Greetings,

I'm looking for direction on how to resolve some ext3 harddrive issues.

I'm using a desktop with RedHat 8 installed with all the patches being
uptodate. The CPU is a PIII-1.4GHZ, two ide drives (details below), 1GB
of memory. I've setup the the filesystems to be ext3.

(Details on the drives are given below along with some log file errors).

From time to time when I leave the machine idle and the screensavers
start and run for a while it looks as though my drives become
inoperable. Doing a cold reboot along with an fsck of all partitions
seems to bring it back to normal and (luckily) there has been no
data loss. (See the log file entries included for the reported errors).

Is this an indication of bad drives?
Should I wipe out the installation and setup the drives using ext2?
Is it something else?

Much thanks in advance!

Max Pyziur
pyz@brama.com
pyz@panix.com

############ /var/log/messages* info #############

Aug 10 21:59:26 deckard kernel: hda: dma_timer_expiry: dma status == 0x61
Aug 10 21:59:27 deckard kernel: hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
Aug 10 21:59:27 deckard kernel: hda: dma_intr: error=0x10 { SectorIdNotFound }, LBAsect=9344347, sector=10512

Aug 10 21:59:27 deckard kernel: hdb: dma_timer_expiry: dma status == 0x61
Aug 10 21:59:27 deckard kernel: hdb: error waiting for DMA
Aug 10 21:59:27 deckard kernel: hdb: dma timeout retry: status=0x58 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest }


Aug 26 22:17:58 deckard kernel: hda: dma_timer_expiry: dma status == 0x61
Aug 26 22:18:08 deckard kernel: hda: error waiting for DMA
Aug 26 22:18:08 deckard kernel: hda: dma timeout retry: status=0xd0 { Busy }
Aug 26 22:18:08 deckard kernel:
Aug 26 22:18:08 deckard kernel: hda: DMA disabled
Aug 26 22:18:08 deckard kernel: hdb: DMA disabled
Aug 26 22:18:08 deckard kernel: ide0: reset: success

Aug 27 22:05:30 deckard kernel: hda: dma_timer_expiry: dma status == 0x61
Aug 27 22:05:40 deckard kernel: hda: error waiting for DMA
Aug 27 22:05:40 deckard kernel: hda: dma timeout retry: status=0xd0 { Busy }
Aug 27 22:05:40 deckard kernel:
Aug 27 22:05:40 deckard kernel: hda: DMA disabled
Aug 27 22:05:40 deckard kernel: hdb: DMA disabled

Aug 27 22:06:15 deckard kernel: ide0: reset timed-out, status=0x80
Aug 27 22:06:15 deckard kernel: hda: status timeout: status=0x80 { Busy }
Aug 27 22:06:15 deckard kernel:
Aug 27 22:06:36 deckard kernel: hda: drive not ready for command
Aug 27 22:06:36 deckard kernel: ide0: reset: success
Aug 27 22:06:36 deckard kernel: blk: queue c03a4260, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)

Aug 29 07:51:49 deckard kernel: hda: dma_timer_expiry: dma status == 0x61
Aug 29 07:51:59 deckard kernel: hda: error waiting for DMA
Aug 29 07:51:59 deckard kernel: hda: dma timeout retry: status=0xd0 { Busy }
Aug 29 07:51:59 deckard kernel:
Aug 29 07:51:59 deckard kernel: hda: DMA disabled
Aug 29 07:51:59 deckard kernel: hdb: DMA disabled
Aug 29 07:52:11 deckard kernel: ide0: reset: success




########### Drive info ######################

dev/hda:
multcount = 16 (on)
IO_support = 1 (32-bit)
unmaskirq = 1 (on)
using_dma = 1 (on)
keepsettings = 0 (off)
readonly = 0 (off)
readahead = 8 (on)
geometry = 2480/255/63, sectors = 39851760, start = 0
root@deckard /var/lib/rpm> hdparm -i /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

Model=ST320420A, FwRev=3.12, SerialNo=3CL06510
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs RotSpdTol>.5% }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=0
BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=2048kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=39851760
IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 *udma2 udma3 udma4
AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: device does not report version: 1 2 3 4


/dev/hdb:
multcount = 16 (on)
IO_support = 1 (32-bit)
unmaskirq = 1 (on)
using_dma = 1 (on)
keepsettings = 0 (off)
readonly = 0 (off)
readahead = 8 (on)
geometry = 39535/16/63, sectors = 39851760, start = 0
root@deckard /var/log> hdparm -i /dev/hdb

/dev/hdb:

Model=ST320420A, FwRev=3.12, SerialNo=3CL00RE2
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs RotSpdTol>.5% }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=0
BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=2048kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=39851760
IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 *udma2 udma3 udma4
AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: device does not report version: 1 2 3 4

[ bogus NGs deleted, followup-to set ]
On Sat, 6 Sep 2003 19:17:43 +0000 (UTC), Professor Bruno staggered into
the Black Sun and said:
> I'm looking for direction on how to resolve some ext3 harddrive issues.

"Problems", not "issues".

> I'm using a desktop with RedHat 8 installed with all the patches being
> uptodate.

Output of "uname -a"? IDE chipset? I ask because a stock 2.4.21 had
timing problems with VIA chipsets, problems which were fixed in 2.4.22.
I don't know where Redhat stands on this since I don't use or recommend
Redhat.

> From time to time when I leave the machine idle and the screensavers
> start and run for a while it looks as though my drives become
> inoperable.

"Looks inoperable" != "inoperable". Does the machine continue running
when these things show up?

> : hda: dma_timer_expiry: dma status == 0x61
> : hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
> : hda: dma_intr: error=0x10 { SectorIdNotFound },
> LBAsect=9344347, sector=10512

Weird. Never seen that.

> : hdb: dma_timer_expiry: dma status == 0x61
> : hdb: error waiting for DMA
> : hdb: dma timeout retry: status=0x58 { DriveReady SeekComplete
> DataRequest }

I saw very similar things in my logs while running 2.4.21 on a machine
with a VIA VT82C586B IDE chipset. No problems with 2.4.20 or 2.4.22, no
data loss, just annoying messages in the logfiles and annoying UI pauses
while the disk subsystem unhosed itself. If you suspect a hardware
problem, run ide-smart on the disks. It's a quick download from
freshmeat.net if it's not on the Redhat CDs.

--
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see
Brainbench MVP for Linux Admin /
http://www.brainbench.com / "He is a rhythmic movement of the
-----------------------------/ penguins, is Tux." --MegaHAL