Write-error on swap-device error on package install slack 12.2

chickenlinux · 12-25-2008, 03:56 PM

I'm having a very peculiar problem:
I have a Desktop I built with 2GB RAM.
I have 1999GB swap that I activate before I try to install slackware 12.2 by entering

Code:

mkswap /dev/sda1
swapon /dev/sda1
sync

I get the same error regardless of whether I have setup the swap or not.
When I run the setup program, I designate /dev/sda1 as my swap, and /dev/sda2 as my root partition. When I install the packages, I get through the 1st couple series OK. BUT, when I get to around a certain point, I start seeing the error message below the install box:

Code:

Write-error on swap-device (8:0:<lots of 1-4 digit #s)

The disk usually pops in and out at this point, and the screen floods with these messages, and the computer seems to automatically jump between ttys. I go back to tty1, and it says

Code:

Killed.
Killed.

beneath the dialog box.

When I run the setup program again, it can't seem to detect my linux partition, and neither can (c)/fdisk When I reboot, it can again.

What on earth is going on!? I am clueless, since nobody else seems to be having these problems.

ANY and ALL help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Didier Spaier · 12-25-2008, 04:21 PM

I don't understand why you would need 1999GB of swap. Even to run a big Oracle database a size of 2GB will do, IMHO.

Plus, AFAIK you don't need to activate anything before you run setup to install Sackware 12.2, so:

Code:

mkswap /dev/sda1
swapon /dev/sda1
sync

is useless; setup will take care of that.

Anyway, please send the output of fdisk -l

|Edit]. And just in case, let setup check your swap partition for bad sectors before using it.

chickenlinux · 12-26-2008, 08:16 AM

OK, here's fdisk -l:

Code:

Device      Boot      Start      End       Blocks      Id  System
/dev/sda1                 1      243       1951866     82  Linux Swap
/dev/sda2    *          244    30401     242244135     83  Linux

Ok, I checked the swap for bad blocks, (and the / for good measure... Ugh. Took a long time!)
I switched to tty4 in the middle of this process, and got the alarming message:

Code:

Warning!  Your mke2fs.conf file does not define the ext3 filesystem type.
You probably need to install an updated mke2fs.conf file.

could this actually be a prob with the root partition?
I then got this on tty4 too!

Code:

Mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda2,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error
       in some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail or so

the message was repeated 4 times.
Ok, I switched to tty2 and entered that command.
I got this!

Code:

Buffer I/O error on device sda2, logical block 242244035
sd 2:0:0:0 [sda] Result: hostbyte=0x04 driverbyte=0x00
end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 3903795
Buffer I/O error on device dev sda2, logical block 0
Buffer I/O error on device dev sda2, logical block 1
sd 2:0:0:0 [sda] Result: hostbyte=0x04 driverbyte=0x00
end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 3903795
sd 2:0:0:0 [sda] Result: hostbyte=0x04 driverbyte=0x00
end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 3903795
FAT: unable to read boot sector

What the heck?! Is this a hard drive BIOS configuration problem, or a slack disk-util problem, or a swap issue?!

Mount said that it couldn't read the superblock again in the tty4 after I said OK, when the formatting of the / was finished.

and then, write error on swap device messages appeared again, and then they stopped, to present a "insert next disc" dialog.
The disc popped out, but suddenly popped in. I replaced the discs by pressing the button, and using quick fingers. More write error on swap device messages. >

All of my ttys are filled with them. I always seem to get them just before the disc change...

I'm really confusned now.

Didier Spaier · 12-26-2008, 12:53 PM

Which file system do you have on sda2 ?

Did you use the option to format it given by setup ? If not, try it.

chickenlinux · 12-26-2008, 02:41 PM

I don't think formatting it was optional, mkswap does that.
Anyway, It's a linux swap partition, I think that's a format in of itself.
Um... just a shot in the dark here... could this all be a BIOS config thing? Like I didn't set up my SATA drive properly or something?

Didier Spaier · 12-26-2008, 03:14 PM

I was speaking about sda2 (used for your root partition), *not* about yours swap partition. Furthermore all the error messages you got but the first one are related to sda2, not sda1

So, please answer my question : which file system is installed on sda2 ? I mean, ext2, ext3, reiserfs, whatever ?

Yes, formatting during setup *is* optional. Please re-run setup following *all the steps* in order ; when asked, accept to format at least your root partition (you can re-format your swap partition too, it won't hurt). For the file-system, you could choose ext3 or reiserfs (provided you use the huge-smp kernel at least for install).

chickenlinux · 12-26-2008, 05:15 PM

Ok, sorry, I told the setup to format it as ext3 when I installed.
I don't think I made it anything manually when I partitioned it, I think cfdisk may have done that for me, and then setup reformatted it.

I've been formatting in setup the whole time, and following all steps in order...

Would it be wasting my time to *not* format with the setup program? If so, how would I do that?

Didier Spaier · 12-26-2008, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Would it be wasting my time to *not* format with the setup program?

I'm afraid yes.

Sorry but I'm out of ideas

Anybody have one to help chickenlinux out there ?

chickenlinux · 12-28-2008, 08:28 AM

I think I'll try setting the hard drive from AHCI to IDE and see if that helps. I'll try reconfiguring the BIOS...

chickenlinux · 12-28-2008, 08:40 AM

I also tried Reiserfs this time, and got the following in tty4:

Code:

ATTENTION: YOU SHOULD REBOOT AFTER FDISK!

the screen changed before I could write it down, but it said if I didn't I would lose data on /dev/sda2.

When and how should I reboot then?

chickenlinux · 12-28-2008, 11:39 AM

Ok, none of this has worked...

chickenlinux · 01-25-2009, 08:14 PM

OK, It turned out the stupid Seagate drive was defective :P