Hi!

 

I am quite new to unRAID but got a test server using 4.5.6 going a couple of weeks ago, based on a Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2H with a AMD x2 4850e CPU, a 2 Gb Kingston memory stick, running two WD Green 1 Tb disks. This mobo uses a Realtek 811x NIC. This worked brilliantly until I wanted to add the third disk and found out about the HPA isue. So I changed the mobo to an Asus M4A78L-M LE, using the same CPU, memory and disks. This mobo uses an Atheros based NIC. The LAN is gigabit. Parity disk has not yet been added to the mix. The results are not quite so stellar :-(

 

The system is up and running but it is causing me a ton of grief when it comes to accessing the files.

 

When I do transfers (both ways) they may slow to crawl after a couple of gigabytes - when I browse the folders on the server, the listing of the contents can take 20-30 seconds - or crash the explorer - even though there are only 10-15 entries. If I try to list the Propertied for a Folder, it will reply quickly the first time - the next time it will hang, often up to several minutes. Also, when transfers are actually running, they are at max. 40 Mb/sec where I got up to 60 Mb/sec on the Gigabyte motherboard.

 

I upgraded the bios to the latest one - which btw fixed the first problem concerning the board not being able to negotiate speed higher than 100 Mbps - now at least it negotiates 1 Gbps.

 

The clients used for accessing the server are Windows 7 Home Premium (a T41 and a T61 laptop) - for the purpose of testing they are both wired at 1 Gbps.

 

I attached both the syslog and information on the NIC, made easy courtesy of unMENU (thanks Joe L.!!) but to me they don't reveal anything - I hope sharper minds can pinpoint the culprit.

 

so this is my cry for help - I really hope someone can point me to a solution because apart from disabling the onboard LAN and finding a PCI based NIC with Intel chipset, I have no idea what to do.

 

If getting another NIC is the most sensible solution, advice on a couple of models would be greatly appreciated. I can get D-Link and Netgear NICs just around the corner but I don't know whether they use Intel chipsets.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Thomas

info.zip

I can't offer a suggestion for a NIC that I know will work for you.  However, I have had similar issues myself and have seen others have a similar issue.  Many, many times...  the problem remains an unexplained mystery but will be resolved by using a different NIC.  So, that is my suggestion.

Thanks for replying :-)

 

So you're saying that it's the NIC that is at fault, even though the chipset should be supported (Atheros L1)? And not because the mobo is faulty?

 

BR

 

Thomas

I had posted this in the motherboard suggestion thread...

One concern with the LE board is the Atheros NIC chip....

 

 

Related forum posts about the "LE":

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=6304.0

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=6281.0

 

 

I had posted this in the motherboard suggestion thread...

One concern with the LE board is the Atheros NIC chip....

 

 

Related forum posts about the "LE":

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=6304.0

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=6281.0

 

 

 

Curses! Damn you, Asus, damn you! 

 

Using the exact same reasoning as you I made my purchase of the LE mobo as the other one was on backorder. *sigh*

 

I wonder if it is a known issue with Atheros and unRAID - or just one limited to this board. According to the release notes the Atheros L1 driver is part of the unRAID package and I don't suppose that a non-tested and flawed driver would be incorporated.

 

Well, I gotta figure out now if I want to stay with the mobo and get a separate NIC - or swap the mobo. *double-sigh*

 

Thanks for pointing to your threads :-)

Pulled from another thread...

I sent an email to Tom and got a response one day later.  I felt like he put out a very useful response and even offered to do *free* work by adding the driver himself if necessary.  Show me any other raid vendor that would do that.  In the end I went with a different motherboard.  I've seen really superb support on the forum.  Far, far more than I would expect for a free forum.  I would recommend unRAID to anyone at this point, with the understanding that commercial product style of support isn't yet available. 

 

 

 

See my email below...

 

RE: Atheros driver support question?

From:  Tom Mortensen ([email protected]) 

Sent: Mon 3/08/10 10:06 PM

To:  Queeg

 

There are three Atheros/Attansic drivers included:

atl1.ko - for L1

atl1e.ko - for L1E

atl1c.ko - for L1C

The linux kernel documents don’t provide any more info than this.

 

Here is a thread that seems to imply driver needs to be used from Atheros website:

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/index.php?topic=3105954.0

and

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1255082

 

And here is where the Atheros download page:

 

http://partner.atheros.com/Drivers.aspx

 

It’s quite possible those threads are out of date since the linux kernel in latest unRAID release is newer than those threads & the Ethernet driver guys tend to stay on top of new chips.  Anyway, if you want to give it whirl & it doesn’t work “out of the box”, then I will try to compile that driver & send to you.

 

Cheers,

Tom

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

From: Queeg

Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2010 5:23 PM

To: [email protected]

Subject: Atheros driver support question

 

 

 

Hello,

 

I'm hoping you can tell me what Atheros network driver is included in unRAID?  I've found a motherboard but it has Atheros AR8131 onboard adapter.  I have a post in the hardware forum that has more information if interested.

 

I found a reference to a driver ( AR81Family-linux-v1.0.1.4.tar.gz ) but I'd like to know what driver actuallly went into the unRAID build.

https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-laptop-and-netbook-25/atheros-ar8131-fedora-10-linux-788000/

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=5530.0;topicseen

 

Thanks,

 

Sep 17 00:00:16 Tower kernel: atl1c 0000:02:00.0: atl1c: eth0 NIC Link is Up<1000 Mbps Full Duplex>

Sep 17 00:00:16 Tower dhcpcd[1240]: broadcasting DHCP_DISCOVER

Sep 17 00:00:16 Tower dhcpcd[1240]: broadcastAddr option is missing in DHCP server response. Assuming 192.168.19.255

Sep 17 00:00:16 Tower dhcpcd[1240]: dhcpIPaddrLeaseTime=4294967295 in DHCP server response.

Sep 17 00:00:16 Tower dhcpcd[1240]: DHCP_OFFER received from NBG460N (192.168.19.1)

Sep 17 00:00:16 Tower dhcpcd[1240]: broadcasting DHCP_REQUEST for 192.168.19.80

Sep 17 00:00:16 Tower dhcpcd[1240]: dhcpIPaddrLeaseTime=4294967295 in DHCP server response.

Sep 17 00:00:16 Tower dhcpcd[1240]: DHCP_ACK received from NBG460N (192.168.19.1)

Sep 17 00:00:16 Tower dhcpcd[1240]: infinite IP address lease time. Exiting

I would think that the L1C driver is included, since eth0 is reported ad L1C (in my syslog)

 

Anyway, I picked up a D-Link NIC on my way home from work, installed it, disabled the onboard LAN function, and hey presto! It works like a charm.

 

The next problem is that there is no connector on the motherboard for the WOL cable. Which kind of makes sense from the point of view that there is onboard LAN and it isn't needed. Sadly, this becomes yet another drawback now that the onboard LAN sucks and needs to be disabled.

 

I wonder if WOL is supported over the PCI bus - most likely it is not. So I'll probably end up replacing the mobo once I find a third one to try out and for now live without the WOL.

 

My disappointment with mobo manufacturers now includes both Gigabyte and Asus  :-(

I would think that the L1C driver is included, since eth0 is reported ad L1C (in my syslog)

 

Anyway, I picked up a D-Link NIC on my way home from work, installed it, disabled the onboard LAN function, and hey presto! It works like a charm.

 

The next problem is that there is no connector on the motherboard for the WOL cable. Which kind of makes sense from the point of view that there is onboard LAN and it isn't needed. Sadly, this becomes yet another drawback now that the onboard LAN sucks and needs to be disabled.

 

I wonder if WOL is supported over the PCI bus - most likely it is not. So I'll probably end up replacing the mobo once I find a third one to try out and for now live without the WOL.

 

My disappointment with mobo manufacturers now includes both Gigabyte and Asus  :-(

 

You may want to send Tom an email about this and see if the driver for your onboard NIC has had an update.  If it has, he may be able to give you a special build to test with and he can then include it in the next release.

You may want to send Tom an email about this and see if the driver for your onboard NIC has had an update.  If it has, he may be able to give you a special build to test with and he can then include it in the next release.

 

I sent an email to support a couple of days ago (felt it a little too intrusive to write him at his own address), but so far no reply. I'm hoping that he might have a solution :-)

I wonder if WOL is supported over the PCI bus - most likely it is not. So I'll probably end up replacing the mobo once I find a third one to try out and for now live without the WOL.

On most modern MB it is supported over the PCI connector.  (Now, does your D-Link use it? who knows)

I wonder if WOL is supported over the PCI bus - most likely it is not. So I'll probably end up replacing the mobo once I find a third one to try out and for now live without the WOL.

On most modern MB it is supported over the PCI connector.  (Now, does your D-Link use it? who knows)

 

Well, it could be made the subject of a weekend experiment :-) I'll see if the wife and kid leaves me the time to look into it