0x40 Uncorrectable Error?

8th sin · 01-11-2006, 05:24 PM

Currently running Suse 10.0 on a dell dimension 8400. Using the OEM (well, the second, as the first failed already and was replace under warranty) sata 160gb for suse, and an old 20gb ide for windows. the system is otherwise factory. I recently was having problems with my DVD drive, and the system wouldn't boot to either OS and sometimes failed to even post. I disconnected the drive, shut it off in the bios, and it booted up just fine. I upgraded my ATi drivers recently, and that *seemed* to go alright, but my boot time became very very slow (~10 minutes) and the system would occasionally lock up for no known reason. sometimes within seconds of boot, sometimes while i was using the system, sometimes while it was idle. Thinking it was a problem with the ATi drivers, I started tinkering with my Xorg settings. I fubared something and had to run fglrxconfig from command line, so I booted into failsafe...that's when I noticed this:

Code:

Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: error occurred, port reset
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: status=0x01 { Error }
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: error occurred, port reset
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: status=0x01 { Error }
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: error occurred, port reset
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: status=0x01 { Error }
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: error occurred, port reset
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: status=0x01 { Error }
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: error occurred, port reset
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: status=0x01 { Error }
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x8000002
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: sda: Current: sense key: Medium Error
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel:     Additional sense: Unrecovered read error - auto reallocate failed
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 86777091
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ReiserFS: sda2: warning: vs-13070: reiserfs_read_locked_inode: i/o failure occurred trying to find stat data of [87 45426 0x0 SD]
Jan 11 17:54:47 linux kernel: ata1: error occurred, port reset

as the system is going through its boot up ritual, these messages continue to appear. occasionally it will get through and execute whatever it is it's trying to do at the moment. after awhile it boots up fine, and aside from the occasional crashes, runs just fine.

any thoughts? I hope my HD isn't going again...

kilgoretrout · 01-13-2006, 09:25 AM

Get the manufacturer's hard drive diagnostic utility from their website and thoroughly test the drive.

8th sin · 01-19-2006, 04:40 PM

I downloaded UBCD and attempted to run data lifegaurd 11 n(the drive is a WDC Caviar SE 160gb), but it would not run. The script ran and isolinux started, but once it got into the utility, a gray screen flashed with some text and then went blank and asked me to reboot. i tried the other 3rd party generic utilities, but one would only recognize my Maxtor drive (xp) and the other would only allow me to edit partition tables, and not fix the bad sector issue.

my windows drive is acting up, for some reason Grub simply restarts when I select the windows drive on boot (Grub resides on that drive) so i can't try and run the ultility from xp. I could probably fix it, but I don't want to waste my time if the utility wont be able to recognize the drive.

8th sin · 01-21-2006, 03:50 PM

Used a program call Spinrite 6.0. EXECELLENT application, and I can't believe I didn't know until now it was out there. Bootable freeDOS assembly program that does a deep scan and invert writes each bit and puts it back. Solved my long boot times and occasional freezes. Highly recommended if you run across this problem, and the normal means wont work.