#55 sbp2 crashes on boot if disk attached

[Roger Oberholtzer]

I have tried this with numerous CVS of the sbp2 driver.
All act the same.

If a disk is attached to the system when it boots, the
kernel
crashes when the spb2 driver is loaded. The complaint
is about some initialized pointer.

If I wait until the system boots and I can log in, then
load the drivers, they load fine and I can use the disk.

The system in question will, in fact, be re-boot
regularly, as it is a transportable measurement system.

Details: Kernel: 2.4.13 + Unibrain 400 OHCI firewire
card + Iomega peerless disk with ext3 format file
system on partition 4 (only partition). Does the same
with vfat format.

[Roger Oberholtzer]

Logged In: YES
user_id=406893

On every kernel I have tried (2.4.13, 2.4.19 and 2.4.20), if
the system has one processor, the kernel MUST be compiled
with SMP OFF, or the original problem occurs. Every time.
Always.

Compiling the kernel with SMP off makes the problem go away.

I have reports from people that it does work for them if the
machine is a multi-processor one and the kernel is compiled
with SMP support.

So, it seems that the bad combination is a kernel compiled
with SMP that is then run on a single processor machine.

Lots of distros compile with SMP on, so this is surely a
problem for all those users. It is with all the ones I have
talked to. I don't know why thay are not reporting here.

So, I can now use the driver with the disks on at boot time,
if I recompile the distro's kernel. Not what one wants when
trying to set up a repeatable production layout.

So, what to do about the problem? Can I provide more
information? Try something? Just ask.