[SOLVED] fdisk -l takes a REALLY long time; is this hardware related?
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fdisk -l takes a REALLY long time; is this hardware related?
Hi,
On a media center desktop machine running Xubuntu, I'm noticing that fdisk -l takes a very long time--as in several minutes--to produce an output. Every other command I have entered is processed immediately. This is just a standalone machine without any complicated networked file systems or anything like that. Could this be a sign of hardware failure? If so, in what components?
EDDY1 - There is nothing about it in dmesg, and I actually did try /var/log/messages, but apparently Xubuntu doesn't have it. I usually run Slackware . . . that's why I posted in the newbie section, because with Ubuntu, I guess I am one. What happened to /var/log/messages?
suicidaleggroll - I just installed smartmontools and ran the test, but I don't know how to read it. I will try to figure it out and post back. Here is the output, if you are interested:
Code:
smartctl -a /dev/sda
smartctl 6.2 2013-07-26 r3841 [i686-linux-3.13.0-37-generic] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-13, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Western Digital Caviar Blue Serial ATA
Device Model: WDC WD800AAJS-22PSA0
Serial Number: WD-WCAP98129821
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 1ab6502cc
Firmware Version: 05.06H05
User Capacity: 80,026,361,856 bytes [80.0 GB]
Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: ATA/ATAPI-7 (minor revision not indicated)
Local Time is: Fri Oct 24 14:21:04 2014 EDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x84) Offline data collection activity
was suspended by an interrupting command from host.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 1980) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 30) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 6) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x103f) SCT Status supported.
SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 200 198 051 Pre-fail Always - 542
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 163 159 021 Pre-fail Always - 2850
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 1413
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000e 200 200 051 Old_age Always - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 087 087 000 Old_age Always - 9870
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0012 100 100 051 Old_age Always - 0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0012 100 100 051 Old_age Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 1413
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 609
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 1413
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 105 088 000 Old_age Always - 38
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 200 200 051 Old_age Offline - 0
SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 540 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
CR = Command Register [HEX]
FR = Features Register [HEX]
SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
ER = Error register [HEX]
ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.
Error 540 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2370 hours (98 days + 18 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 00 64 18 45 40 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00451864 = 4528228
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
60 60 38 a0 18 45 00 08 01:54:31.792 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 40 30 60 18 45 00 08 01:54:31.792 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 88 28 e0 08 4a 00 08 01:54:31.792 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 48 20 70 09 4a 00 08 01:54:31.792 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 b8 18 d0 09 4a 00 08 01:54:31.792 READ FPDMA QUEUED
Error 539 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2370 hours (98 days + 18 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 00 64 18 45 40 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00451864 = 4528228
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
60 10 38 50 20 37 00 08 01:54:29.770 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 18 30 f8 10 37 00 08 01:54:29.770 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 70 28 90 0a 4a 00 08 01:54:29.769 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 b8 20 d0 09 4a 00 08 01:54:29.769 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 48 18 70 09 4a 00 08 01:54:29.769 READ FPDMA QUEUED
Error 538 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2370 hours (98 days + 18 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 00 64 18 45 40 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00451864 = 4528228
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
60 60 38 a0 18 45 00 08 01:54:27.747 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 40 30 60 18 45 00 08 01:54:27.747 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 88 28 e0 08 4a 00 08 01:54:27.746 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 48 20 70 09 4a 00 08 01:54:27.746 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 b8 18 d0 09 4a 00 08 01:54:27.746 READ FPDMA QUEUED
Error 537 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2370 hours (98 days + 18 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 00 64 18 45 40 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00451864 = 4528228
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
60 10 38 50 20 37 00 08 01:54:25.724 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 18 30 f8 10 37 00 08 01:54:25.724 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 70 28 90 0a 4a 00 08 01:54:25.724 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 b8 20 d0 09 4a 00 08 01:54:25.723 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 48 18 70 09 4a 00 08 01:54:25.723 READ FPDMA QUEUED
Error 536 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2370 hours (98 days + 18 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 00 64 18 45 40 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00451864 = 4528228
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
60 60 50 a0 18 45 00 08 01:54:23.676 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 40 48 60 18 45 00 08 01:54:23.676 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 10 40 80 93 44 00 08 01:54:23.676 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 88 38 e0 08 4a 00 08 01:54:23.676 READ FPDMA QUEUED
60 48 30 70 09 4a 00 08 01:54:23.676 READ FPDMA QUEUED
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
I don't see anything suspicious in that output. The power-on time is barely over a year, no reallocated sectors. There are 540 logged errors, but they're from long ago (the most recent one was at power-on hour 2370, when you're currently at 9870).
Despite no errors in the SMART results, the drive could still have a physical problem though.
Last edited by suicidaleggroll; 10-24-2014 at 01:37 PM.
This computer uses external storage for most things (like I said, it is a media-dedicated machine), but I disconnected the external drives before running the command. The drive that is left is a very old 80 GB internal drive that the OS is installed on. It has lasted at least ten years, probably more. I guess I should try to track down the manufacturer's scan utility? Is there another way to see if it has issues?
What else could be causing the fdisk delay? Actually, the first time I ran it it did produce output after a long time, but I tried it again and hung for 20 minutes. Ctrl+C and Ctrl+Z would not even kill it. I had to use kill -9 on it.
Just a quick look, but I saw a lot of floppy drive I/O errors(fd0). You might try disconnecting your floppy drive and see if the fdisk problem improves.
I don't actually have a floppy drive. Why does it think I do? Does the kernel get this information from the BIOS? If so I can check the configuration there.
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