FC3 and Drive Errors

[Rick Stevens]

On Mon, 2006-09-18 at 14:04 -0400, mylar wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am running Fedora Core 3 on a Dell Dimension 4700 desktop. It's a dual
> boot machine. Windows resides on a 80 Gb SATA drive and Linux on a
> regular 200 Gb ATA IDE drive attached to the PATA controller. When
> running FC3 the system has been working fine for well over a year but of
> late has been freezing up every now and  then. Everytime it freezes and
> I go over the system logs I am seeing the following drive errors
> occuring just prior to the system crashing...
> 
> 
> > Sep 18 04:02:20 brooklyn kernel: hdb: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady
> > SeekComplete Error }
> > Sep 18 04:02:20 brooklyn kernel: hdb: dma_intr: error=0x84
> > { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
> > Sep 18 04:02:20 brooklyn kernel: ide: failed opcode was: unknown
> > Sep 18 04:02:20 brooklyn kernel: hdb: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady
> > SeekComplete Error }
> > Sep 18 04:02:20 brooklyn kernel: hdb: dma_intr: error=0x84
> > { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
> > Sep 18 04:02:20 brooklyn kernel: ide: failed opcode was: unknown
> > Sep 18 04:02:20 brooklyn kernel: hdb: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady
> > SeekComplete Error }
> > Sep 18 04:02:20 brooklyn kernel: hdb: dma_intr: error=0x84
> > { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
> > Sep 18 04:02:20 brooklyn kernel: ide: failed opcode was: unknown
> 
> Any ideas what might be going on ? Is the drive going bad on me ? 
> I am going to doi a check for bad blocks and see what happens. Any  other ideas,
> hints, suggestions would be appreciated.

Those kinds of errors are usually indicative of a dying drive.  You're
receiving CRC errors on the DMA transfers and seek incomplete errors.

This can also be caused by a dying power supply--particularly the +12VDC
side of things, since that's what's used to turn the spindle and move
the heads.  If you have the technical competence and a multimeter, check
the voltages AT THE DRIVE using the meter.  You want the +12VDC level at
about 12.7 to 13.0 volts.  IIRC, the 12V should be between the black
(ground) and yellow wires on the drive connector.  If they're low, you
should think about a new power supply.

If the voltages seem OK, then plan on a new drive in the near future.
While you're in there, also make sure all the fans are running well
(they do wear out).  You could also blow dust out using a can of Dust
Off.  Use care so you don't force dirt down into any of the connectors
such as the CPU, memory, PCI bus, etc.  It's amazing how much crud
accumulates in a case.

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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-      Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.       -
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