From alsa-user-owner@alsa.jcu.cz  Mon Oct 26 17:07:28 1998
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Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 17:03:38 +0100 (CET)
From: Jaroslav Kysela <perex@jcu.cz>
To: sterwill@io.nu
cc: alsa-user@jcu.cz
Subject: Re: Machine locks on record, ALSA to blame?
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On Mon, 26 Oct 1998 sterwill@io.nu wrote:

> > I also use a TB Malibu and am having lockup problems when recording. But
> 
> I'm quite sure it is NOT the Malibu card.  I had these exact problems
> with the Gus PnP, but not with the Ultra drivers (or maybe it was
> some other piece of software at the time), but only with ALSA (or
> around the time of the switch).  In fact, I bought the Malibu for
> two reasons... because the GUS had a noisy DSP, and I thought maybe
> this lockup thing would go away.

Hmm. I'm sorry for computer lockups, but seems that problem is more deep
than looks if there is affected most code. I was think to these days that
ALSA is pretty stable (except some S3 SonicVibes code and ES1371 code).

I'm not sure, but these kind of problems should be caused by ISA DMA
controllers. There was a big discussion about this theme on Linux kernel
mailing list. Seems that some motherboards have trouble with accesses to
residue counters. I removed DMA enable/disable sequence before some weeks
ago, but maybe some motherboards needs it.. Can you try change line:

#undef SND_DISABLE_DMA_WHEN_RESIDUE

to 

#define SND_DISABLE_DMA_WHEN_RESIDUE

in kernel/isadma.c source file? Please, write me, if it helps...

> > How consistent is that? Does it ever lock much sooner or later? See, I'm
> > getting lockups, and the timing seems completely random! Sometimes I can
> > record full-duplex for 10 minutes, sometimes it locks up instantly, but
> > sooner or later it inevitably locks...
> 
> My lockups are completely consistent.  I'm not sure 20 seconds is the
> threshold (because I really don't want to reboot 30 times to find out),

Yes, unpredictable lockups looks to some hardware problems (as bad ISA
DMA controller).

							Jaroslav

-----
Jaroslav Kysela <perex@jcu.cz>
Academic Computer Centre, University of South Bohemia
Branisovska 31, C. Budejovice, CZ-370 05 Czech Republic


