Hi,
I just got a laptop from a friend set up on kubuntu. He told me to download and run the updates packges if I had time. So so did I and now the computer stops on an error at boot and I can't log in at all to type any command.
The error message comming up is:

ata1.00: exeption Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 action 0x6
ata1.00: BMDMA stat 0x24
ata1.00: failed command: WRITE DMA
ata1.00: cmd ca/00:38:e7:14c/00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 28672 out
ata1.00: res 51/84:00:1e:15:7c/00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x10 (ATA bus error)
ata1.00: status: { DRDY ERR }
ata1.00: error: { ICRC ABRT }

And it seems to try that action over and over but I never get to log in and type any command.

Does anyone have any idea of what I could do?

Thanks heaps

TiBo

I was looking at another site where a user suggested that he reseated the drive cables to resolve this issue, though it is not a guarantee, it may fix your problem.

BEFORE DOING THIS REPAIR REMOVE THE POWER CORD FROM THE COMPUTER (NOT FROM THE WALL) AND THEN REMOVE THE LAPTOP BATTERY!

On the bottom of the laptop you will need to locate the screws that hold down the drive cover, and remove them all. There will be at least 2, but probably not more than 4 screws to remove. After removing the screws, remove the cover. You may need to pry up on the cover slightly to begin moving it. Next, you will see 2 screws holding the drive cage in place. Remove these 2 screws. Finally, locate the plastic-like tab that is attached to the drive cage and pull it slightly toward the outside edge of the computer case, then gently lift up on the drive (still holding the plastic tab). This removes the drive.

To re-seat the drive, first place it down into the space you removed it from, then pull it toward the center of the case (still using the plastic tab) and when it is far enough in for the cage holes to align, put the 2 screws back into the cage to hold the drive in place. Last, put the cover back on and reinstall the cover screws.

After re-seating the drive, put the battery back in, and reattach the power cord. Then try the computer again.

It was noted that FEDORA 14 has a kernel issue which also causes this error. To read more on the error and it's causes you may look at https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=462425 or http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=219746 or just type the error message in a web search box.

Hoping this info helps,

Roger

Hi Roger, Thanks for your reply.

I tried what you said but it didn't make any difference.
My laptop is a bit different to what you describe (it a DELL PP06S) there was only 2 screws and the drive just slides out on the side of the laptop, so I removed it and put it back.

I had a bit of a read to the links you pointed out to me but this is a bit too technical to me and I couldn't understand most of it.

Any other idea of what I could do?

Thanks

TiBo

Right!

after hours and hours of unsuccessful trials from different suggestions from different members of different forums, I decided to reinstall the whole thing.
Really that's what I should have done from the start!

Though the same error message seems to still show up at the start very quickly but everything runs perferctly.

And my hard drive seems to work perfectly fine.

Thanks everyone for your help!

TiBo