[ubuntu-za] Hard disk issues

Thu Jun 28 14:16:37 UTC 2012

Hi Guys

I'm having more and more issues with my harddrive (I think).  My machine 
seems to freeze for short periods of time for no apparent reason.  
Looking at the syslog, there appears to be an issue with my hard drive.  
It's only a few months old so I'm quite surprised about this.

Here's an extract from syslog:

Jun 28 15:55:07 tatooine kernel: [  156.808487]          res 
41/40:08:90:49:fd/00:00:08:00:00/00 Emask 0x409 (media error) <F>
Jun 28 15:55:07 tatooine kernel: [  156.808495] ata1.00: status: { DRDY 
ERR }
Jun 28 15:55:07 tatooine kernel: [  156.808500] ata1.00: error: { UNC }
Jun 28 15:55:07 tatooine kernel: [  156.914710] ata1.00: configured for 
UDMA/133
Jun 28 15:55:07 tatooine kernel: [  156.914736] ata1: EH complete
Jun 28 15:55:10 tatooine kernel: [  159.515301] ata1.00: exception Emask 
0x0 SAct 0xf SErr 0x0 action 0x0
Jun 28 15:55:10 tatooine kernel: [  159.515311] ata1.00: irq_stat 0x40000008
Jun 28 15:55:10 tatooine kernel: [  159.515319] ata1.00: failed command: 
READ FPDMA QUEUED
Jun 28 15:55:10 tatooine kernel: [  159.515335] ata1.00: cmd 
60/08:08:90:49:fd/00:00:08:00:00/40 tag 1 ncq 4096 in
Jun 28 15:55:10 tatooine kernel: [  159.515338]          res 
41/40:08:90:49:fd/00:00:08:00:00/00 Emask 0x409 (media error) <F>
Jun 28 15:55:10 tatooine kernel: [  159.515346] ata1.00: status: { DRDY 
ERR }
Jun 28 15:55:10 tatooine kernel: [  159.515351] ata1.00: error: { UNC }
Jun 28 15:55:10 tatooine kernel: [  159.573561] ata1.00: configured for 
UDMA/133
Jun 28 15:55:10 tatooine kernel: [  159.573587] ata1: EH complete
Jun 28 15:55:10 tatooine dbus[943]: [system] Failed to activate service 
'org.freedesktop.PackageKit': timed out
Jun 28 15:55:12 tatooine kernel: [  162.198450] ata1.00: exception Emask 
0x0 SAct 0xe SErr 0x0 action 0x0
Jun 28 15:55:12 tatooine kernel: [  162.198461] ata1.00: irq_stat 0x40000008
Jun 28 15:55:12 tatooine kernel: [  162.198469] ata1.00: failed command: 
READ FPDMA QUEUED
Jun 28 15:55:12 tatooine kernel: [  162.198485] ata1.00: cmd 
60/08:10:90:49:fd/00:00:08:00:00/40 tag 2 ncq 4096 in
Jun 28 15:55:12 tatooine kernel: [  162.198489]          res 
41/40:08:90:49:fd/00:00:08:00:00/00 Emask 0x409 (media error) <F>
Jun 28 15:55:12 tatooine kernel: [  162.198496] ata1.00: status: { DRDY 
ERR }
Jun 28 15:55:12 tatooine kernel: [  162.198502] ata1.00: error: { UNC }
Jun 28 15:55:12 tatooine kernel: [  162.256765] ata1.00: configured for 
UDMA/133
Jun 28 15:55:12 tatooine kernel: [  162.256789] ata1: EH complete
Jun 28 15:55:19 tatooine acvpnagent[1490]: Function: 
tableCallbackHandler File: RouteMgr.cpp Line: 1694 Invoked Function: 
recv Return Code: 11 (0x0000000B) Description: unknown
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.880069] ata1.00: qc timeout (cmd 
0x2f)
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.880086] ata1: failed to read log 
page 10h (errno=-5)
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.880631] ata1.00: exception Emask 
0x1 SAct 0x7 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.881334] ata1.00: irq_stat 0x40000008
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.881730] ata1.00: failed command: 
READ FPDMA QUEUED
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.882253] ata1.00: cmd 
60/08:00:60:61:c5/00:00:00:00:00/40 tag 0 ncq 4096 in
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.882256]          res 
40/00:10:60:14:ce/00:00:07:00:00/40 Emask 0x1 (device error)
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.883763] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.884166] ata1.00: failed command: 
READ FPDMA QUEUED
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.884698] ata1.00: cmd 
60/08:08:90:49:fd/00:00:08:00:00/40 tag 1 ncq 4096 in
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.884701]          res 
40/00:10:60:14:ce/00:00:07:00:00/40 Emask 0x1 (device error)
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.886194] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.886562] ata1.00: failed command: 
READ FPDMA QUEUED
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.887083] ata1.00: cmd 
60/00:10:60:14:ce/02:00:07:00:00/40 tag 2 ncq 262144 in
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.887086]          res 
40/00:10:60:14:ce/00:00:07:00:00/40 Emask 0x1 (device error)
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.888618] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  169.888993] ata1: hard resetting link
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  170.380060] ata1: SATA link up 1.5 
Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  170.383440] ata1.00: ACPI cmd 
f5/00:00:00:00:00:a0 (SECURITY FREEZE LOCK) filtered out
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  170.383451] ata1.00: ACPI cmd 
b1/c1:00:00:00:00:a0 (DEVICE CONFIGURATION OVERLAY) filtered out
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  170.383734] ata1.00: ACPI cmd 
c6/00:10:00:00:00:a0 (SET MULTIPLE MODE) succeeded
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  170.383743] ata1.00: ACPI cmd 
ef/10:03:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) filtered out
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  170.387941] ata1.00: ACPI cmd 
f5/00:00:00:00:00:a0 (SECURITY FREEZE LOCK) filtered out
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  170.387951] ata1.00: ACPI cmd 
b1/c1:00:00:00:00:a0 (DEVICE CONFIGURATION OVERLAY) filtered out
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  170.388198] ata1.00: ACPI cmd 
c6/00:10:00:00:00:a0 (SET MULTIPLE MODE) succeeded
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  170.388208] ata1.00: ACPI cmd 
ef/10:03:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) filtered out
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  170.389077] ata1.00: configured for 
UDMA/133
Jun 28 15:55:20 tatooine kernel: [  170.404078] ata1: EH complete
Jun 28 15:55:23 tatooine kernel: [  173.005225] ata1.00: exception Emask 
0x0 SAct 0x6 SErr 0x0 action 0x0
Jun 28 15:55:23 tatooine kernel: [  173.005902] ata1.00: irq_stat 0x40000008
Jun 28 15:55:23 tatooine kernel: [  173.006310] ata1.00: failed command: 
READ FPDMA QUEUED
Jun 28 15:55:23 tatooine kernel: [  173.006850] ata1.00: cmd 
60/08:08:90:49:fd/00:00:08:00:00/40 tag 1 ncq 4096 in
Jun 28 15:55:23 tatooine kernel: [  173.006854]          res 
41/40:08:90:49:fd/00:00:08:00:00/00 Emask 0x409 (media error) <F>
Jun 28 15:55:23 tatooine kernel: [  173.008482] ata1.00: status: { DRDY 
ERR }
Jun 28 15:55:23 tatooine kernel: [  173.008896] ata1.00: error: { UNC }
Jun 28 15:55:23 tatooine kernel: [  173.071752] ata1.00: configured for 
UDMA/133
Jun 28 15:55:23 tatooine kernel: [  173.071776] ata1: EH complete
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.696678] ata1.00: exception Emask 
0x0 SAct 0x3 SErr 0x0 action 0x0
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.697335] ata1.00: irq_stat 0x40000008
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.697732] ata1.00: failed command: 
READ FPDMA QUEUED
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.698256] ata1.00: cmd 
60/08:08:90:49:fd/00:00:08:00:00/40 tag 1 ncq 4096 in
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.698260]          res 
41/40:08:90:49:fd/00:00:08:00:00/00 Emask 0x409 (media error) <F>
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.699799] ata1.00: status: { DRDY 
ERR }
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.700231] ata1.00: error: { UNC }
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.763188] ata1.00: configured for 
UDMA/133
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.763224] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 
Unhandled sense code
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.763230] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 
Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.763239] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Sense 
Key : Medium Error [current] [descriptor]
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.763250] Descriptor sense data 
with sense descriptors (in hex):
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.763255]         72 03 11 04 00 
00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.763285]         08 fd 49 90
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.763292] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Add. 
Sense: Unrecovered read error - auto reallocate failed
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.763300] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] CDB: 
Read(10): 28 00 08 fd 49 90 00 00 08 00
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.763314] end_request: I/O error, 
dev sda, sector 150817168
Jun 28 15:55:26 tatooine kernel: [  175.763655] ata1: EH complete

I ran the disk utility and found these two items highlight:

5. Reallocated Sector Count  - 140 sectors
Count of remapped sectors. When the hard drive finds a 
read/write/verification error, it marks the sector as "reallocated" and 
transfers data to a special reserved area (spare area)

197. Current Pending Sector Count  - 64 sectors
Number of sectors waiting to be remapped.  If the sectors waiting to be 
remapped is subsequently written or read successfully, the value is 
decreased and the sector is not remapped.  Read errors on the sector 
will not remap the sector, it will only be remapped on a failed write 
attempt.

Anything I can do to improve the situation?  Unfortunately, replacing 
the harddrive at this stage is not an option.

Regards
Charl