[SOLVED] My system is running extremely slowly. No idea what happened.

ahc_fan · 06-06-2016, 11:56 AM

I was just browsing the web with firefox and suddenly pages started taking forever to load and firefox started to hang for several seconds at a time. I terminated firefox because it was not responding, but it just hung instead. I had SMPlayer open and it started to hang as well even after trying to terminate it. Ctrl+alt+backspace just caused the system to freeze.

So I rebooted with a usb stick and ran fsck on all the partitions. The home and root partitions needed repaired, so I did that. I rebooted again and it took at least 10 minutes just to get to the desktop. Some of my configuration has been reset; the default desktop background is back, and the whisker menu settings have reverted to default. Everything is still very slow and unresponsive. I tried to play Minecraft but it's like a slideshow with all the freezing. Even web pages are slow to load and my internet is working fine.

This happened before in the past and I fixed it by either reinstalling Slackware or running fsck like I just did. Well fsck isn't fixing the problem now and I'd rather not reinstall.

I'm at a loss right now as to how I can diagnose and/or fix this. I'm afraid it might be the hard drive failing, even though it's only a few months old.

Please help me Slackware gurus!

Emerson · 06-06-2016, 12:06 PM

Did you run smartctl test?

55020 · 06-06-2016, 12:23 PM

one of your disk partitions might be full.... 'df'

ahc_fan · 06-06-2016, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emerson

Did you run smartctl test?

I did this. The result is "PASSED".

Quote:

Originally Posted by 55020

one of your disk partitions might be full.... 'df'

It's just /home and / and they're both less than 20% full.

55020 · 06-06-2016, 12:47 PM

Ok, it's demons.

Emerson · 06-06-2016, 12:54 PM

Considering all information provided so far there seems to be filesystem corruption. Usual reason for this is dying hard drive, unless there are improper shutdowns. I'd have closer look at smartctl -a output after smartctl -t long.

ahc_fan · 06-06-2016, 01:12 PM

I started the long test, it will take 2 1/2 hours. Most of the output of smartctl is over my head, but I did notice this:

Code:

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended offline    Completed: read failure       90%     28640         144421920
# 2  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     28639         -

I guess this is the output of the short test I did previously. That error is a bit worrying...

Emerson · 06-06-2016, 01:17 PM

Last test did not pass, it failed at 10%. This hard drive is toast.

ahc_fan · 06-06-2016, 01:43 PM

Well that sucks.

That output shows the LBA of the error, which appears to be somewhere in my /home partition. Can I locate the file at that LBA and do something to try and fix it? Are we positive it's the hardware?

Emerson · 06-06-2016, 01:49 PM

Look at reallocated sector count and pending reallocation sector count. If these numbers are over threshold the drive is unreliable in my experience and should be replaced.

kjhambrick · 06-06-2016, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahc_fan

Well that sucks.

That output shows the LBA of the error, which appears to be somewhere in my /home partition. Can I locate the file at that LBA and do something to try and fix it? Are we positive it's the hardware?

Maybe boot single user mode and run fsck ?

Especially if you know the partition ( /dev/sdaN ) that contains /home/

man fsck

you might be able to clean up enough to back up essential stuff to prep for a new HDD.

HTH.

-- kjh

Diantre · 06-07-2016, 03:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahc_fan

Well that sucks.

That output shows the LBA of the error, which appears to be somewhere in my /home partition. Can I locate the file at that LBA and do something to try and fix it? Are we positive it's the hardware?

It's certainly the hard drive. Sector 144421920 is apparently unreadable.

I have an old external hard drive that was showing exactly the same thing:

Code:

# smartctl -d sat -l selftest /dev/sde
smartctl 5.43 2012-06-30 r3573 [x86_64-linux-3.10.17] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-12 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended offline    Completed: read failure       50%     14418         439285046
# 2  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     14418         -
# 3  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     11265         -
# 4  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10569         -
# 5  Extended offline    Completed: read failure       50%     10538         439285046
# 6  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10537         -
# 7  Extended offline    Completed: read failure       50%     10537         439285046
# 8  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10536         -
# 9  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      6517         -
#10  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      6513         -
#11  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%      6508         -
#12  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      6506         -

Look for pending sectors and reallocated events in the output of smartctl. For instance, this is what my drive was showing:

Code:

# smartctl -d sat -A /dev/sde
smartctl 5.43 2012-06-30 r3573 [x86_64-linux-3.10.17] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-12 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
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     0x000b   100   100   016    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0005   133   133   054    Pre-fail  Offline      -       138
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007   113   113   024    Pre-fail  Always       -       335 (Average 344)
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0012   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       5514
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   005    Pre-fail  Always       -       2
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000b   100   100   067    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0005   131   131   020    Pre-fail  Offline      -       29
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0012   098   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       14421
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   060    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1507
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   096   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       5746
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   096   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       5746
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   127   127   000    Old_age   Always       -       47 (Min/Max 20/58)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       2
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0008   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x000a   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

After following the steps in the Bad block HOWTO for smartmontools, I was able to force the drive to reallocate the damage sector, and now the self test passes without errors, so the drive is not really toast yet, it works. However, the possibility of developing more bad sectors is extremely high now that the first one appeared, so I simply don't trust anymore any disk in this condition. I suggest you to replace yours.

This is what smartctl reports after following the Bad block HOWTO:

Code:

# smartctl -d sat -A /dev/sde
smartctl 5.43 2012-06-30 r3573 [x86_64-linux-3.10.17] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-12 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
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     0x000b   098   098   016    Pre-fail  Always       -       5
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0005   133   133   054    Pre-fail  Offline      -       138
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007   113   113   024    Pre-fail  Always       -       335 (Average 344)
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0012   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       5514
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   005    Pre-fail  Always       -       3
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000b   100   100   067    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0005   131   131   020    Pre-fail  Offline      -       29
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0012   098   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       14422
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   060    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1507
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   096   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       5746
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   096   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       5746
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   127   127   000    Old_age   Always       -       47 (Min/Max 20/58)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       3
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0008   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x000a   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

And no errors after the extended test:

Code:

# smartctl -d sat -t long /dev/sde  [wait until test completes, then]
# smartctl -d sat -l selftest /dev/sde
smartctl 5.43 2012-06-30 r3573 [x86_64-linux-3.10.17] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-12 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%     14424         -
# 2  Extended offline    Completed: read failure       50%     14418         439285046
# 3  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     14418         -
# 4  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     11265         -
# 5  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10569         -
# 6  Extended offline    Completed: read failure       50%     10538         439285046
# 7  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10537         -
# 8  Extended offline    Completed: read failure       50%     10537         439285046
# 9  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10536         -
#10  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      6517         -
#11  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      6513         -
#12  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%      6508         -
#13  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      6506         -
3 of 3 failed self-tests are outdated by newer successful extended offline self-test # 1

Hope that helps.

ahc_fan · 06-07-2016, 05:01 AM

That has at least fixed the problem for the time being. Everything is running smooth as silk again. Hopefully it will buy me time to get another hard drive.

Thanks

ahc_fan · 06-22-2016, 10:49 AM

Well that worked for a while, but sure enough the bad blocks are back. But now I have a new drive. Is it possible to clone this failing drive to the new one using dd? If so, will it skip bad blocks if encountered? The last 'smartctl' scan reports no bad blocks. I just don't want to go through the process of reinstalling Slackware, updating, and rebuilding all my software right now.

phenixia2003 · 06-22-2016, 11:00 AM

Hello,

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahc_fan

Well that worked for a while, but sure enough the bad blocks are back. But now I have a new drive. Is it possible to clone this failing drive to the new one using dd? If so, will it skip bad blocks if encountered? The last 'smartctl' scan reports no bad blocks. I just don't want to go through the process of reinstalling Slackware, updating, and rebuilding all my software right now.

Seems that you can use dd, but with options conv=noerror,sync :

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Damag...using_.27dd.27

There's also ddrescue (shipped with slackware) as stated here.

--
SeB