IDE controller in Core 1

[Rick Stevens]

Mark Susol|Ultimate Creative Media wrote:
> I've had some troubles with hardware on a 1U server I have running Fedora
> Core1. The slave drive seems to be the main issue. The original slave drive
> came up with a bunch of bad sector errors after only a short time deployed.
> 
> Now I made a copy of the slave drive and put in a new one. I'm still having
> troubles with this drive now..although different issues.
> 
> On start up I get in dmsg:
> 
> hdb: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
> hdb: dma_intr: error=0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
> hdb: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
> hdb: dma_intr: error=0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
> hdb: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
> hdb: dma_intr: error=0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
> hdb: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
> hdb: dma_intr: error=0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
> hda: DMA disabled
> ide0: reset: success
> 
> But under really heavy load, I start will see the following come up and a
> manual reboot is required:
> 
> May 25 14:45:12 startbox kernel: EXT3-fs error (device ide0(3,66)):
> ext3_get_inode_loc: unable to read inode block - inode=9618429,
> block=19234849
> 
> And then it will start this on reboot
> 
> May 25 15:37:08 startbox kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev 03:42 (hdb),
> sector 142873472
> May 25 15:37:08 startbox kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev 03:42 (hdb),
> sector 38333656
> May 25 15:37:09 startbox kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev 03:42 (hdb),
> sector 38333656
> 
> So do I have a problem with IDE drivers in this kenerl from the Fedora core
> 1 CDs ?

No, you have a dying drive.  A "SeekComplete Error" is indicative of the
drive's heads losing track of where they are.  This can be caused by a
bad head positioning actuator or by the drive losing some of its timing
and track marks on the bottom platter.  It's time for a new drive.  A
low-level format won't fix it either.  Trust me.  I used to build hard
drives for a living.  Throw it away.  Don't tempt yourself to try it
again.  It's a doorstop or a paperweight...it ain't a drive anymore.
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-     Try to look unimportant.  The bad guys may be low on ammo.     -
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