That's because openbsd mounts the filesystem in asychronous mode on install
(like linux ext2fs runs all the time) but does not on upgrade (so that
you don't potentially lose significant amounts of data in a crash)
If you aren't using asychronous mounts, a lot more data gets written when
the filesystem changes. Combine this with the Elan SC420's PIO mode for
data transfers and you experience 3 hours of suffering, like you describe.
If you can create a complete disk image that you write to the flash on
upgrade, you will have a better experience. If you must use your flash like
a hard disk, try and upgrade to a 4801 or 5501 where you can use DMA modes
with the CF (and find a suitable high-speed flash that implements it, which
yours might alreay do.) By the way, older 4801s don't have DMA wired to the
CF port.
C. Bensend [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> Hey folks,
>
> I have a 4501 running the latest ComBIOS (1.31b), booting OpenBSD
> 4.1-STABLE on a CF card. Everything works great.
>
> However, something I'm very curious about... When I choose the
> (I)nstall option in the OpenBSD installer, I can install a new -STABLE
> build of the OS from the CF card in about 24 minutes. That time
> includes formatting the CF and everything.
>
> If I choose (U)pgrade, it takes over 3 *hours* to install the same
> -STABLE build off the same CF card. As the tarballs are installing,
> I get the usual progress meter, but the larger ones time out over and
> over again, saying "-- stalled --". Keep in mind, each time I test
> this, I have copied the entire distribution to the CF card, and have
> selected "disk" as the source of the tarballs. Nothing's going over
> the network whatsoever.
>
> Again, everything works perfectly when the OS is running. But I'm
> really, really curious to know why this happens. It _always_ completes
> successfully, the OS always runs fine, and I see no instabilities.
>
> I'd appreciate it if someone could give it a think, and offer any
> reasons...
>
> Thanks much!
>
> Benny
>
> ps: Dmesg follows:
>
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~]$ dmesg
> OpenBSD 4.1-stable (GENERIC) #25: Sun Aug 19 06:05:51 CDT 2007
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/GENERIC
> cpu0: AMD Am486DX4 W/B or Am5x86 W/B 150 ("AuthenticAMD" 486-class)
> cpu0: FPU
> real mem = 66678784 (65116K)
> avail mem = 52539392 (51308K)
> using 844 buffers containing 3457024 bytes (3376K) of memory
> mainbus0 (root)
> bios0 at mainbus0: AT/286+ BIOS, date 20/70/14, BIOS32 rev. 0 @ 0xf7840
> pcibios0 at bios0: rev 2.0 @ 0xf0000/0x10000
> pcibios0: pcibios_get_intr_routing - function not supported
> pcibios0: PCI IRQ Routing information unavailable.
> pcibios0: PCI bus #0 is the last bus
> bios0: ROM list: 0xc8000/0x9000
> cpu0 at mainbus0
> pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1 (bios)
> elansc0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0 "AMD ElanSC520 PCI" rev 0x00: product 0
> stepping 0.1, CPU clock 133MHz, reset 0
> gpio0 at elansc0: 32 pins
> sis0 at pci0 dev 18 function 0 "NS DP83815 10/100" rev 0x00, DP83815D: irq
> 10, address 00:00:24:c0:04:ec
> nsphyter0 at sis0 phy 0: DP83815 10/100 PHY, rev. 1
> sis1 at pci0 dev 19 function 0 "NS DP83815 10/100" rev 0x00, DP83815D: irq
> 11, address 00:00:24:c0:04:ed
> nsphyter1 at sis1 phy 0: DP83815 10/100 PHY, rev. 1
> sis2 at pci0 dev 20 function 0 "NS DP83815 10/100" rev 0x00, DP83815D: irq
> 5, address 00:00:24:c0:04:ee
> nsphyter2 at sis2 phy 0: DP83815 10/100 PHY, rev. 1
> isa0 at mainbus0
> isadma0 at isa0
> pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60/5
> pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot)
> pckbc0: using irq 1 for kbd slot
> wskbd0 at pckbd0: console keyboard
> wdc0 at isa0 port 0x1f0/8 irq 14
> wd0 at wdc0 channel 0 drive 0: <SanDisk SDCFH-2048>
> wd0: 4-sector PIO, LBA, 1953MB, 4001760 sectors
> wd0(wdc0:0:0): using BIOS timings
> pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61
> midi0 at pcppi0: <PC speaker>
> spkr0 at pcppi0
> npx0 at isa0 port 0xf0/16: reported by CPUID; using exception 16
> pccom0 at isa0 port 0x3f8/8 irq 4: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
> pccom0: console
> pccom1 at isa0 port 0x2f8/8 irq 3: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
> biomask f3c5 netmask ffe5 ttymask ffe7
> pctr: no performance counters in CPU
> dkcsum: wd0 matches BIOS drive 0x80
> root on wd0a
> rootdev=0x0 rrootdev=0x300 rawdev=0x302
>
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