System Update froze - UbuntuMATE 16-04

Thu Jun 21 15:46:16 UTC 2018

On 21/06/2018, Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 21/06/2018, Colin Watson <cjwatson at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, Jun 21, 2018 at 09:43:16AM +0100, Colin Law wrote:
>>> On 21 June 2018 at 09:32, Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > On 21/06/2018, Colin Law <clanlaw at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >> sync
>>> >
>>> > After about fifteen minutes, no displayed response - cursor goes onto
>>> > next line after the line in which the command is entered, an the
>>> > cursor sits there flashing at me, in an otherwise blank line.
>>> >
>>> > So, the command "sync" also appears to have been hanged (and, yes, I
>>> > do know the difference between hanged and hung :) ).
>>>
>>> So it is that bug that you are hitting.  The update runs sync to flush
>>> data to disc and that cannot complete for some reason.
>>
>> Well.  Yes, Bret is hitting the initramfs-tools bug you linked to above.
>> However, that only happens when the system is already in a bad way (in
>> that sync never completes), and *that* is not caused by initramfs-tools.
>>
>> Investigating what's causing the sync hang would involve poking through
>> system logs.  /var/log/syslog is the first place I'd look if I saw this
>> on one of my systems, as there are multiple possible causes: as well as
>> things like stuck remote filesystem mounts or whatever, it could also be
>> due to incipient disk failures that would cause the kernel to produce
>> alarming log messages.
>>
>
> Okay.
>
> In running less on that file in that path, I fing lots of errors
> relating to sdb1, which, from memory, is the HP USB external HDD. I
> note that I can not even check to what, sdb1 points.
>
> Now, given the state (unstable, I think, and, apparently, unlikely to
> be able to be rebooted, and, with no file management available) of the
> system, apart from waiting a few days, to find whether the file
> management will recover, during the current boot session, and, as no
> fix for the bug, appears to be available, what can I do, to fix this,
> before a bug fix becomes available, if a bug fix does become
> available?
>
> I can post a copy of an excerpt (possibly, tail) of the file syslog,
> if that helps.
>

"
root at bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE:/home/bret# tail -30 /var/log/syslog
Jun 21 23:23:08 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718469.945845]
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK
driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
Jun 21 23:23:08 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718469.945852]
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Hardware Error [current]
Jun 21 23:23:08 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718469.945859]
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Internal target failure
Jun 21 23:23:08 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718469.945866]
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Write(10) 2a 00 09 db 04 a0 00 00 f0 00
Jun 21 23:23:08 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718469.945871]
blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 165348512
Jun 21 23:23:43 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718504.654655]
[UFW BLOCK] IN=enp3s0 OUT=
MAC=01:00:5e:00:00:01:f8:ab:05:8e:34:fa:08:00 SRC=192.168.0.1
DST=224.0.0.1 LEN=36 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=1 ID=0 DF PROTO=2
Jun 21 23:25:48 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718629.650233]
[UFW BLOCK] IN=enp3s0 OUT=
MAC=01:00:5e:00:00:01:f8:ab:05:8e:34:fa:08:00 SRC=192.168.0.1
DST=224.0.0.1 LEN=36 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=1 ID=0 DF PROTO=2
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068124]
sd 3:0:0:0: timing out command, waited 180s
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068145]
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK
driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068152]
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Hardware Error [current]
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068159]
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Internal target failure
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068166]
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Write(10) 2a 00 09 db 05 90 00 00 f0 00
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068171]
blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 165348752
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068176]
buffer_io_error: 50 callbacks suppressed
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068180]
Buffer I/O error on dev sdb1, logical block 20668338, lost async page
write
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068193]
Buffer I/O error on dev sdb1, logical block 20668339, lost async page
write
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068198]
Buffer I/O error on dev sdb1, logical block 20668340, lost async page
write
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068203]
Buffer I/O error on dev sdb1, logical block 20668341, lost async page
write
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068208]
Buffer I/O error on dev sdb1, logical block 20668342, lost async page
write
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068213]
Buffer I/O error on dev sdb1, logical block 20668343, lost async page
write
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068217]
Buffer I/O error on dev sdb1, logical block 20668344, lost async page
write
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068222]
Buffer I/O error on dev sdb1, logical block 20668345, lost async page
write
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068227]
Buffer I/O error on dev sdb1, logical block 20668346, lost async page
write
Jun 21 23:26:07 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718648.068232]
Buffer I/O error on dev sdb1, logical block 20668347, lost async page
write
Jun 21 23:26:08 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718649.958811]
sd 3:0:0:0: timing out command, waited 180s
Jun 21 23:26:08 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718649.958829]
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK
driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
Jun 21 23:26:08 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718649.958836]
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Hardware Error [current]
Jun 21 23:26:08 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718649.958843]
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Internal target failure
Jun 21 23:26:08 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718649.958850]
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Write(10) 2a 00 09 db 06 80 00 00 f0 00
Jun 21 23:26:08 bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE kernel: [1718649.958854]
blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 165348992
root at bret-Inspiron-580-UbuntuMATE:/home/bret#
"

Oh, and, this computer has a weirdness in both moving (using cut and
paste) and copying (using copy and paste) multiple files; it starts in
10's of MB/s, and, slows down to 10's of kB/s and slower (10s of B/s),
after about a GB or so.

And, that happens, whether I try to move or copy files in either a
single block, or, in multiple sequential blocks ( a couple of hundred
MB at a time) - after about 2 or 3 GB, file transfer operations fail.

And, that applies to both moving files from one partition to another,
on the same internal HDD, and, moving files from one partition on the
internal HDD, to the external HDD.

On this computer I gave up, years ago, trying to download or move a
DVD (like an iso), as it would often hang. After a few hours, starting
at around a GB/s, and, slowing down to less than 10B/s, and, then, not
progressing for a few hours, it became untenable.

It has an i3CPU, and 16GB of RAM, and runs 64-bit Ubuntu Linux 16.04
(well, it kind of runs it, in the same way that a car with three
wheels, can kind of be driven).

And, sometimes, I have to terminate copying or moving files, when
progress stops.

So, this "feature" that was apparently included in 16.04.2, in all of
the circumstances, probably, instead of changing Ubuntu 16.04 to the
status of Debian sid, appears to have turned Ubuntu 16.04 and 18.04,
into the nature of Debian experimental, with all data at risk.

-- 
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
 Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
 "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
 A Trilogy In Four Parts",
 written by Douglas Adams,
 published by Pan Books, 1992

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