Long errors from dmesg -- Slackware 11.0
 

Hi guys,
I just installed Slackware 11.0 yesterday (my first Linux distro ever), and I'm trying to get all the little wrinkles ironed out of it. Right now I'm concerned about the error message I'm getting when I run dmesg.
This is it:

hdc: command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hdc: command error: error=0x54
end_request: I/O error, dev 16:00(hdc), sector xxx

**the sector number is different every time
This is repeated over and over again, and nothing else. I installed the OS using the iso discs available from the Slackware website, and I was getting I/O errors while installing, but I didn't understand them and can't remember exactly what they said.

I'd really appreciate any help, especially help in extremely verbose wording, as I'm about as new as they can get with Linux (sorry if this has been discussed before, I had problems understanding what was being discussed in some of the related threads).

Thanks!!

Which kernel did you install with (I.E. huge26.s, bare.i, etc.)?

What is hdc (I.E. hard disk, cd-rw, etc.)?

Also try to give a little extra info on your computer.

Alright, I rebooted my system and now the dmesg looks like it's outputting normally...I'm not sure if the problem was fixed by rebooting...I had been messing with the /etc/fstab file trying to get my USB flash drives working, I imagine that had something to do with it.

Just in case: hdc is my first 16X DVD-ROM drive (it has a second 48X CD-RW drive as well). I installed the sata.i kernal. I'm using a Dell Dimension 2350 with everything as it was factory installed, excluding some extra RAM (and possibly the second CD-RW drive, I can't remember for sure). I had been running XP on it until, like I said, just yesterday.

I feel really dumb asking a question and then the problem "disappearing" like this, and I honestly don't know what to say outside of that; I'm still trying to feel my way around this OS right now and it's a little overwhelming for me. Thanks anyway for responding!

No problem.

If you're still having troubles you might want to either look into using a 2.6 kernel or passing hdc=ide-scsi when booting the kernel. Maybe the same thing with hdd=ide-scsi but I've never had to do any of this for very long. If you have trouble in the future you can addto the section of /etc/lilo.conf that boots your 2.4 kernel. (sata.i is a 2.4)

EDIT: I've always used 2.6 kernels and this isn't a problem with those. You can get a pre-compiled 2.6 kernel in the /extra directory of the install disks. Make sure you install the headers, modules, and sources if you do so. It will make things easier in the future.

Have fun with Slackware!

In my experience it's pretty normal for media drives (CD, DVDs, etc.) to spew errors like this when there is no disk in the drive. Some of the software probes the drive to see if there is any disk in it and in that case these errors are normal (they're not really errors,m just notice messages). If they happen to a hard drive or a media drive with a disk in it, though, then you have problems.

Thanks a ton for the advice, so far I'm having a very positive experience with Linux mostly because everyone is so helpful ^__^ My next "project", so to say, is going to be exploring LILO and figuring out how all that is set up, so I'll try your suggestion. Thanks again, have a happy holiday!