Buffer I/O error on device sda. Lost hard drive?
 

I'm using Ubuntu 7.04. I have recently had problems with the system hanging and so have not always shut it down properly. Now it won't start (except with an Ubuntu 7.10 CD that I have). When I turn the computer on or reboot without the CD I get

Loading GRUB...

and then it sits there doing nothing. When I boot from the Ubuntu 7.10 CD I get a bunch of error messages like

Buffer I/O error on device sda

but eventually I get the GUI. I have tried reinstalling ubuntu (both 7.04 and 7.10) over the top of whatever is on the disc now but I can't get past the part where it reformats the hard drive. The 7.10 installer gives me

The creation of swap space in partition #5 of SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) failed.

Here is some stuff from the terminal that may be useful:

ubuntu@ubuntu:/$ sudo fsck /dev/sda1
fsck 1.40.2 (12-Jul-2007)
e2fsck 1.40.2 (12-Jul-2007)
fsck.ext2: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while trying to open /dev/sda1
Could this be a zero-length partition?

ubuntu@ubuntu:/$ df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
tmpfs 517272 15444 501828 3% /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/volatile
tmpfs 517272 15444 501828 3% /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/volatile
varrun 517272 96 517176 1% /var/run
varlock 517272 4 517268 1% /var/lock
udev 517272 60 517212 1% /dev
devshm 517272 0 517272 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 517272 16 517256 1% /tmp

ubuntu@ubuntu:/$ fsck /usr
fsck 1.40.2 (12-Jul-2007)
e2fsck 1.40.2 (12-Jul-2007)
fsck.ext2: Is a directory while trying to open /usr

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
e2fsck -b 8193 <device>


"/etc/fstab" looks like this:

unionfs / unionfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nosuid,nodev 0 0

I have also tried:

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

Error 15: File not found

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on unionfs,
missing codepage or helper program, or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ dmesg | tail
[ 1994.240000] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 64
[ 1994.244000] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Result: hostbyte=DID_BAD_TARGET driverbyte=DRIVER_OK,SUGGEST_OK
[ 1994.244000] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 63
[ 1994.244000] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Result: hostbyte=DID_BAD_TARGET driverbyte=DRIVER_OK,SUGGEST_OK
[ 1994.244000] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 64
[ 1994.244000] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Result: hostbyte=DID_BAD_TARGET driverbyte=DRIVER_OK,SUGGEST_OK
[ 1994.244000] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 63
[ 1994.244000] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Result: hostbyte=DID_BAD_TARGET driverbyte=DRIVER_OK,SUGGEST_OK
[ 1994.244000] end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 64
[ 2715.304000] unionfs_read_super: missing data argument


Any ideas?

Hi, welcome to LQ.

And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this sure sounds
like a dead or dying hard-drive. If you still have a working
machine you could try to download "recovery is possible" or
the "system rescue CD" and see whether the tools bundled with
those can tell you more about the state of your hardware.



Cheers,
Tink