[Bug 64548] System logs fill with cdrom errors (1 GB per 20 minutes)

[kko]

Public bug reported:

I am at a loss to diagnose what causes this. Faulty hardware, faulty
kernel, faulty compact disc (except that I _think_ the drive was empty
after I had removed the disc)?

I am using Ubuntu Breezy.

Today I noticed that my root partition was full, even though it was
supposed to have 1 GB free. I suspected some error messages were
flooding the log. I had been using Konqueror to convert music from music
CD's (of various make and age) with two of my drives.

What I found in three logfiles (syslog, kern.log, messages), was these four messages:
Oct  7 14:23:54 mymachine kernel: [4303409.960000] cdrom: dropping to old style cdda (sense=4)
Oct  7 14:23:54 mymachine kernel: [4303409.960000] hdd: packet command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
Oct  7 14:23:54 mymachine kernel: [4303409.960000] hdd: packet command error: error=0x54 { AbortedCommand LastFailedSense=0x05 }
Oct  7 14:23:54 mymachine kernel: [4303409.960000] ide: failed opcode was: unknown

...and the last three of these messages kept repeating indefinitely,
until the three files were all above 350 MB, totaling about 1 GB. This
had been going on for 20 minutes, i.e. until the root partition filled.

The drive either fails to read a disc, or fails to identify that the
drive is empty. Sometimes it also fails to eject nicely, having to use
"sudo" to eject, but I don't know if this is connected. I had used "sudo
eject /dev/hdd" on this drive twice. The first time it didn't eject,
just opened and closed the tray. The second time it ejected. This _seems
to_ possibly have triggered the errors.


hdparm -i (after the incident) shows this:
/dev/hdd:

 Model=DVD-ROM DDU1621, FwRev=VER S2.9, SerialNo=
 Config={ Fixed Removeable DTR<=5Mbs DTR>10Mbs nonMagnetic }
 RawCHS=0/0/0, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=0
 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=0
 (maybe): CurCHS=0/0/0, CurSects=0, LBA=yes, LBAsects=0
 IORDY=yes, tPIO={min:227,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:150}
 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
 DMA modes:  sdma0 sdma1 sdma2 mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2
 AdvancedPM=no

 * signifies the current active mode

hdparm (after the incident) shows this:
/dev/hdd:
 IO_support   =  0 (default 16-bit)
 unmaskirq    =  0 (off)
 using_dma    =  0 (off)
 keepsettings =  0 (off)
 readonly     =  0 (off)
 readahead    = 256 (on)
 HDIO_GETGEO failed: Invalid argument


If I remember, I'll check this after a clean boot, and see if it's different. (I believe it is, it should be using dma.)

** Affects: linux-source-2.6.12 (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Needs Info

-- 
System logs fill with cdrom errors (1 GB per 20 minutes)
https://launchpad.net/bugs/64548