Sheevaplug esata not working :(

[cubical]

Hi guys,

i have a sheevaplug rev1.3 and want to add esata support. When disassembling the device i realized that all the capacitors are already existing (C78, C79, C196, C197, BIT7, C164, C188, C189, C190). I was a bit confused, because it seems that i am the only guy, who don't have to do that nasty soldering (i even already purchased the needed parts, eeeek). The only thing missing was the esata connector, so I soldered an old (internal) sata-connector from a broken mainboard to the sheevaplug for testing. I tried using different u-boot versions with esata-support (uboot-sata-090903.bin) and a 'ide reset' shows a working sata-controller. Booting a customized 2.6.35.4 kernel also shows the sata controller, everything seem to be ok. So far so good. But if i connect a sata drive, it will not be detected within u-boot (i tried several sata drives and also esata enclosures with the same result). The kernel tells that the sata links are down (as no hdd connected). I already checked the wiring  (http://www.marvell.com/files/products/embedded_processors/kirkwood/FS_88F6180_9x_6281_OpenSource.pdf)... so everything is as it should be (as far as i see), but no harddisk available

Is there anybody out there who has an idea what could be wrong or at least the same problems?

Thanks in advance!


Jan

[superpat]

Hi,

If you connect a Sata drive to your system, power it up.

Then reset the Sheevaplug and stop in Uboot on the console.

If you do an  ide reset what does Uboot output?

cheers

Patrick

[cubical]

Hi Patrick,

u-boot just tells:

Marvell Serial ATA Adapter

Integrated Sata device found


so it seems that the sata controller is powered properly. but no more output, no harddisk found. the sata-connector is properly soldered and connected as well, i already measured as far it was possible (measured with connected sata cable to the capacitors C164, C188, C189, C190. GND is also connected as it should).

greetz

Jan

[superpat]

Hi

I had to think back a year to when I did this!

It looks like all uboot has found is the Kirkwood controller and not the drive itself.

If you are sure that the drive is connected to the Kirwood, (including the 4  capacitors in the serial data lines on the pcb by the sata connector pads) then you could try this:-

I found sometimes  I had to give the sheeva plug sata controller a jolt to get it to start "seeing" the drive

If you get everything connected and in the state where uboot outputs "Integrated Sata device found"

Power the sata drive off and on

do an reset ide  and hopefully you should see:=

Reset IDE:

Marvell Serial ATA Adapter

Integrated Sata device found

[0 1 0]: Enable DMA mode (6)

  Device 1 @ 0 1:

Model: SAMSUNG HM500JI                          Firm: 2AC101C4 Ser#: S1WFJ90S800911     

            Type: Hard Disk

            Supports 48-bit addressing

            Capacity: 476940.0 MB = 465.7 GB (976773168 x 512)



Marvell>> ide info




IDE device 1: Model: SAMSUNG HM500JI                          Firm: 2AC101C4 Ser#: S1WFJ90S800911     

            Type: Hard Disk

            Supports 48-bit addressing

            Capacity: 476940.0 MB = 465.7 GB (976773168 x 512)

Marvell>> ide part






Partition Map for IDE device 1  --   Partition Type: DOS



Partition     Start Sector     Num Sectors     Type

    1        63 97676800283

several people have had problems getting this mod working and every one has been due to either bad connections of the caps or MISSING caps or the ferrite.

best of luck

Patrick

[cubical]

Hi again,

thanks for your help. i tried to give it a jolt, but i had no success. i measured the voltage and it's exactly 3.3V. it feels like there's something wrong with the data transfer. how long does it take till you get a reply for 'ide reset'? Here it's very fast, (means immediately, maybe too fast to detect something). the capacitors has been soldered by the factory, looking perfect (i also measured if connections are ok). maybe they put some wrong part somewhere or something else is missing?! are there more settings for u-boot about sata? my feelings tells me, that it's a hardware problem (maybe some faulty solder joint somewhere, maybe even at the kirkwood?)

not giving up

Jan

[mitek76]

I had similar problem.
I found that not all connectors have the same pinouts.
First I used smd mounted connector and bend it's pins to meat holes on board.
This didn't work.
Then I found another connector (that exactly fit into the board) and found that the previous one had reversed pinout (ESATA port was upside-down).
Please look on photos on http://www.newit.co.uk/shop/proddetail.php?prod=eSataSheevaPlug page

[cubical]

Hi!

thanks for your reply. i checked the sata connector again (it also fits perfectly to the holes of the pcb), pins are correct. i will try measuring directly from the pins of the kirkwood to the capacitors (3 of 4 are located at the edge of the processor and should be accessible with a very thin wire). Maybe i will try changing the capacitors as well...

cheers

Jan

[cubical]

Hello everyone,

i finally got it working. it seems as the sata connector was faulty somehow, i tried a second one, now it's working as it should i finally attached two hitachi harddisks via a sata portmultiplier (want to build a software raid 1). transfer rates are 75~80 MiB/s, that awesome for such a tiny device

thanks a lot for all your help!

greetz

jan