Mac Pro seeing Rocket as x4 lane instead of x16

[Nick Pasquariello]

I'm on site on a shoot with a mid-2010 12-core Mac Pro. Slot 1 is my graphics card (NVidia Quadro FX 4800), and About This Mac indicates it sees that as link width x16. Slot 2 is the rocket, which should be a x16 capable slot. Slot 3 is no card (SDI out for the rocket). Slot 4 is a new Atto card for mini-SAS to eSATA.

I moved the rocket around a bit yesterday as I was installing the Atto. Put the rocket in slot 4 (to move it away from the fan of the NVidia) before booting up the machine and finding out that only two of the PCIe slots are x16. Swapped it back into slot 2.

But now, it's only seeing it as x4. I tried re-seating the card already. Has anyone had this problem? RedCineX warns me on opening that the card is only in a x4 lane (even though I am CERTAIN it's in a x16 lane, and fully seated). Any ideas how to fix it?

(sorry for any typos; posting this from my phone)

[Tom.Wong]

You may need to reflash firmware and reinstall drivers. Moving the card to a different slot than its normally in can cause confusion with the rocket. Id make sure the card is in safe mode first with the #8 dipswitch and have all power drawn from the system for a few min first. Ran into similar issues that helped remedy it, but in the end my rocket was damaged and needed to be replaced. Hoping its not the same case with you.

Id also double check ur qc on ur rendered footage for any render artifacts.


On a side not did u recently flash ne new firmware at all?

[Nick Pasquariello]

I think I updated the firmware/driver about 2 months ago. Driver 1.4.19.0 is the latest, right? I can certainly try reinstalling when I get some down time. That was my next thought to try, but I wanted to get some external device before I have our DIT station down for yet more time today.

Thankfully, this Atto card has improved speeds IMMENSELY. Night and day between eSATA and FireWire.

[Tom.Wong]

and if your speeds aren't really effected at all than it's just a glitch, pretty common actually. I've seen rockets show up as 4x but still work just as fast.

and the h680 is the only card i'd ever want in a tower these days for esata. nothing just feels anywhere close to being up to snuff. in stability and speed.

[Andreas Mendritzki]

Similar to a problem we experienced a while ago.

As far as I understand, you've got to watch out for total bandwidth usage as well as priority order once you start filling up your pci bays. The thing is that even though the slot may be 16, the computer has a lane limit overall and it is less than the total (ie, 2x16, 1x8 and 1x4 should equal 44 but the actual total bandwidth is 36 [fyi i'm just pulling those numbers randomly as an example]). Try removing one of your other cards and see if performance improves rocket-wise. I'll see if our tech guy can explain a little better. . .

[Nick Pasquariello]

That explanation makes sense, Andreas, but the question is: how do I find out my total available lanes? I checked Mactracker (free iPhone app that lists the specs of every Apple product ever released), and it only tells me that the first two slots are x16 while the last two are x4. If I only have 24 total lanes, that adds up right to limit me, but how do I know for sure?

Edit: I reinstalled the firmware and drivers for the Rocket: no change.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Similar to a problem we experienced a while ago.

As far as I understand, you've got to watch out for total bandwidth usage as well as priority order once you start filling up your pci bays. The thing is that even though the slot may be 16, the computer has a lane limit overall and it is less than the total (ie, 2x16, 1x8 and 1x4 should equal 44 but the actual total bandwidth is 36 [fyi i'm just pulling those numbers randomly as an example]). Try removing one of your other cards and see if performance improves rocket-wise. I'll see if our tech guy can explain a little better. . .

The slots in the 2009 and 2010 Mac Pro (current model as of this post) are fixed at X16 each for slot 1 and 2. And X4 each for slot 3 and 4. There is no X8 slot in a Mac Pro, with the exception of the '06/07 model that allowed for PCIe lane assignment and that one indeed had restrictions as you listed. There are 40 lanes of bandwidth divided amongst the slots as they are assigned... No limits to watch out for as you speak of on this model tower.

It might be a firmware issue. It may also be a PCIe configuration issue, which is usually cached in your system PRAM. If it is in slot 2, all 8 lanes should register.

Here's what I would do...

Power down and pull the Rocket card from the slot. Power up holding CMD+P+R. That will clear your system PRAM it will chime, continue to hold the keys until the system chimes a second time. Once the system has loaded, shut down and power off as normal. Reinstall the card. Start up and see what it reports.

[Nick Pasquariello]

I did try flashing the PRAM today, but I didn't do so while having the Rocket removed. I'll give that a shot first thing tomorrow.

I'm definitely getting the benefit of having a rocket, as transcoding about 200GB of Red Raws throughout the day finished by the time the day was over. But I prefer to have everything in perfect working condition, and a Rocket telling me it's only at half bandwidth is a bit disconcerting.

[Tom.Wong]

if you haven't seen any drop in performance, it's most likely a bug in the firmware. I know a few other people that have the same problem but don't worry about it since transcoding performance is the same. but it could also be an early sign of damage to the rocket so I'd still do all the checks.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

If all the above steps don't clear it, then best to file a support ticket with RED. There's also a chance it could be a PCIe issue with the compeer as well. You could always relocate the Rocket to Slot 1 and see what it reports there or place it in a different computer to see what happens.