summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Documentation/scsi/sym53c8xx_2.txt
blob: 2c1745a9df0052fa634489d3f4b43dd1828a078b (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957
958
959
960
961
962
963
964
965
966
967
968
969
970
971
972
973
974
975
976
977
978
979
980
981
982
983
984
985
986
987
988
989
990
991
992
993
994
995
996
997
998
999
1000
1001
1002
1003
1004
1005
1006
1007
1008
1009
1010
1011
1012
1013
1014
1015
1016
1017
1018
1019
1020
1021
1022
1023
1024
1025
1026
1027
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
1053
1054
1055
1056
1057
1058
1059
The Linux SYM-2 driver documentation file

Written by Gerard Roudier <groudier@free.fr>
21 Rue Carnot
95170 DEUIL LA BARRE - FRANCE

Updated by Matthew Wilcox <matthew@wil.cx>

2004-10-09
===============================================================================

1.  Introduction
2.  Supported chips and SCSI features
3.  Advantages of this driver for newer chips.
      3.1 Optimized SCSI SCRIPTS
      3.2 New features appeared with the SYM53C896
4.  Memory mapped I/O versus normal I/O
5.  Tagged command queueing
6.  Parity checking
7.  Profiling information
8.  Control commands
      8.1  Set minimum synchronous period
      8.2  Set wide size
      8.3  Set maximum number of concurrent tagged commands
      8.4  Set debug mode
      8.5  Set flag (no_disc)
      8.6  Set verbose level
      8.7  Reset all logical units of a target
      8.8  Abort all tasks of all logical units of a target
9.  Configuration parameters
10. Boot setup commands
      10.1 Syntax
      10.2 Available arguments
             10.2.1  Default number of tagged commands
             10.2.2  Burst max
             10.2.3  LED support
             10.2.4  Differential mode
             10.2.5  IRQ mode
             10.2.6  Check SCSI BUS 
             10.2.7  Suggest a default SCSI id for hosts
             10.2.8  Verbosity level
             10.2.9  Debug mode
             10.2.10 Settle delay
             10.2.11 Serial NVRAM
             10.2.12 Exclude a host from being attached
      10.3 Converting from old options
      10.4 SCSI BUS checking boot option
11. SCSI problem troubleshooting
      15.1 Problem tracking
      15.2 Understanding hardware error reports
12. Serial NVRAM support (by Richard Waltham)
      17.1 Features
      17.2 Symbios NVRAM layout
      17.3 Tekram  NVRAM layout

===============================================================================

1. Introduction

This driver supports the whole SYM53C8XX family of PCI-SCSI controllers.
It also support the subset of LSI53C10XX PCI-SCSI controllers that are based 
on the SYM53C8XX SCRIPTS language.

It replaces the sym53c8xx+ncr53c8xx driver bundle and shares its core code 
with the FreeBSD SYM-2 driver. The `glue' that allows this driver to work 
under Linux is contained in 2 files named sym_glue.h and sym_glue.c.
Other drivers files are intended not to depend on the Operating System 
on which the driver is used.

The history of this driver can be summarized as follows:

1993: ncr driver written for 386bsd and FreeBSD by:
          Wolfgang Stanglmeier        <wolf@cologne.de>
          Stefan Esser                <se@mi.Uni-Koeln.de>

1996: port of the ncr driver to Linux-1.2.13 and rename it ncr53c8xx.
          Gerard Roudier

1998: new sym53c8xx driver for Linux based on LOAD/STORE instruction and that 
      adds full support for the 896 but drops support for early NCR devices.
          Gerard Roudier

1999: port of the sym53c8xx driver to FreeBSD and support for the LSI53C1010 
      33 MHz and 66MHz Ultra-3 controllers. The new driver is named `sym'.
          Gerard Roudier

2000: Add support for early NCR devices to FreeBSD `sym' driver.
      Break the driver into several sources and separate the OS glue 
      code from the core code that can be shared among different O/Ses.
      Write a glue code for Linux.
          Gerard Roudier

2004: Remove FreeBSD compatibility code.  Remove support for versions of
      Linux before 2.6.  Start using Linux facilities.

This README file addresses the Linux version of the driver. Under FreeBSD, 
the driver documentation is the sym.8 man page.

Information about new chips is available at LSILOGIC web server:

          http://www.lsilogic.com/

SCSI standard documentations are available at T10 site:

          http://www.t10.org/

Useful SCSI tools written by Eric Youngdale are part of most Linux 
distributions:
   scsiinfo:    command line tool
   scsi-config: TCL/Tk tool using scsiinfo

2. Supported chips and SCSI features

The following features are supported for all chips:

	Synchronous negotiation
	Disconnection
	Tagged command queuing
	SCSI parity checking
	PCI Master parity checking

Other features depends on chip capabilities.
The driver notably uses optimized SCRIPTS for devices that support 
LOAD/STORE and handles PHASE MISMATCH from SCRIPTS for devices that 
support the corresponding feature.

The following table shows some characteristics of the chip family.

       On board                                   LOAD/STORE   HARDWARE
Chip   SDMS BIOS   Wide   SCSI std.   Max. sync   SCRIPTS      PHASE MISMATCH
----   ---------   ----   ---------   ----------  ----------   --------------
810        N         N      FAST10    10 MB/s        N             N
810A       N         N      FAST10    10 MB/s        Y             N
815        Y         N      FAST10    10 MB/s        N             N
825        Y         Y      FAST10    20 MB/s        N             N
825A       Y         Y      FAST10    20 MB/s        Y             N
860        N         N      FAST20    20 MB/s        Y             N
875        Y         Y      FAST20    40 MB/s        Y             N
875A       Y         Y      FAST20    40 MB/s        Y             Y
876        Y         Y      FAST20    40 MB/s        Y             N
895        Y         Y      FAST40    80 MB/s        Y             N
895A       Y         Y      FAST40    80 MB/s        Y             Y
896        Y         Y      FAST40    80 MB/s        Y             Y
897        Y         Y      FAST40    80 MB/s        Y             Y
1510D      Y         Y      FAST40    80 MB/s        Y             Y
1010       Y         Y      FAST80   160 MB/s        Y             Y
1010_66*   Y         Y      FAST80   160 MB/s        Y             Y

* Chip supports 33MHz and 66MHz PCI bus clock.


Summary of other supported features:

Module:                allow to load the driver
Memory mapped I/O:     increases performance
Control commands:      write operations to the proc SCSI file system
Debugging information: written to syslog (expert only)
Scatter / gather
Shared interrupt
Boot setup commands
Serial NVRAM:          Symbios and Tekram formats


3. Advantages of this driver for newer chips.

3.1 Optimized SCSI SCRIPTS.

All chips except the 810, 815 and 825, support new SCSI SCRIPTS instructions 
named LOAD and STORE that allow to move up to 1 DWORD from/to an IO register 
to/from memory much faster that the MOVE MEMORY instruction that is supported 
by the 53c7xx and 53c8xx family.

The LOAD/STORE instructions support absolute and DSA relative addressing 
modes. The SCSI SCRIPTS had been entirely rewritten using LOAD/STORE instead 
of MOVE MEMORY instructions.

Due to the lack of LOAD/STORE SCRIPTS instructions by earlier chips, this 
driver also incorporates a different SCRIPTS set based on MEMORY MOVE, in 
order to provide support for the entire SYM53C8XX chips family.

3.2 New features appeared with the SYM53C896

Newer chips (see above) allows handling of the phase mismatch context from 
SCRIPTS (avoids the phase mismatch interrupt that stops the SCSI processor 
until the C code has saved the context of the transfer).

The 896 and 1010 chips support 64 bit PCI transactions and addressing, 
while the 895A supports 32 bit PCI transactions and 64 bit addressing.
The SCRIPTS processor of these chips is not true 64 bit, but uses segment 
registers for bit 32-63. Another interesting feature is that LOAD/STORE 
instructions that address the on-chip RAM (8k) remain internal to the chip.

4. Memory mapped I/O versus normal I/O

Memory mapped I/O has less latency than normal I/O and is the recommended 
way for doing IO with PCI devices. Memory mapped I/O seems to work fine on 
most hardware configurations, but some poorly designed chipsets may break 
this feature. A configuration option is provided for normal I/O to be 
used but the driver defaults to MMIO.

5. Tagged command queueing

Queuing more than 1 command at a time to a device allows it to perform 
optimizations based on actual head positions and its mechanical 
characteristics. This feature may also reduce average command latency.
In order to really gain advantage of this feature, devices must have 
a reasonable cache size (No miracle is to be expected for a low-end 
hard disk with 128 KB or less).
Some kown old SCSI devices do not properly support tagged command queuing.
Generally, firmware revisions that fix this kind of problems are available 
at respective vendor web/ftp sites.
All I can say is that I never have had problem with tagged queuing using 
this driver and its predecessors. Hard disks that behaved correctly for 
me using tagged commands are the following:

- IBM S12 0662
- Conner 1080S
- Quantum Atlas I
- Quantum Atlas II
- Seagate Cheetah I
- Quantum Viking II
- IBM DRVS
- Quantum Atlas IV
- Seagate Cheetah II

If your controller has NVRAM, you can configure this feature per target 
from the user setup tool. The Tekram Setup program allows to tune the 
maximum number of queued commands up to 32. The Symbios Setup only allows 
to enable or disable this feature.

The maximum number of simultaneous tagged commands queued to a device
is currently set to 16 by default.  This value is suitable for most SCSI
disks.  With large SCSI disks (>= 2GB, cache >= 512KB, average seek time
<= 10 ms), using a larger value may give better performances.

This driver supports up to 255 commands per device, and but using more than 
64 is generally not worth-while, unless you are using a very large disk or 
disk arrays. It is noticeable that most of recent hard disks seem not to 
accept more than 64 simultaneous commands. So, using more than 64 queued 
commands is probably just resource wasting.

If your controller does not have NVRAM or if it is managed by the SDMS 
BIOS/SETUP, you can configure tagged queueing feature and device queue 
depths from the boot command-line. For example:

  sym53c8xx=tags:4/t2t3q15-t4q7/t1u0q32

will set tagged commands queue depths as follow:

- target 2  all luns  on controller 0 --> 15
- target 3  all luns  on controller 0 --> 15
- target 4  all luns  on controller 0 -->  7
- target 1  lun 0     on controller 1 --> 32
- all other target/lun                -->  4

In some special conditions, some SCSI disk firmwares may return a
QUEUE FULL status for a SCSI command. This behaviour is managed by the
driver using the following heuristic:

- Each time a QUEUE FULL status is returned, tagged queue depth is reduced 
  to the actual number of disconnected commands. 

- Every 200 successfully completed SCSI commands, if allowed by the
  current limit, the maximum number of queueable commands is incremented.

Since QUEUE FULL status reception and handling is resource wasting, the 
driver notifies by default this problem to user by indicating the actual 
number of commands used and their status, as well as its decision on the 
device queue depth change.
The heuristic used by the driver in handling QUEUE FULL ensures that the 
impact on performances is not too bad. You can get rid of the messages by 
setting verbose level to zero, as follow:

1st method: boot your system using 'sym53c8xx=verb:0' option.
2nd method: apply "setverbose 0" control command to the proc fs entry 
            corresponding to your controller after boot-up.

6. Parity checking

The driver supports SCSI parity checking and PCI bus master parity
checking.  These features must be enabled in order to ensure safe
data transfers.  Some flawed devices or mother boards may have problems
with parity.  The options to defeat parity checking have been removed
from the driver.

7. Profiling information

This driver does not provide profiling informations as did its predecessors.
This feature was not this useful and added complexity to the code. 
As the driver code got more complex, I have decided to remove everything 
that didn't seem actually useful.

8. Control commands

Control commands can be sent to the driver with write operations to
the proc SCSI file system. The generic command syntax is the
following:

      echo "<verb> <parameters>" >/proc/scsi/sym53c8xx/0
      (assumes controller number is 0)

Using "all" for "<target>" parameter with the commands below will
apply to all targets of the SCSI chain (except the controller).

Available commands:

8.1 Set minimum synchronous period factor

    setsync <target> <period factor>

    target:    target number
    period:    minimum synchronous period.
               Maximum speed = 1000/(4*period factor) except for special
               cases below.

    Specify a period of 0, to force asynchronous transfer mode.

       9 means 12.5 nano-seconds synchronous period
      10 means 25 nano-seconds synchronous period
      11 means 30 nano-seconds synchronous period
      12 means 50 nano-seconds synchronous period

8.2 Set wide size

    setwide <target> <size>

    target:    target number
    size:      0=8 bits, 1=16bits

8.3 Set maximum number of concurrent tagged commands
 
    settags <target> <tags>

    target:    target number
    tags:      number of concurrent tagged commands
               must not be greater than configured (default: 16)

8.4 Set debug mode

    setdebug <list of debug flags>

    Available debug flags:
        alloc:   print info about memory allocations (ccb, lcb)
        queue:   print info about insertions into the command start queue
        result:  print sense data on CHECK CONDITION status
        scatter: print info about the scatter process
        scripts: print info about the script binding process
	tiny:    print minimal debugging information
	timing:  print timing information of the NCR chip
	nego:    print information about SCSI negotiations
	phase:   print information on script interruptions

    Use "setdebug" with no argument to reset debug flags.


8.5 Set flag (no_disc)
 
    setflag <target> <flag>

    target:    target number

    For the moment, only one flag is available:

        no_disc:   not allow target to disconnect.

    Do not specify any flag in order to reset the flag. For example:
    - setflag 4
      will reset no_disc flag for target 4, so will allow it disconnections.
    - setflag all
      will allow disconnection for all devices on the SCSI bus.


8.6 Set verbose level

    setverbose #level

    The driver default verbose level is 1. This command allows to change 
    th driver verbose level after boot-up.

8.7 Reset all logical units of a target

    resetdev <target>

    target:    target number
    The driver will try to send a BUS DEVICE RESET message to the target.

8.8 Abort all tasks of all logical units of a target

    cleardev <target>

    target:    target number
    The driver will try to send a ABORT message to all the logical units 
    of the target.


9. Configuration parameters

Under kernel configuration tools (make menuconfig, for example), it is 
possible to change some default driver configuration parameters.
If the firmware of all your devices is perfect enough, all the
features supported by the driver can be enabled at start-up. However,
if only one has a flaw for some SCSI feature, you can disable the
support by the driver of this feature at linux start-up and enable
this feature after boot-up only for devices that support it safely.

Configuration parameters:

Use normal IO                         (default answer: n)
    Answer "y" if you suspect your mother board to not allow memory mapped I/O.
    May slow down performance a little.

Default tagged command queue depth    (default answer: 16)
    Entering 0 defaults to tagged commands not being used.
    This parameter can be specified from the boot command line.

Maximum number of queued commands     (default answer: 32)
    This option allows you to specify the maximum number of tagged commands 
    that can be queued to a device. The maximum supported value is 255.

Synchronous transfers frequency       (default answer: 80)
    This option allows you to specify the frequency in MHz the driver 
    will use at boot time for synchronous data transfer negotiations.
    0 means "asynchronous data transfers".

10. Boot setup commands

10.1 Syntax

Setup commands can be passed to the driver either at boot time or as
parameters to modprobe, as described in Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt

Example of boot setup command under lilo prompt:

lilo: linux root=/dev/sda2 sym53c8xx.cmd_per_lun=4 sym53c8xx.sync=10 sym53c8xx.debug=0x200

- enable tagged commands, up to 4 tagged commands queued.
- set synchronous negotiation speed to 10 Mega-transfers / second.
- set DEBUG_NEGO flag.

The following command will install the driver module with the same
options as above.

    modprobe sym53c8xx cmd_per_lun=4 sync=10 debug=0x200

10.2 Available arguments

10.2.1  Default number of tagged commands
        cmd_per_lun=0 (or cmd_per_lun=1) tagged command queuing disabled
        cmd_per_lun=#tags (#tags > 1) tagged command queuing enabled
  #tags will be truncated to the max queued commands configuration parameter.

10.2.2  Detailed control of tagged commands
  This option allows you to specify a command queue depth for each device 
  that supports tagged command queueing.
  Example:
      tag_ctrl=10/t2t3q16-t5q24/t1u2q32
  will set devices queue depth as follow:
      - controller #0 target #2 and target #3                  -> 16 commands,
      - controller #0 target #5                                -> 24 commands,
      - controller #1 target #1 logical unit #2                -> 32 commands,
      - all other logical units (all targets, all controllers) -> 10 commands.

10.2.3 Burst max
        burst=0    burst disabled
        burst=255  get burst length from initial IO register settings.
        burst=#x   burst enabled (1<<#x burst transfers max)
  #x is an integer value which is log base 2 of the burst transfers max.
  By default the driver uses the maximum value supported by the chip.

10.2.4 LED support
        led=1      enable  LED support
        led=0      disable LED support
  Do not enable LED support if your scsi board does not use SDMS BIOS.
  (See 'Configuration parameters')

10.2.4 Differential mode
        diff=0	never set up diff mode
        diff=1	set up diff mode if BIOS set it
        diff=2	always set up diff mode
        diff=3	set diff mode if GPIO3 is not set

10.2.5 IRQ mode
        irqm=0     always open drain
        irqm=1     same as initial settings (assumed BIOS settings)
        irqm=2     always totem pole

10.2.6 Check SCSI BUS 
        buschk=<option bits>

    Available option bits:
        0x0:   No check.
        0x1:   Check and do not attach the controller on error.  
        0x2:   Check and just warn on error.

10.2.7 Suggest a default SCSI id for hosts
        hostid=255	no id suggested.
        hostid=#x   (0 < x < 7) x suggested for hosts SCSI id.

    If a host SCSI id is available from the NVRAM, the driver will ignore 
    any value suggested as boot option. Otherwise, if a suggested value 
    different from 255 has been supplied, it will use it. Otherwise, it will 
    try to deduce the value previously set in the hardware and use value 
    7 if the hardware value is zero.

10.2.8  Verbosity level
        verb=0     minimal
        verb=1     normal
        verb=2     too much

10.2.9 Debug mode
        debug=0	 clear debug flags
        debug=#x   set debug flags
  #x is an integer value combining the following power-of-2 values:
  DEBUG_ALLOC       0x1
  DEBUG_PHASE       0x2
  DEBUG_POLL        0x4
  DEBUG_QUEUE       0x8
  DEBUG_RESULT     0x10
  DEBUG_SCATTER    0x20
  DEBUG_SCRIPT     0x40
  DEBUG_TINY       0x80
  DEBUG_TIMING    0x100
  DEBUG_NEGO      0x200
  DEBUG_TAGS      0x400
  DEBUG_FREEZE    0x800
  DEBUG_RESTART  0x1000

  You can play safely with DEBUG_NEGO. However, some of these flags may 
  generate bunches of syslog messages. 

10.2.10 Settle delay
        settle=n	delay for n seconds

  After a bus reset, the driver will delay for n seconds before talking
  to any device on the bus.  The default is 3 seconds and safe mode will
  default it to 10.

10.2.11 Serial NVRAM
	NB: option not currently implemented.
        nvram=n     do not look for serial NVRAM
        nvram=y     test controllers for onboard serial NVRAM
        (alternate binary form)
        nvram=<bits options>
        0x01   look for NVRAM  (equivalent to nvram=y)
        0x02   ignore NVRAM "Synchronous negotiation" parameters for all devices
        0x04   ignore NVRAM "Wide negotiation"  parameter for all devices
        0x08   ignore NVRAM "Scan at boot time" parameter for all devices
        0x80   also attach controllers set to OFF in the NVRAM (sym53c8xx only)

10.2.12 Exclude a host from being attached
        excl=<io_address>,...

    Prevent host at a given io address from being attached.
    For example 'excl=0xb400,0xc000' indicate to the 
    driver not to attach hosts at address 0xb400 and 0xc000.

10.3 Converting from old style options

Previously, the sym2 driver accepted arguments of the form
	sym53c8xx=tags:4,sync:10,debug:0x200

As a result of the new module parameters, this is no longer available.
Most of the options have remained the same, but tags has split into
cmd_per_lun and tag_ctrl for its two different purposes.  The sample above
would be specified as:
	modprobe sym53c8xx cmd_per_lun=4 sync=10 debug=0x200

or on the kernel boot line as:
	sym53c8xx.cmd_per_lun=4 sym53c8xx.sync=10 sym53c8xx.debug=0x200

10.4 SCSI BUS checking boot option.

When this option is set to a non-zero value, the driver checks SCSI lines 
logic state, 100 micro-seconds after having asserted the SCSI RESET line.
The driver just reads SCSI lines and checks all lines read FALSE except RESET.
Since SCSI devices shall release the BUS at most 800 nano-seconds after SCSI 
RESET has been asserted, any signal to TRUE may indicate a SCSI BUS problem.
Unfortunately, the following common SCSI BUS problems are not detected:
- Only 1 terminator installed.
- Misplaced terminators.
- Bad quality terminators.
On the other hand, either bad cabling, broken devices, not conformant 
devices, ... may cause a SCSI signal to be wrong when te driver reads it.

15. SCSI problem troubleshooting

15.1 Problem tracking

Most SCSI problems are due to a non conformant SCSI bus or too buggy
devices.  If infortunately you have SCSI problems, you can check the
following things:

- SCSI bus cables
- terminations at both end of the SCSI chain
- linux syslog messages (some of them may help you)

If you do not find the source of problems, you can configure the
driver or devices in the NVRAM with minimal features.

- only asynchronous data transfers
- tagged commands disabled
- disconnections not allowed

Now, if your SCSI bus is ok, your system has every chance to work
with this safe configuration but performances will not be optimal.

If it still fails, then you can send your problem description to
appropriate mailing lists or news-groups.  Send me a copy in order to
be sure I will receive it.  Obviously, a bug in the driver code is
possible.

  My current email address: Gerard Roudier <groudier@free.fr>

Allowing disconnections is important if you use several devices on
your SCSI bus but often causes problems with buggy devices.
Synchronous data transfers increases throughput of fast devices like
hard disks.  Good SCSI hard disks with a large cache gain advantage of
tagged commands queuing.

15.2 Understanding hardware error reports

When the driver detects an unexpected error condition, it may display a 
message of the following pattern.

sym0:1: ERROR (0:48) (1-21-65) (f/95/0) @ (script 7c0:19000000).
sym0: script cmd = 19000000
sym0: regdump: da 10 80 95 47 0f 01 07 75 01 81 21 80 01 09 00.

Some fields in such a message may help you understand the cause of the 
problem, as follows:

sym0:1: ERROR (0:48) (1-21-65) (f/95/0) @ (script 7c0:19000000).
.....A.........B.C....D.E..F....G.H..I.......J.....K...L.......

Field A : target number.
  SCSI ID of the device the controller was talking with at the moment the 
  error occurs.

Field B : DSTAT io register (DMA STATUS)
  Bit 0x40 : MDPE Master Data Parity Error
             Data parity error detected on the PCI BUS.
  Bit 0x20 : BF   Bus Fault
             PCI bus fault condition detected
  Bit 0x01 : IID  Illegal Instruction Detected
             Set by the chip when it detects an Illegal Instruction format 
             on some condition that makes an instruction illegal.
  Bit 0x80 : DFE Dma Fifo Empty
             Pure status bit that does not indicate an error.
  If the reported DSTAT value contains a combination of MDPE (0x40), 
  BF (0x20), then the cause may be likely due to a PCI BUS problem.

Field C : SIST io register (SCSI Interrupt Status)
  Bit 0x08 : SGE  SCSI GROSS ERROR
             Indicates that the chip detected a severe error condition 
             on the SCSI BUS that prevents the SCSI protocol from functioning
             properly.
  Bit 0x04 : UDC  Unexpected Disconnection
             Indicates that the device released the SCSI BUS when the chip 
             was not expecting this to happen. A device may behave so to 
             indicate the SCSI initiator that an error condition not reportable              using the SCSI protocol has occurred.
  Bit 0x02 : RST  SCSI BUS Reset
             Generally SCSI targets do not reset the SCSI BUS, although any 
             device on the BUS can reset it at any time.
  Bit 0x01 : PAR  Parity
             SCSI parity error detected.
  On a faulty SCSI BUS, any error condition among SGE (0x08), UDC (0x04) and 
  PAR (0x01) may be detected by the chip. If your SCSI system sometimes 
  encounters such error conditions, especially SCSI GROSS ERROR, then a SCSI 
  BUS problem is likely the cause of these errors.

For fields D,E,F,G and H, you may look into the sym53c8xx_defs.h file 
that contains some minimal comments on IO register bits.
Field D : SOCL  Scsi Output Control Latch
          This register reflects the state of the SCSI control lines the 
          chip want to drive or compare against.
Field E : SBCL  Scsi Bus Control Lines
          Actual value of control lines on the SCSI BUS.
Field F : SBDL  Scsi Bus Data Lines
          Actual value of data lines on the SCSI BUS.
Field G : SXFER  SCSI Transfer
          Contains the setting of the Synchronous Period for output and 
          the current Synchronous offset (offset 0 means asynchronous).
Field H : SCNTL3 Scsi Control Register 3
          Contains the setting of timing values for both asynchronous and 
          synchronous data transfers. 
Field I : SCNTL4 Scsi Control Register 4
          Only meaningful for 53C1010 Ultra3 controllers.

Understanding Fields J, K, L and dumps requires to have good knowledge of 
SCSI standards, chip cores functionnals and internal driver data structures.
You are not required to decode and understand them, unless you want to help 
maintain the driver code.

17. Serial NVRAM (added by Richard Waltham: dormouse@farsrobt.demon.co.uk)

17.1 Features

Enabling serial NVRAM support enables detection of the serial NVRAM included
on Symbios and some Symbios compatible host adaptors, and Tekram boards. The 
serial NVRAM is used by Symbios and Tekram to hold set up parameters for the 
host adaptor and it's attached drives.

The Symbios NVRAM also holds data on the boot order of host adaptors in a
system with more than one host adaptor.  This information is no longer used
as it's fundamentally incompatible with the hotplug PCI model.

Tekram boards using Symbios chips, DC390W/F/U, which have NVRAM are detected
and this is used to distinguish between Symbios compatible and Tekram host 
adaptors. This is used to disable the Symbios compatible "diff" setting
incorrectly set on Tekram boards if the CONFIG_SCSI_53C8XX_SYMBIOS_COMPAT 
configuration parameter is set enabling both Symbios and Tekram boards to be 
used together with the Symbios cards using all their features, including
"diff" support. ("led pin" support for Symbios compatible cards can remain
enabled when using Tekram cards. It does nothing useful for Tekram host
adaptors but does not cause problems either.)

The parameters the driver is able to get from the NVRAM depend on the 
data format used, as follow:

                                 Tekram format      Symbios format
General and host parameters
    Boot order                         N                   Y
    Host SCSI ID                       Y                   Y
    SCSI parity checking               Y                   Y
    Verbose boot messages              N                   Y
SCSI devices parameters
    Synchronous transfer speed         Y                   Y
    Wide 16 / Narrow                   Y                   Y
    Tagged Command Queuing enabled     Y                   Y
    Disconnections enabled             Y                   Y
    Scan at boot time                  N                   Y

In order to speed up the system boot, for each device configured without 
the "scan at boot time" option, the driver forces an error on the 
first TEST UNIT READY command received for this device.


17.2 Symbios NVRAM layout

typical data at NVRAM address 0x100 (53c810a NVRAM)
-----------------------------------------------------------
00 00
64 01
8e 0b

00 30 00 00 00 00 07 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 07 04 10 04 00 00 

04 00 0f 00 00 10 00 50 00 00 01 00 00 62 
04 00 03 00 00 10 00 58 00 00 01 00 00 63 
04 00 01 00 00 10 00 48 00 00 01 00 00 61 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 

0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 

0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 

fe fe
00 00
00 00
-----------------------------------------------------------
NVRAM layout details

NVRAM Address 0x000-0x0ff not used
              0x100-0x26f initialised data
              0x270-0x7ff not used

general layout

        header  -   6 bytes,
        data    - 356 bytes (checksum is byte sum of this data)
        trailer -   6 bytes
                  ---
        total     368 bytes

data area layout

        controller set up  -  20 bytes
        boot configuration -  56 bytes (4x14 bytes)
        device set up      - 128 bytes (16x8 bytes)
        unused (spare?)    - 152 bytes (19x8 bytes)
                             ---
        total                356 bytes

-----------------------------------------------------------
header

00 00   - ?? start marker
64 01   - byte count (lsb/msb excludes header/trailer)
8e 0b   - checksum (lsb/msb excludes header/trailer)
-----------------------------------------------------------
controller set up

00 30 00 00 00 00 07 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 07 04 10 04 00 00
                   |     |           |     |
                   |     |           |      -- host ID
                   |     |           |
                   |     |            --Removable Media Support
                   |     |               0x00 = none
                   |     |               0x01 = Bootable Device
                   |     |               0x02 = All with Media
                   |     |
                   |      --flag bits 2
                   |        0x00000001= scan order hi->low
                   |            (default 0x00 - scan low->hi)
                    --flag bits 1
                       0x00000001 scam enable
                       0x00000010 parity enable
                       0x00000100 verbose boot msgs

remaining bytes unknown - they do not appear to change in my
current set up for any of the controllers.

default set up is identical for 53c810a and 53c875 NVRAM
(Removable Media added Symbios BIOS version 4.09)
-----------------------------------------------------------
boot configuration

boot order set by order of the devices in this table

04 00 0f 00 00 10 00 50 00 00 01 00 00 62 -- 1st controller
04 00 03 00 00 10 00 58 00 00 01 00 00 63    2nd controller
04 00 01 00 00 10 00 48 00 00 01 00 00 61    3rd controller
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00    4th controller
       |  |  |  |     |        |     |  |
       |  |  |  |     |        |      ---- PCI io port adr
       |  |  |  |     |         --0x01 init/scan at boot time
       |  |  |  |      --PCI device/function number (0xdddddfff)
       |  |   ----- ?? PCI vendor ID (lsb/msb)
        ----PCI device ID (lsb/msb)

?? use of this data is a guess but seems reasonable

remaining bytes unknown - they do not appear to change in my
current set up

default set up is identical for 53c810a and 53c875 NVRAM
-----------------------------------------------------------
device set up (up to 16 devices - includes controller)

0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 - id 0
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 

0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 
0f 00 08 08 64 00 0a 00 - id 15
 |     |  |  |     |  |
 |     |  |  |      ----timeout (lsb/msb)
 |     |  |   --synch period (0x?? 40 Mtrans/sec- fast 40) (probably 0x28)
 |     |  |                  (0x30 20 Mtrans/sec- fast 20)
 |     |  |                  (0x64 10 Mtrans/sec- fast )
 |     |  |                  (0xc8  5 Mtrans/sec)
 |     |  |                  (0x00  asynchronous)
 |     |   -- ?? max sync offset (0x08 in NVRAM on 53c810a) 
 |     |                         (0x10 in NVRAM on 53c875)
 |      --device bus width (0x08 narrow)
 |                         (0x10 16 bit wide)
  --flag bits
    0x00000001 - disconnect enabled
    0x00000010 - scan at boot time
    0x00000100 - scan luns
    0x00001000 - queue tags enabled

remaining bytes unknown - they do not appear to change in my
current set up

?? use of this data is a guess but seems reasonable 
(but it could be max bus width)

default set up for 53c810a NVRAM
default set up for 53c875 NVRAM - bus width     - 0x10
                                - sync offset ? - 0x10
                                - sync period   - 0x30
-----------------------------------------------------------
?? spare device space (32 bit bus ??)

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  (19x8bytes)
.
.
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

default set up is identical for 53c810a and 53c875 NVRAM
-----------------------------------------------------------
trailer

fe fe   - ? end marker ?
00 00
00 00

default set up is identical for 53c810a and 53c875 NVRAM
-----------------------------------------------------------



17.3 Tekram NVRAM layout

nvram 64x16 (1024 bit)

Drive settings

Drive ID 0-15 (addr 0x0yyyy0 = device setup, yyyy = ID)
              (addr 0x0yyyy1 = 0x0000)

    x x x x  x x x x  x x x x  x x x x
               | | |      | |  | | | |
               | | |      | |  | | |  ----- parity check   0 - off
               | | |      | |  | | |                       1 - on
               | | |      | |  | | |
               | | |      | |  | |  ------- sync neg       0 - off
               | | |      | |  | |                         1 - on
               | | |      | |  | |
               | | |      | |  |  --------- disconnect     0 - off
               | | |      | |  |                           1 - on
               | | |      | |  |
               | | |      | |   ----------- start cmd      0 - off
               | | |      | |                              1 - on
               | | |      | |
               | | |      |  -------------- tagged cmds    0 - off
               | | |      |                                1 - on
               | | |      | 
               | | |       ---------------- wide neg       0 - off
               | | |                                       1 - on
               | | |
                --------------------------- sync rate      0 - 10.0 Mtrans/sec
                                                           1 -  8.0
                                                           2 -  6.6
                                                           3 -  5.7
                                                           4 -  5.0
                                                           5 -  4.0
                                                           6 -  3.0
                                                           7 -  2.0
                                                           7 -  2.0
                                                           8 - 20.0
                                                           9 - 16.7
                                                           a - 13.9
                                                           b - 11.9

Global settings

Host flags 0 (addr 0x100000, 32) 

    x x x x  x x x x  x x x x  x x x x
    | | | |  | | | |           | | | |
    | | | |  | | | |            ----------- host ID    0x00 - 0x0f
    | | | |  | | | |
    | | | |  | | |  ----------------------- support for    0 - off
    | | | |  | | |                          > 2 drives     1 - on
    | | | |  | | | 
    | | | |  | |  ------------------------- support drives 0 - off
    | | | |  | |                            > 1Gbytes      1 - on
    | | | |  | |
    | | | |  |  --------------------------- bus reset on   0 - off
    | | | |  |                                power on     1 - on
    | | | |  |
    | | | |   ----------------------------- active neg     0 - off
    | | | |                                                1 - on
    | | | |
    | | |  -------------------------------- imm seek       0 - off
    | | |                                                  1 - on
    | | |
    | |  ---------------------------------- scan luns      0 - off
    | |                                                    1 - on
    | |
     -------------------------------------- removable      0 - disable
                                            as BIOS dev    1 - boot device
                                                           2 - all

Host flags 1 (addr 0x100001, 33)

    x x x x  x x x x  x x x x  x x x x
               | | |             | | | 
               | | |              --------- boot delay     0 -   3 sec
               | | |                                       1 -   5
               | | |                                       2 -  10
               | | |                                       3 -  20
               | | |                                       4 -  30
               | | |                                       5 -  60
               | | |                                       6 - 120
               | | |
                --------------------------- max tag cmds   0 -  2
                                                           1 -  4
                                                           2 -  8
                                                           3 - 16
                                                           4 - 32

Host flags 2 (addr 0x100010, 34)

    x x x x  x x x x  x x x x  x x x x
                                     |
                                      ----- F2/F6 enable   0 - off ???
                                                           1 - on  ???

checksum (addr 0x111111)

checksum = 0x1234 - (sum addr 0-63)

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

default nvram data:

0x0037 0x0000 0x0037 0x0000 0x0037 0x0000 0x0037 0x0000
0x0037 0x0000 0x0037 0x0000 0x0037 0x0000 0x0037 0x0000
0x0037 0x0000 0x0037 0x0000 0x0037 0x0000 0x0037 0x0000
0x0037 0x0000 0x0037 0x0000 0x0037 0x0000 0x0037 0x0000 

0x0f07 0x0400 0x0001 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000
0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000
0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000
0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0xfbbc


===============================================================================
End of Linux SYM-2 driver documentation file