Filesystem corruption, data loss on usb drives, and more problems with FC2

[Fernando Perez]

James Wilkinson wrote:
> Fernando Perez wrote:
> 
>>Clean, custom (over FTP) install of Fedora2 Final.
>>
>>System: Dell Optiplex GX-270 (Pentium 4, 2.8GHz, 120 GB Hard disk, 1 GB RAM,
>>NVidia GeForce 4MX video card, Dell 2000FP LCD, correctly identified and
>>working at 1600x1200 resolution).  This machine was previously running
>>Fedora1, but a clean install (not an upgrade) was done.
>>
>><snip>
>>This system has Hyperthreading activated in the BIOS.  Fedora installed both
>>an SMP and a UP kernel, I have done tests with both.  All critical bugs 
>>listed below have been reproduced with both kernels.
>>
>>I am running the stock kernels from the Fedora install, along with the Xorg
>>'nv' NVidia driver, which works ok (albeit with no 3d acceleration).  So no
>>issues can be attributed to third-party kernel modules.
>>
>>Root filesystem corruption - CRITICAL, DATA LOSS
>>------------------------------------------------
>>
>>/ became 'read-only' after a very large build (rebuilding a large .src.rpm, 
>>~ 3 hours of very cpu-intensive C++ compilation).  I have never seen this 
>>before. Obviously once the system thought that '/' was read-only, shit hit 
>>the fan pretty quickly.
> 
> 
> I know you've said that this system ran FC1, but have you checked the
> memory on the system (try memtest86)?

This machine DID have hardware problems after a power outage a few weeks ago, 
so just recently I ran pretty extensive hardware diagnostics.  The memory 
reported OK (I used Dell's memory testing CD so their tech support people 
would acknowledge something, but I could retest with memtest86).  The 
motherboard and power supply were flaky, so those got replaced, and are brand new.

> One alternative is that your hard drive is dying. Although you gave lots
> of specs (thank you), you didn't mention the HD manufacturer. You may
> want to see if they have any diagnostic disks available (the IBM /
> Hitachi ones are good, for example).

The hard disk is also a brand new Seagate Barracuda (7200rpm) which I 
purchased separately last week, because I needed more space.  The box had a 
40GB disk and this one is 120GB.  So I guess it could have come faulty out of 
the box...

> You probably don't want to invalidate your warranty, but trying to
> reproduce with a different hard disk and different memory would be
> interesting. It smells like dodgy hardware to me.

First I'll try to use one of Arjan's kernels and see what happens.  I'm 
definitely seeing usb-storage problems which are critical to me (we use 
external USB flash disks, hard disks and DVD burners, so that's a 
showstopper).  Since many others are reporting USB problems as well, I'm sure 
this one is not my hardware.

> For the record, yes, I see the DPMS problem too, although I haven't
> looked into it yet.

Another annoyance, hopefully someone will look into it.  I'll file on bugzilla 
later, since this one has been confirmed by several people already (on and 
off-list).

Thanks,

f.