Scary hda & ext3 messages
Hi all,
I got this rather scary message when I booted up my Debian PC last evening.
First I noticed my hdd was making relatively more noise than usual. I had
removed it quite recently for use in backing-up data of a windoze machine
that was showing symptoms of imminent disk failure. (discovered later that it
wasn't actually the disk, but the IDE cable). I connected this device as the
master, booted Linux and transfered all data on the ntfs partition to a newly
created vfat partition and returned the disk to where it belonged.
So, upon restarting Linux successfully, running fsck at boot, logging in and
using the machine for a while whilst listening to grinding noises coming from
the hdd, I heard this clicking sound just before the light of the hdd went
off. I then issued ls command to list directory contents but what I got was a
sequence of lost interrupt messages;
hda: lost interrupt
hda: lost interrupt
hda: lost interrupt
and so on..........
Soon after, the following spate of messages flooded my screen.
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:02(hda), sector 5511824
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:02(hda), sector 15504728
...
Bus error
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:02(hda), sector 0
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:02(hda), sector 8
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:02(hda), sector 24
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:02(hda), sector 18350248
...
EXT3-fs error (device ide0 (3,2)) in start_transaction: Journal has aborted.
After this, things stoped working as normal. Not knowing what to do, I logged
into another VT as root and issued init 0 to bring down the system but it
didn't shutdown. So I just depressed the power off button and decided to
seek an explanation & help on what is really happening.
The only significant change on my debian PC is of course creation of a large
vfat partition and reduced RAM because of using a 256MB/133Mhz DIMM on a
100Mhz motherboard so only 133MB is seen. Don't know if this is the root
cause to my problem.
Otherwise my partition layout is as follows:
hda1 NTFS (Not in fstab) 8GB
hda2 Ext3 (Mounted root) 25GB
hda3 Swap 1GB
hda5 Ext3 (Mounted home) 10GB
hda6 Vfat (Not in fstab) 16GB
hdb1 Ext3 (Not in fstab) 8GB
Shall greatly appreciate any help on what the problem might be and how to
revert to a state of tranquility. Already have a backup of the most important
data & configuration files so even if it means formatting hda then I'll take
that route.
One more bit of information. I think S.M.A.R.T, Super DMA, APM Suspend etc are
all enabled for my drives in the BIOS settings i.e on "Loading Optimal
Configuration Settings". Could these be having incompatibility issues with
Linux?
Thanks & regards
--
Alphonse Ogulla
Nairobi,Kenya
"I choose to use Debian/GNU Linux, not because it is easy, but because it is
hard."
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