 errors in pio_task. This is problematic for advanced error handling
600 for the following reasons.
602 First, advanced error handling often requires context and internal qc
605 Second, even a simple failure (say, CRC error) needs information
606 gathering and could trigger complex error handling (say, resetting &
607 reconfiguring). Having multiple code paths to gather information,
608 enter EH and trigger actions makes life painful.
610 Third, scattered EH code makes implementing low level drivers
611 difficult. Low level drivers override libata callbacks. If EH is
612 scattered over several places, each affected callbacks should perform
613 its part of error handling. This can be error prone and painful.
618 .. kernel-doc:: drivers/ata/libata-core.c
621 libata Core Internals
622 =====================
624 .. kernel-doc:: drivers/ata/libata-core.c
627 .. kernel-doc:: drivers/ata/libata-eh.c
629 libata SCSI translation/emulation
630 =================================
632 .. kernel-doc:: drivers/ata/libata-scsi.c
635 .. kernel-doc:: drivers/ata/libata-scsi.c
638 ATA errors and exceptions
639 =========================
641 This chapter tries to identify what error/exception conditions exist for
642 ATA/ATAPI devices and describe how they should be handled in
643 implementation-neutral way.
645 The term 'error' is used to describe conditions where either an explicit
646 error condition is reported from device or a command has timed out.
648 The term 'exception' is either used to describe exceptional conditions
649 which are not errors (say, power or hotplug events), or to describe both
650 errors and non-error exceptional conditions. Where explicit distinction
651 between error and exception is necessary, the term 'non-error exception'
657 Exceptions are described primarily with respect to legacy taskfile + bus
658 master IDE interface. If a controller provides other better mechanism
659 for error reporting, mapping those into categories described below
660 shouldn't be difficult.
662 In the following sections, two recovery actions - reset and
663 reconfiguring transport - are mentioned. These are described further in
664 `EH recovery actions <#exrec>`__.
669 This error is indicated when STATUS value doesn't match HSM requirement
670 during issuing or execution any ATA/ATAPI command.
672 - ATA_STATUS doesn't contain !BSY && DRDY && !DRQ while trying to
675 - !BSY && !DRQ during PIO data transfer.
677 - DRQ on command completion.
679 - !BSY && ERR after CDB transfer starts but before the last byte of CDB
680 is transferred. ATA/ATAPI standard states that "The device shall not
681 terminate the PACKET command with an error before the last byte of
682 the command packet has been written" in the error outputs description
683 of PACKET command and the state diagram doesn't include such
686 In these cases, HSM is violated and not much information regarding the
687 error can be acquired from STATUS or ERROR register. IOW, this error can
688 be anything - driver bug, faulty device, controller and/or cable.
690 As HSM is violated, reset is necessary to restore known state.
691 Reconfiguring transport for lower speed might be helpful too as
692 transmission errors sometimes cause this kind of errors.
694 ATA/ATAPI device error (non-NCQ / non-CHECK CONDITION)
695 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
697 These are errors detected and reported by ATA/ATAPI devices indicating
698 device problems. For this type of errors, STATUS and ERROR register
699 values are valid and describe error condition. Note that some of ATA bus
700 errors are detected by ATA/ATAPI devices and reported using the same
701 mechanism as device errors. Those cases are described later in this
704 For ATA commands, this type of errors are indicated by !BSY && ERR
705 during command execution and on completion.
709 - !BSY && ERR && ABRT right after issuing PACKET indicates that PACKET
710 command is not supported and falls in this category.
712 - !BSY && ERR(==CHK) && !ABRT after the last byte of CDB is transferred
713 indicates CHECK CONDITION and doesn't fall in this category.
715 - !BSY && ERR(==CHK) && ABRT after the last byte of CDB is transferred
716 \*probably\* indicates CHECK CONDITION and doesn't fall in this
719 Of errors detected as above, the following are not ATA/ATAPI device
720 errors but ATA bus errors and should be handled according to
721 `ATA bus error <#excatATAbusErr>`__.
723 CRC error during data transfer
724 This is indicated by ICRC bit in the ERROR register and means that
725 corruption occurred during data transfer. Up to ATA/ATAPI-7, the
726 standard specifies that this bit is only applicable to UDMA
727 transfers but ATA/ATAPI-8 draft revision 1f says that the bit may be
728 applicable to multiword DMA and PIO.
730 ABRT error during data transfer or on completion
731 Up to ATA/ATAPI-7, the standard specifies that ABRT could be set on
732 ICRC errors and on cases where a device is not able to complete a
733 command. Combined with the fact that MWDMA and PIO transfer errors
734 aren't allowed to use ICRC bit up to ATA/ATAPI-7, it seems to imply
735 that ABRT bit alone could indicate transfer errors.
737 However, ATA/ATAPI-8 draft revision 1f removes the part that ICRC
738 errors can turn on ABRT. So, this is kind of gray area. Some
739 heuristics are needed here.
741 ATA/ATAPI device errors can be further categorized as follows.
744 This is indicated by UNC bit in the ERROR register. ATA devices
745 reports UNC error only after certain number of retries cannot
746 recover the data, so there's nothing much else to do other than
747 notifying upper layer.
749 READ and WRITE commands report CHS or LBA of the first failed sector
750 but ATA/ATAPI standard specifies that the amount of transferred data
751 on error completion is indeterminate, so we cannot assume that
752 sectors preceding the failed sector have been transferred and thus
753 cannot complete those sectors successfully as SCSI does.
755 Media changed / media change requested error
759 This is indicated by IDNF bit in the ERROR register. Report to upper
763 This can be invalid command or parameter indicated by ABRT ERROR bit
764 or some other error condition. Note that ABRT bit can indicate a lot
765 of things including ICRC and Address errors. Heuristics needed.
767 Depending on commands, not all STATUS/ERROR bits are applicable. These
768 non-applicable bits are marked with "na" in the output descriptions but
769 up to ATA/ATAPI-7 no definition of "na" can be found. However,
770 ATA/ATAPI-8 draft revision 1f describes "N/A" as follows.
773 A keyword the indicates a field has no defined value in this
774 standard and should not be checked by the host or device. N/A
775 fields should be cleared to zero.
777 So, it seems reasonable to assume that "na" bits are cleared to zero by
778 devices and thus need no explicit masking.
780 ATAPI device CHECK CONDITION
781 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
783 ATAPI device CHECK CONDITION error is indicated by set CHK bit (ERR bit)
784 in the STATUS register after the last byte of CDB is transferred for a
785 PACKET command. For this kind of errors, sense data should be acquired
786 to gather information regarding the errors. REQUEST SENSE packet command
787 should be used to acquire sense data.
789 Once sense data is acquired, this type of errors can be handled
790 similarly to other SCSI errors. Note that sense data may indicate ATA
791 bus error (e.g. Sense Key 04h HARDWARE ERROR && ASC/ASCQ 47h/00h SCSI
792 PARITY ERROR). In such cases, the error should be considered as an ATA
793 bus error and handled according to `ATA bus error <#excatATAbusErr>`__.
795 ATA device error (NCQ)
796 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
798 NCQ command error is indicated by cleared BSY and set ERR bit during NCQ
799 command phase (one or more NCQ commands outstanding). Although STATUS
800 and ERROR registers will contain valid values describing the error, READ
801 LOG EXT is required to clear the error condition, determine which
802 command has failed and acquire more information.
804 READ LOG EXT Log Page 10h reports which tag has failed and taskfile
805 register values describing the error. With this information the failed
806 command can be handled as a normal ATA command error as in
807 `ATA/ATAPI device error (non-NCQ / non-CHECK CONDITION) <#excatDevErr>`__
808 and all other in-flight commands must be retried. Note that this retry
809 should not be counted - it's likely that commands retried this way would
810 have completed normally if it were not for the failed command.
812 Note that ATA bus errors can be reported as ATA device NCQ errors. This
813 should be handled as described in `ATA bus error <#excatATAbusErr>`__.
815 If READ LOG EXT Log Page 10h fails or reports NQ, we're thoroughly
816 screwed. This condition should be treated according to
817 `HSM violation <#excatHSMviolation>`__.
822 ATA bus error means that data corruption occurred during transmission
823 over ATA bus (SATA or PATA). This type of errors can be indicated by
825 - ICRC or ABRT error as described in
826 `ATA/ATAPI device error (non-NCQ / non-CHECK CONDITION) <#excatDevErr>`__.
828 - Controller-specific error completion with error information
829 indicating transmission error.
831 - On some controllers, command timeout. In this case, there may be a
832 mechanism to determine that the timeout is due to transmission error.
834 - Unknown/random errors, timeouts and all sorts of weirdities.
836 As described above, transmission errors can cause wide variety of
837 symptoms ranging from device ICRC error to random device lockup, and,
838 for many cases, there is no way to tell if an error condition is due to
839 transmission error or not; therefore, it's necessary to employ some kind
840 of heuristic when dealing with errors and timeouts. For example,
841 encountering repetitive ABRT errors for known supported command is
842 likely to indicate ATA bus error.
844 Once it's determined that ATA bus errors have possibly occurred,
845 lowering ATA bus transmission speed is one of actions which may
846 alleviate the problem. See `Reconfigure transport <#exrecReconf>`__ for
852 Data corruption or other failures during transmission over PCI (or other
853 system bus). For standard BMDMA, this is indicated by Error bit in the
854 BMDMA Status register. This type of errors must be logged as it
855 indicates something is very wrong with the system. Resetting host
856 controller is recommended.
861 This occurs when timeout occurs and the timeout handler finds out that
862 the timed out command has completed successfully or with error. This is
863 usually caused by lost interrupts. This type of errors must be logged.
864 Resetting host controller is recommended.
866 Unknown error (timeout)
867 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
869 This is when timeout occurs and the command is still processing or the
870 host and device are in unknown state. When this occurs, HSM could be in
871 any valid or invalid state. To bring the device to known state and make
872 it forget about the timed out command, resetting is necessary. The timed
873 out command may be retried.
875 Timeouts can also be caused by transmission errors. Refer to
876 `ATA bus error <#excatATAbusErr>`__ for more details.
878 Hotplug and power management exceptions
879 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
886 This section discusses several important recovery actions.
888 Clearing error condition
889 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
891 Many controllers require its error registers to be cleared by error
892 handler. Different controllers may have different requirements.
894 For SATA, it's strongly recommended to clear at least SError register
895 during error handling.
900 During EH, resetting is necessary in the following cases.
902 - HSM is in unknown or invalid state
904 - HBA is in unknown or invalid state
906 - EH needs to make HBA/device forget about in-flight commands
908 - HBA/device behaves weirdly
910 Resetting during EH might be a good idea regardless of error condition
911 to improve EH robustness. Whether to reset both or either one of HBA and
912 device depends on situation but the following scheme is recommended.
914 - When it's known that HBA is in ready state but ATA/ATAPI device is in
915 unknown state, reset only device.
917 - If HBA is in unknown state, reset both HBA and device.
919 HBA resetting is implementation specific. For a controller complying to
920 taskfile/BMDMA PCI IDE, stopping active DMA transaction may be
921 sufficient iff BMDMA state is the only HBA context. But even mostly
922 taskfile/BMDMA PCI IDE complying controllers may have implementation
923 specific requirements and mechanism to reset themselves. This must be
924 addressed by specific drivers.
926 OTOH, ATA/ATAPI standard describes in detail ways to reset ATA/ATAPI
930 This is hardware initiated device reset signalled with asserted PATA
931 RESET- signal. There is no standard way to initiate hardware reset
932 from software although some hardware provides registers that allow
933 driver to directly tweak the RESET- signal.
936 This is achieved by turning CONTROL SRST bit on for at least 5us.
937 Both PATA and SATA support it but, in case of SATA, this may require
938 controller-specific support as the second Register FIS to clear SRST
939 should be transmitted while BSY bit is still set. Note that on PATA,
940 this resets both master and slave devices on a channel.
942 EXECUTE DEVICE DIAGNOSTIC command
943 Although ATA/ATAPI standard doesn't describe exactly, EDD implies
944 some level of resetting, possibly similar level with software reset.
945 Host-side EDD protocol can be handled with normal command processing
946 and most SATA controllers should be able to handle EDD's just like
947 other commands. As in software reset, EDD affects both devices on a
950 Although EDD does reset devices, this doesn't suit error handling as
951 EDD cannot be issued while BSY is set and it's unclear how it will
952 act when device is in unknown/weird state.
954 ATAPI DEVICE RESET command
955 This is very similar to software reset except that reset can be
956 restricted to the selected device without affecting the other device
960 This is the preferred way of resetting a SATA device. In effect,
961 it's identical to PATA hardware reset. Note that this can be done
962 with the standard SCR Control register. As such, it's usually easier
963 to implement than software reset.
965 One more thing to consider when resetting devices is that resetting
966 clears certain configuration parameters and they need to be set to their
967 previous or newly adjusted values after reset.
969 Parameters affected are.
971 - CHS set up with INITIALIZE DEVICE PARAMETERS (seldom used)
973 - Parameters set with SET FEATURES including transfer mode setting
975 - Block count set with SET MULTIPLE MODE
977 - Other parameters (SET MAX, MEDIA LOCK...)
979 ATA/ATAPI standard specifies that some parameters must be maintained
980 across hardware or software reset, but doesn't strictly specify all of
981 them. Always reconfiguring needed parameters after reset is required for
982 robustness. Note that this also applies when resuming from deep sleep
985 Also, ATA/ATAPI standard requires that IDENTIFY DEVICE / IDENTIFY PACKET
986 DEVICE is issued after any configuration parameter is updated or a
987 hardware reset and the result used for further operation. OS driver is
988 required to implement revalidation mechanism to support this.
990 Reconfigure transport
991 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
993 For both PATA and SATA, a lot of corners are cut for cheap connectors,
994 cables or controllers and it's quite common to see high transmission
995 error rate. This can be mitigated by lowering transmission speed.
997 The following is a possible scheme Jeff Garzik suggested.
999 If more than $N (3?) transmission errors happen in 15 minutes,
1001 - if SATA, decrease SATA PHY speed. if speed cannot be decreased,
1003 - decrease UDMA xfer speed. if at UDMA0, switch to PIO4,
1005 - decrease PIO xfer speed. if at PIO3, complain, but continue
1010 .. kernel-doc:: drivers/ata/ata_piix.c
1016 .. kernel-doc:: drivers/ata/sata_sil.c
1022 The bulk of the ATA knowledge comes thanks to long conversations with
1023 Andre Hedrick (www.linux-ide.org), and long hours pondering the ATA and
1024 SCSI specifications.
1026 Thanks to Alan Cox for pointing out similarities between SATA and SCSI,
1027 and in general for motivation to hack on libata.
1029 libata's device detection method, ata_pio_devchk, and in general all
1030 the early probing was based on extensive study of Hale Landis's
1031 probe/reset code in his ATADRVR driver (www.ata-atapi.com).