[PlanetCCRMA] setpci stuff...

[Ryan Gallagher]

Hi,

As a resut of some requests for more info I'll try to summarize... as
Mark K. points out caution is in order here...

Run;

/sbin/lspci -v

Look for information regarding your audio card and your ide bus. 
Here's an exerpt from my machine;

00:04.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
(prog-if 80 [Master])
        Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop-
ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap- 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium
>TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 48
        Region 4: I/O ports at b800 [size=16]

00:0b.0 Multimedia audio controller: IC Ensemble Inc ICE1712 [Envy24]
(rev 02)
        Subsystem: IC Ensemble Inc: Unknown device d632
        Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop-
ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium
>TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 56
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 9
        Region 0: I/O ports at b000 [size=32]
        Region 1: I/O ports at a800 [size=16]
        Region 2: I/O ports at a400 [size=16]
        Region 3: I/O ports at a000 [size=64]
        Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 1
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA
PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-


Important things to note are;

1. the latency setting for the devices in question
2. the first set of numbers identifying the pci device (00:04.1 is my
ide controller, 00:0b.0 is my audio card)

Running;

/sbin/setpci -v -d *:* latency_timer=50

Sets all pci devices latency timers to a conservative setting

/sbin/setpci -v -s 00:0b.0 latency_timer=F8

Sets my sound card to a more aggressive setting

Be aware "numbers" above (50 and F8) are hexadecimal.  Also BIGGER
latency settings means the device is more greedy.

Of course this is a very brief un-technical look at the issue, I'd
suggest doing some research before trying any of this.  On the other
hand don't be discouraged as I really did see a night and day
difference in performance both in terms of audio latency and hd
throughput.

later,
ryan

=====
--r--

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