HD problem, Debian Sarge 2.6.9, 30GB IBM HD

[Benedek Frank <linux@celifornia.com>]

Hi

On my dell laptop, I hear weird clicks now and then. I had no idea what it 
was, and nobody had similar issues on this forum, as I asked before. My 
problem isnt when the harddrive clicks several times, for me its just one 
click, and then silence for a long time, and click again.

Now I got further. SOmetimes when I use the HD excessively, like tar-ing large 
files, etc, the HD light goes on, and stays on for 10-15 seconds, while 
nothing happenes on the laptop, and the mouse also freezes (I cannot move it 
for the 10-15 sec).

In the /var/log/messages the following shows up:

Dec 26 19:40:35 localhost kernel: hda: dma_timer_expiry: dma status == 0x21
Dec 26 19:40:46 localhost kernel: hda: DMA timeout error
Dec 26 19:40:46 localhost kernel: hda: dma timeout error: status=0xd0 { Busy }
Dec 26 19:40:46 localhost kernel: hda: DMA disabled


Any ideas?

Thanks

Ben