Please forgive me if I've sent this to the wrong address, it is the one
listed in the 2.4.21 sources in the MAINTAINERS file as the IDE
maintainer.

Okay, I've spent a LONG time (>48 hrs) trying to fix this problem on my own, and I
have no idea what is causing this totally weird behavior.

I just recently replaced a broken system with a new gigabyte GA-7VAXP
motherboard and an athlon XP 2600 cpu. The Gigabyte motherboard has the
Via VT82C586/B/686A/B (according to lspci -v) chipset on ide0, which is
being used for the WDC WD102AA hard disk (according to
/proc/ide/ide0/hda/model)

I have disabled everything I possibly could in the bios without making
it impossible to boot the system. I have tried using the original cables
from the old machine, as well as the new cables that came with the
motherboard. I have tried the hard disk in both master and cable select modes.
I have both enabled and disabled ACPI, to see if that would make it
work. I have tried moving the hard disk to a different ide channel. I
have removed all other hard disks from the system. (All are experiencing
the problems, not just this one) I have asked everyone I know that knows
anything about computers what could be wrong - most of their replies were
variants of the above.

The problem I'm seeing is, even with literally every single setting
disabled in hdparm, the system is VERY VERY SLOW, and I'm often seeing
'hda: lost interrupt' in console when I try to read/write a large amount
of data.

It's so bad I'm actually having to compile my kernels on a separate
pentium 1 133 because it's compiling them *faster* than my computer can.

I am currently using the 2.4.21 kernel, although I started trying this
on the 2.4.20 kernel. Both exhibit the same problem unfortunately.

I am familiar with patching kernels, and am able to fix cosmetic to
minor problems in source, so sending me a patch and saying 'try this'
isn't a problem.

I *am* willing to experiment and try using 2.5.whatever but *only* if
the ide maintainer or someone familiar with the ide subsystem tells me
that it's safe to use in a certain configuration. I don't want to lose
the data on my hard disk, it doesn't have a backup. (long story short, I
was about to do a backup on the machine when the motherboard blewup.
Seriously!)

If someone gives me a patch which makes the machine stable and able to
work even if it's *slow* I'll be happy. I don't want the thing to lose
data, and the message the kernel is giving me could be really really bad
IIRC if it's trying to write when it loses the interrupt. :(

I currently am limited to using a keyboard only, and I'm stuck in
console as I am unable to use X windows due to problems I was attempting
to fix before the original system blewup. So... it's hard for me to copy
and paste anything - I have to type it in manually. I would fix X, but
considering doing 'make dep' on a 2.4.21 kernel currently takes longer
on my XP 2600 system than it does to compile the *entire kernel* on a P1
133 (I'm stone cold serious.) ... ... ... No. Until I can get this fixed, I can't fix X.

I have attached output from lspci -v, /proc/interrupts, my kernel
.config and /proc/ioports in the hopes it is useful to you.
(You'll likely notice I've thrown the kitchen sink at it. *shrugs*)

If you can think of *anything* I can send you that might clear up this
problem, ask for it.

Special note: Please send all followups to this address, as I do not
have a subscription to the linux kernel mailing list. (Although I don't
mind followups that wind up on the list too - I just won't see them :)

Timothy C. McGrath