ATA problems and boot problems.

[fred smith]

On Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 09:18:06AM -0400, Robert Cahn wrote:
> I'm running F8.  Yesterday the system froze.  Now when I boot half the time
> I get
> 
> "Booting Fedora 2.6.25.11-60.fc8
> root (hd0,1)
> Error 5" Partition table invalid or corrupt"
> 
> The other half of the time when I boot up I'm getting lots of errors.  Here
> are ones I see when the system boots
> 
> Sep 11 08:41:34 localhost kernel: ata3.00: exception Emask 0x12 SAct 0x0
> SErr 0x780401 action 0x2
> Sep 11 08:41:34 localhost kernel: ata3.00: BMDMA stat 0x4
> Sep 11 08:41:34 localhost kernel: ata3: SError: { RecovData Proto 10B8B
> Dispar BadCRC Handshk }
> Sep 11 08:41:34 localhost kernel: ata3.00: cmd
> 25/00:08:b8:03:ec/00:00:11:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
> Sep 11 08:41:34 localhost kernel:          res
> 51/84:00:bf:03:ec/84:00:11:00:00/e0 Emask 0x12 (ATA bus error)
> Sep 11 08:41:34 localhost kernel: ata3.00: status: { DRDY ERR }
> Sep 11 08:41:34 localhost kernel: ata3.00: error: { ICRC ABRT }
> Sep 11 08:41:34 localhost kernel: ata3: soft resetting link
> Sep 11 08:41:34 localhost kernel: ata3: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113
> SControl 310)
> Sep 11 08:41:34 localhost kernel: ata3.00: configured for UDMA/33
> Sep 11 08:41:34 localhost kernel: ata3: EH complete
> Sep 11 08:41:34 localhost kernel: sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] 312581808 512-byte
> hardware sectors (160042 MB)
> Sep 11 08:41:34 localhost kernel: sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
> Sep 11 08:41:34 localhost kernel: sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled,
> read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
> 
> My question is does this appear to be a HW or SW problem?  Can anyone
> interpret the ata errors and the partition table error for me.

I'd venture to say you've got a hardware problem, quite possibly a
flaky hard drive, though it could be other things, e.g. a bad/loose
HD cable, some problem with the mommyboard, or simply system (or drive)
overheating.

I'd open it up, clean out all the dirt (if you have cats in the house
as we do here, it's probably full of fur), make sure all the fans are
working (and not especially noisy--implying they're on their last legs),
and that there's good air flow over the hard drive(s), then pull and 
re-seat each HD power and data cable, then try again. If none of that
helps, it's time to go buy a new hard drive.

-- 
---- Fred Smith -- fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us -----------------------------
                      The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, 
                    keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
----------------------------- Proverbs 15:3 (niv) -----------------------------
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