Hello,


I've got a shiny new desktop workstation (AMD64 3800+ X2) - unfortunately with some issues.

The system seemed very unstable and installing linux repeatedly failed. Memtest86+ found 3500000 errors on test 7. The memory modules were replaced and now Memtest passes. Ubuntu i386 and Ubuntu AMD64 still fails to install but I was able to install Fedora core 6 without incident.

I often need to reset/CTRL-ALT-DEL the machine several times before I'm able to get things up and running. The boot seems to hang when trying to detect the hard drive (Samsung SP2504C VT100-41): "Auto-Detecting 3rd master"

Often the system powers up by itself. I turn off power. The machine starts up a few minutes (or hours) later. Only way to keep it from starting up is to unplug it.

I get constant output like this in /var/log/messages:

ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4000000 action 0x2 frozen
ata3: (irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed)
ata3: soft resetting port
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
ata3: EH complete
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4000000 action 0x2 frozen
ata3: (irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed)
ata3: soft resetting port
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
ata3: EH complete
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4040000 action 0x2 frozen

Any suggestions? I checked BIOS settings and found no option for "wake up on LAN" which I first suspected. I checked cables for HDD and they seem ok. What is this ata3-stuff that keeps on on getting logged??

Thanks for any help!

Those are messages related to s.m.a.r.t. and let me take a guess: Error messages in /var/log/messages started with a line "DMA write timed out".
Going for the easiest, some people in kerneltrap.org reports that booting with the "noapic" kernel parameter have solved the problem in Fedora. Anyway another problem stays, not having ACPI enabled.
Also visit this other thread: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi....php?p=2537651

Thanks for your reply!

Tried "noapic" with no help. Disabling all power management and ACPI/APIC related stuff from BIOS wasn't helpful either. No "DMA write timed out" errors in log. I'm including /var/log/messages in this post. The ata3-errors start quite early on and keep on repeating all the time every 4-5 seconds. It's quite annoying really.

Some more info on boot freezes:

It seems that the computer starts only if I completely unplug/replug it before boot. Regular CTRL-ALT-DEL or reset leads to HDD not being autodetected and boot freezing.

It looks like the computer won't turn on by itself if it has been unplugged/replugged after shutdown. After normal software shutdown the computer may turn on anytime by itself.

Any help would be appreciated!


[HTML]syslogd 1.4.1: restart.
klogd 1.4.1, log source = /proc/kmsg started.
Linux version 2.6.18-1.2868.fc6 (brewbuilder@hs20-bc2-4.build.redhat.com) (gcc version 4.1.1 20061011 (Red Hat 4.1.1-30)) #1 SMP
BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009fc00 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000000009fc00 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000000e4000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 000000007ffd0000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000007ffd0000 - 000000007ffde000 (ACPI data)
BIOS-e820: 000000007ffde000 - 0000000080000000 (ACPI NVS)
BIOS-e820: 00000000ff780000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
1151MB HIGHMEM available.
896MB LOWMEM available.
found SMP MP-table at 000ff780
Using x86 segment limits to approximate NX protection
DMI 2.3 present.
Using APIC driver default
ACPI: PM-Timer IO Port: 0x4008
ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x01] lapic_id[0x00] enabled)
Processor #0 15:11 APIC version 16
ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x02] lapic_id[0x01] enabled)
Processor #1 15:11 APIC version 16
ACPI: Skipping IOAPIC probe due to 'noapic' option.
Using ACPI for processor (LAPIC) configuration information
Intel MultiProcessor Specification v1.4
Virtual Wire compatibility mode.
OEM ID: TEMPLATE Product ID: ETEMPLATE APIC at: 0xFEE00000
I/O APIC #2 Version 17 at 0xFEC00000.
I/O APIC #3 Version 17 at 0xFEC10000.
Enabling APIC mode: Flat. Using 2 I/O APICs
Processors: 2
Allocating PCI resources starting at 88000000 (gap: 80000000:7f780000)
Detected 2010.225 MHz processor.
Built 1 zonelists. Total pages: 524240
Kernel command line: ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet noapic
Enabling fast FPU save and restore... done.
Enabling unmasked SIMD FPU exception support... done.
Initializing CPU#0
CPU 0 irqstacks, hard=c07ae000 soft=c078e000
PID hash table entries: 4096 (order: 12, 16384 bytes)
Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
Dentry cache hash table entries: 131072 (order: 7, 524288 bytes)
Inode-cache hash table entries: 65536 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
Memory: 2072476k/2096960k available (2139k kernel code, 23220k reserved, 866k data, 240k init, 1179456k highmem)
Checking if this processor honours the WP bit even in supervisor mode... Ok.
Calibrating delay using timer specific routine.. 4041.47 BogoMIPS (lpj=2020737)
Security Framework v1.0.0 initialized
SELinux: Initializing.
SELinux: Starting in permissive mode
selinux_register_security: Registering secondary module capability
Capability LSM initialized as secondary
Mount-cache hash table entries: 512
CPU: L1 I Cache: 64K (64 bytes/line), D cache 64K (64 bytes/line)
CPU: L2 Cache: 512K (64 bytes/line)
CPU 0(2) -> Core 0
Intel machine check architecture supported.
Intel machine check reporting enabled on CPU#0.
Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK.
SMP alternatives: switching to UP code
ACPI: Core revision 20060707
ACPI: setting ELCR to 0200 (from 0c20)
CPU0: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ stepping 02
SMP alternatives: switching to SMP code
Booting processor 1/1 eip 3000
CPU 1 irqstacks, hard=c07af000 soft=c078f000
Initializing CPU#1
Calibrating delay using timer specific routine.. 4019.53 BogoMIPS (lpj=2009768)
CPU: L1 I Cache: 64K (64 bytes/line), D cache 64K (64 bytes/line)
CPU: L2 Cache: 512K (64 bytes/line)
CPU 1(2) -> Core 1
Intel machine check architecture supported.
Intel machine check reporting enabled on CPU#1.
CPU1: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ stepping 02
Total of 2 processors activated (8061.01 BogoMIPS).
checking TSC synchronization across 2 CPUs:
CPU#0 had 741 usecs TSC skew, fixed it up.
CPU#1 had -741 usecs TSC skew, fixed it up.
Brought up 2 CPUs
migration_cost=138
checking if image is initramfs... it is
Freeing initrd memory: 1521k freed
NET: Registered protocol family 16
ACPI: bus type pci registered
PCI: BIOS Bug: MCFG area at e0000000 is not E820-reserved
PCI: Not using MMCONFIG.
PCI: PCI BIOS revision 3.00 entry at 0xf0031, last bus=5
PCI: Using configuration type 1
Setting up standard PCI resources
ACPI: Interpreter enabled
ACPI: Using PIC for interrupt routing
Error attaching device data
Error attaching device data
ACPI: PCI Root Bridge [PCI0] (0000:00)
PCI quirk: region 4000-403f claimed by ali7101 ACPI
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKA] (IRQs 3 4 5 6 7 *10 11 12 14 15)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKB] (IRQs 3 4 *5 6 7 10 11 12 14 15)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKC] (IRQs 3 4 *5 6 7 10 11 12 14 15)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKD] (IRQs 3 4 *5 6 7 10 11 12 14 15)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKE] (IRQs 3 4 5 6 7 10 *11 12 14 15)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKF] (IRQs 3 4 *5 6 7 10 11 12 14 15)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKG] (IRQs 3 4 *5 6 7 10 11 12 14 15)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKH] (IRQs 3 4 *5 6 7 10 11 12 14 15), disabled.
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKP] (IRQs 3 4 *5 6 7 10 11 12 14 15)
Linux Plug and Play Support v0.97 (c) Adam Belay
pnp: PnP ACPI init
pnp: PnP ACPI: found 14 devices
usbcore: registered new driver usbfs
usbcore: registered new driver hub
PCI: Using ACPI for IRQ routing
PCI: If a device doesn't work, try "pci=routeirq". If it helps, post a report
NetLabel: Initializing
NetLabel: domain hash size = 128
NetLabel: protocols = UNLABELED CIPSOv4
NetLabel: unlabeled traffic allowed by default
pnp: 00:0b: ioport range 0xa00-0xa0f has been reserved
pnp: 00:0b: ioport range 0xa10-0xa1f has been reserved
PCI: Bridge: 0000:00:01.0
IO window: e000-efff
MEM window: dcf00000-deffffff
PREFETCH window: c0000000-cfffffff
PCI: Bridge: 0000:00:02.0
IO window: disabled.
MEM window: disabled.
PREFETCH window: disabled.
PCI: Bridge: 0000:00:03.0
IO window: disabled.
MEM window: disabled.
PREFETCH window: disabled.
PCI: Bridge: 0000:00:04.0
IO window: disabled.
MEM window: disabled.
PREFETCH window: disabled.
PCI: Bridge: 0000:00:11.0
IO window: disabled.
MEM window: disabled.
PREFETCH window: disabled.
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKA] enabled at IRQ 10
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:01.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKE] enabled at IRQ 11
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:02.0[A] -> Link [LNKE] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKB] enabled at IRQ 5
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:03.0[A] -> Link [LNKB] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKF] enabled at IRQ 5
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:04.0[A] -> Link [LNKF] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
NET: Registered protocol family 2
IP route cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
TCP established hash table entries: 131072 (order: 9, 2621440 bytes)
TCP bind hash table entries: 65536 (order: 8, 1310720 bytes)
TCP: Hash tables configured (established 131072 bind 65536)
TCP reno registered
apm: BIOS version 1.2 Flags 0x03 (Driver version 1.16ac)
apm: disabled - APM is not SMP safe.
audit: initializing netlink socket (disabled)
audit(1167082551.702:1): initialized
highmem bounce pool size: 64 pages
Total HugeTLB memory allocated, 0
VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.5.1
Dquot-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order 0, 4096 bytes)
SELinux: Registering netfilter hooks
Initializing Cryptographic API
ksign: Installing public key data
Loading keyring
- Added public key 172537CBFDBE1E47
- User ID: Red Hat, Inc. (Kernel Module GPG key)
io scheduler noop registered
io scheduler anticipatory registered
io scheduler deadline registered
io scheduler cfq registered (default)
assign_interrupt_mode Found MSI capability
last message repeated 3 times
pci_hotplug: PCI Hot Plug PCI Core version: 0.5
ACPI: duty_cycle spans bit 4
isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
Real Time Clock Driver v1.12ac
Non-volatile memory driver v1.2
Linux agpgart interface v0.101 (c) Dave Jones
Serial: 8250/16550 driver $Revision: 1.90 $ 4 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
serial8250: ttyS1 at I/O 0x2f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
00:05: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
00:06: ttyS1 at I/O 0x2f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 16384K size 4096 blocksize
Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00alpha2
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
ALI15X3: IDE controller at PCI slot 0000:00:16.0
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:16.0[A] -> Link [LNKF] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
ALI15X3: chipset revision 199
ALI15X3: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
ide0: BM-DMA at 0xff00-0xff07, BIOS settings: hdaMA, hdbio
ide1: BM-DMA at 0xff08-0xff0f, BIOS settings: hdcio, hddio
hda: LITE-ON DVDRW SHM-165H6S, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
ide-floppy driver 0.99.newide
usbcore: registered new driver libusual
usbcore: registered new driver hiddev
usbcore: registered new driver usbhid
drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: v2.6:USB HID core driver
PNP: PS/2 Controller [PNP0f03:PS2M] at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
PNP: PS/2 controller doesn't have KBD irq; using default 1
serio: i8042 AUX port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
md: md driver 0.90.3 MAX_MD_DEVS=256, MD_SB_DISKS=27
md: bitmap version 4.39
TCP bic registered
Initializing IPsec netlink socket
NET: Registered protocol family 1
NET: Registered protocol family 17
powernow-k8: Found 2 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ processors (version 2.00.00)
powernow-k8: 0 : fid 0xc (2000 MHz), vid 0xc
powernow-k8: 1 : fid 0xa (1800 MHz), vid 0xe
powernow-k8: 2 : fid 0x2 (1000 MHz), vid 0x12
Using IPI No-Shortcut mode
ACPI: (supports S0 S1 S3 S4 S5)
Freeing unused kernel memory: 240k freed
Write protecting the kernel read-only data: 386k
Time: acpi_pm clocksource has been installed.
USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver v3.0
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:13.0[A] -> Link [LNKB] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.0: OHCI Host Controller
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.0: irq 5, io mem 0xdceee000
usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
hub 1-0:1.0: 3 ports detected
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKC] enabled at IRQ 5
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:13.1[B] -> Link [LNKC] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.1: OHCI Host Controller
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.1: irq 5, io mem 0xdceed000
usb usb2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
hub 2-0:1.0: 3 ports detected
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKD] enabled at IRQ 5
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:13.2[C] -> Link [LNKD] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.2: OHCI Host Controller
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.2: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.2: irq 5, io mem 0xdceec000
usb usb3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found
mcstransd: mcstransd starting
hub 3-0:1.0: 3 ports detected
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKP] enabled at IRQ 5
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:13.3[D] -> Link [LNKP] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
ehci_hcd 0000:00:13.3: EHCI Host Controller
ehci_hcd 0000:00:13.3: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 4
mcstransd: mcstransd initialized
ehci_hcd 0000:00:13.3: debug port 1
ehci_hcd 0000:00:13.3: irq 5, io mem 0xdceef800
ehci_hcd 0000:00:13.3: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00, driver 10 Dec 2004
usb usb4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 4-0:1.0: USB hub found
hub 4-0:1.0: 8 ports detected
input: ImPS/2 Generic Wheel Mouse as /class/input/input0
usb 2-2: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
SCSI subsystem initialized
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:16.1[A] -> Link [LNKF] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
usb 4-4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
libusual: request for usb-storage succeeded, but module is not present
usb 4-7: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
usb 4-7: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 4-7:1.0: USB hub found
hub 4-7:1.0: 3 ports detected
ahci 0000:00:16.1: AHCI 0001.0000 32 slots 4 ports 3 Gbps 0xf impl IDE mode
ahci 0000:00:16.1: flags: ncq ilck pm led clo pmp pio slum part
ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xF8836500 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 5
ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xF8836580 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 5
ata3: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xF8836600 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 5
ata4: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xF8836680 ctl 0x0 bmdma 0x0 irq 5
scsi0 : ahci
usb 4-7.2: new full speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 5
ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
ata1.00: ATA-7, max UDMA7, 488397168 sectors: LBA48 NCQ (depth 31/32)
ata1.00: ata1: dev 0 multi count 16
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
scsi1 : ahci
ata2: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
scsi2 : ahci
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
scsi3 : ahci
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4000000 action 0x2 frozen
ata3: (irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed)
ata4: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
Vendor: ATA Model: SAMSUNG SP2504C Rev: VT10
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 05
SCSI device sda: 488397168 512-byte hdwr sectors (250059 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back
SCSI device sda: 488397168 512-byte hdwr sectors (250059 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back
sda: sda1 sda2 sda3
sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi disk sda
Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
scsi4 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
ata3: soft resetting port
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
ata3: EH complete
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4060000 action 0x2 frozen
ata3: (irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed)
Vendor: Generic Model: USB SD Reader Rev: 1.00
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 00
sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sdb
Vendor: Generic Model: USB CF Reader Rev: 1.01
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 00
sd 4:0:0:1: Attached scsi removable disk sdc
Vendor: Generic Model: USB SM Reader Rev: 1.02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 00
sd 4:0:0:2: Attached scsi removable disk sdd
Vendor: Generic Model: USB MS Reader Rev: 1.03
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 00
sd 4:0:0:3: Attached scsi removable disk sde
usb 4-7.2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hiddev96: USB HID v1.11 Device [Apple Computer, Inc. Apple Cinema HD Display] on usb-0000:00:13.3-7.2
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.2: wakeup
usbcore: registered new driver usb-storage
USB Mass Storage support registered.
usb 3-2: new low speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
usb 3-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
input: Plus More Enterprise LTD. USB-compliant keyboard as /class/input/input1
input: USB HID v1.10 Keyboard [Plus More Enterprise LTD. USB-compliant keyboard] on usb-0000:00:13.2-2
input: Plus More Enterprise LTD. USB-compliant keyboard as /class/input/input2
input: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [Plus More Enterprise LTD. USB-compliant keyboard] on usb-0000:00:13.2-2
ata3: soft resetting port
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
ata3: EH complete
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4060000 action 0x2 frozen
ata3: (irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed)
ata3: soft resetting port
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
ata3: EH complete
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4060000 action 0x2 frozen
ata3: (irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed)
kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds
EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.
audit(1167082576.106:2): enforcing=1 old_enforcing=0 auid=4294967295
security: 3 users, 6 roles, 1583 types, 172 bools, 1 sens, 1024 cats
security: 59 classes, 49428 rules
SELinux: Completing initialization.
SELinux: Setting up existing superblocks.
SELinux: initialized (dev sda1, type ext3), uses xattr
SELinux: initialized (dev usbfs, type usbfs), uses genfs_contexts
SELinux: initialized (dev tmpfs, type tmpfs), uses transition SIDs
SELinux: initialized (dev debugfs, type debugfs), uses genfs_contexts
SELinux: initialized (dev selinuxfs, type selinuxfs), uses genfs_contexts
SELinux: initialized (dev mqueue, type mqueue), uses transition SIDs
SELinux: initialized (dev hugetlbfs, type hugetlbfs), uses genfs_contexts
SELinux: initialized (dev devpts, type devpts), uses transition SIDs
SELinux: initialized (dev eventpollfs, type eventpollfs), uses task SIDs
SELinux: initialized (dev inotifyfs, type inotifyfs), uses genfs_contexts
SELinux: initialized (dev tmpfs, type tmpfs), uses transition SIDs
SELinux: initialized (dev futexfs, type futexfs), uses genfs_contexts
SELinux: initialized (dev pipefs, type pipefs), uses task SIDs
SELinux: initialized (dev sockfs, type sockfs), uses task SIDs
SELinux: initialized (dev cpuset, type cpuset), not configured for labeling
SELinux: initialized (dev proc, type proc), uses genfs_contexts
SELinux: initialized (dev bdev, type bdev), uses genfs_contexts
SELinux: initialized (dev rootfs, type rootfs), uses genfs_contexts
SELinux: initialized (dev sysfs, type sysfs), uses genfs_contexts
audit(1167082576.369:3): policy loaded auid=4294967295
ata3: soft resetting port
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
ata3: EH complete
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4060000 action 0x2 frozen
ata3: (irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed)
EDAC MC: Ver: 2.0.1 Dec 15 2006
hda: ATAPI 48X DVD-ROM DVD-R-RAM CD-R/RW drive, 2048kB Cache, UDMA(66)
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20
EDAC MC0: Giving out device to k8_edac Athlon64/Opteron: DEV 0000:00:18.2
input: PC Speaker as /class/input/input3
uli526x: ULi M5261/M5263 net driver, version 0.9.3 (2005-7-29)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:12.0[A] -> Link [LNKE] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
eth0: ULi M5263 at pci0000:00:12.0, 00:16:17:99:f6:5f, irq 11.
ali15x3_smbus 0000:00:15.1: ALI15X3_smb region uninitialized - upgrade BIOS or use force_addr=0xaddr
ali15x3_smbus 0000:00:15.1: ALI15X3 not detected, module not inserted.
ali1535_smbus 0000:00:15.1: ALI1535_smb region uninitialized - upgrade BIOS?
ali1535_smbus 0000:00:15.1: ALI1535 not detected, module not inserted.
nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
sd 4:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
sd 4:0:0:2: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
sd 4:0:0:3: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:01:00.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
NVRM: loading NVIDIA Linux x86 Kernel Module 1.0-9631 Thu Nov 9 1:10 PST 2006
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKG] enabled at IRQ 5
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:14.0[C] -> Link [LNKG] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
ata3: soft resetting port
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
ata3: EH complete
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4060000 action 0x2 frozen
ata3: (irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed)
hda_codec: Unknown model for ALC883, trying auto-probe from BIOS...
floppy0: no floppy controllers found
parport: PnPBIOS parport detected.
parport0: PC-style at 0x378, irq 7 [PCSPP]
lp0: using parport0 (interrupt-driven).
lp0: console ready
ata3: soft resetting port
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
ata3: EH complete
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4060000 action 0x2 frozen
ata3: (irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed)
SELinux: initialized (dev ramfs, type ramfs), uses genfs_contexts
NET: Registered protocol family 10
lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions
IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling driver
ata3: soft resetting port
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
ata3: EH complete
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4060000 action 0x2 frozen
ata3: (irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed)
ACPI: Power Button (FF) [PWRF]
ACPI: Power Button (CM) [PWRB]
ibm_acpi: ec object not found
md: Autodetecting RAID arrays.
md: autorun ...
md: ... autorun DONE.
device-mapper: ioctl: 4.7.0-ioctl (2006-06-24) initialised: dm-devel@redhat.com
device-mapper: multipath: version 1.0.4 loaded
EXT3 FS on sda1, internal journal
SELinux: initialized (dev tmpfs, type tmpfs), uses transition SIDs
kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds
EXT3 FS on sda3, internal journal
EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.
SELinux: initialized (dev sda3, type ext3), uses xattr
ata3: soft resetting port
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
ata3: EH complete
Adding 2048276k swap on /dev/sda2. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:2048276k
SELinux: initialized (dev binfmt_misc, type binfmt_misc), uses genfs_contexts
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4060000 action 0x2 frozen
ata3: (irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed)
ip6_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
Netfilter messages via NETLINK v0.30.
ip_conntrack version 2.4 (8192 buckets, 65536 max) - 228 bytes per conntrack
process `sysctl' is using deprecated sysctl (syscall) net.ipv6.neigh.lo.base_reachable_time; Use net.ipv6.neigh.lo.base_reachable_time_ms instead.
ata3: soft resetting port
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
ata3: EH complete
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4060000 action 0x2 frozen
ata3: (irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed)
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
uli526x: eth0 NIC Link is Up 100 Mbps Full duplex
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
ata3: soft resetting port
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
ata3: EH complete
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4060000 action 0x2 frozen
ata3: (irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed)
ata3: soft resetting port
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
ata3: EH complete
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4060000 action 0x2 frozen
ata3: (irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed)
ata3: soft resetting port
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
ata3: EH complete
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4060000 action 0x2
[/HTML]

basing myself on this:
ACPI is bothering, don't know why yet.
Let's try to disable it again; some other people needs "nolapic" kernel parameter instead of "noapic", try it.

There's another thing:
ACPI: (supports S0 S1 S3 S4 S5). Which one is selected in your bios?
Talking about your bios, that other thing about turning on by itself has to be bios related, point me to one manual to your mobo on the internet, if you can.

EDIT: About the turning on problem, the root of it is difficult to find, some people had it because of a faulty transistor on the mobo, some other by having a hidden “wake on” power setting for an integrated ethernet card.

Thanks again runnerfrog!

With "nolapic" parameter the start-up stops with these errors:
Mobo is MSI K9NU Neo (MS-7270v1.0) with NVIDIA M1697 chipset. Manual can be downloaded here:
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/suppor...UID=739&kind=1

Checking this for you I noticed something interesting ("Fixed system will auto wakeup from S5 when LAN link status change.")
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/suppor...UID=739&kind=1
Looks like I need to perform a BIOS update (current 1.1).

There's a setting "ACPI standby state" in BIOS which must be "S1/POS" as there are no other options available. Also there is "Power button function" where it is possible to choose between "Power off" and "Suspend". Default is "power-off".

I hope BIOS update helps. We'll see shortly...

Updated BIOS. The auto-wake-up problem may have been solved. Can't tell yet for certain. Boot still freezes so it may be different issue after all. I suspect hardware malfunction. I'm going to ask replacing component(s) causing the problem (hdd?, mobo?).

It appears to be a libata-(may be s.m.a.r.t.)-raid related problem, I'm been unable to trace down a real solution for now, do you have a raid array?, 'cause many people has to delete their array to finally have some rest for a while, like carl0ski here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=509631
I don't even believe its a hardware problem, if you boot with a live-cd will surely prove yourself that, I guess you will not see any problem.

EDIT: Forgot two things, disable Spread Spectrum Clock from mobo, or put it down to 0, and if you are really going to ask replacing component(s) (we don't even know which yet!) first ask me how to save a list of damaged sectors of your disks.

Runnerfrog,


I don't have RAID. I did disable Spread Spectrum Clock with no apparent change in system behaviour.

I tried an Ubuntu live-CD. You were right: I got no ata3 errors! Boot freeze did not change though.

I installed a borrowed Windows XP just to check if the boot freezing problem persisted there. No surprises: the boot still freezed. It seems to be a problem independent of any OS.

Interestingly only now I realized the boot doesn't really freeze completely. It only takes a lot of time, say 5 minutes, to autodetect the hdd. I'm a bit embarrassed about not figuring this out earlier...

How do I save a list of damaged sectors of my disks?

So, I still got ugly ata3 errors every 4 seconds and a somewhat delayed boot. Do you think we'll figure out a way to get rid of these?

And hey,
...Happy New Year 2007!

That was a guessing of mine with raid on; no-raid, not important at all.
Is great you tried that. But, in Bios, you have your disks well configured? What's configurable for those sata there? 5 minutes is an eternity.
For every filesystem _except_ reiserfs you do, (recommended with the filesystem unmounted and supposing a mounted floppy in /mnt/floppy):

To know if a filesystem has badblocks and save a list to floppy:
That results in giving you the list of bad blocks for the device in the file "/mnt/floppy/badlist_devicename"
...Where your_device has to be replaced with device pointer, e.g., /dev/hda5, and device_name with, let's say, hda5, if applicable. If someone ask you what hda5 is, you know what to say: "master IDE drive on the primary IDE controller, fifth partition."
Do that with every partition.
To fix those bad blocks using that list: You have to do this for every partition, may be you have to replace fsck with fsck.ext3 for ext3 partitions. Please use a live_cd, like sysrescuecd, for example, but with partition unmounted. For reiserfs partitions things are slightly different:

**Next only if a partition is reiserfs**:
Obtain the block size for a reiserfs filesystem (look at the block size number): To know if it has badblocks and save list to floppy: To fix using that list of bad blocks: To rebuild a reiserfs partition: You already said memtest86 passed with your new RAM, then discarded. Microprocessor? Rarely fails, but you said: "Boot freeze did not change though.", for any OS, mmh. All surely points to HD now. With a list of badblocks you have some proof that your problem is real, you can go safely for replacing component/s, then. Or fix using the commands up there, not recommended for a new box, 'cause it is jusk marking the blocks to not use them again during the lifetime of that partition; damages in the surface of a disk cannot be fixed.

Possibly fixing (marking blocks) the way I specified above, but for a new box, better a replacing, you deserve it.
If I mistyped or I'm wrong in something let me know.
Same for you, pal; have a great year and greetings from Argentina!. OFF-TOPIC: I've heard Helsinki has/had some fever for tango, is/was that true?

There not much to be done really. I've got everything "Auto". There's "Type" (not installed, auto, CD/DVD, ARMD), "LBA/Large mode" (disabled,auto), DMA mode (auto, about 20 different options like udma1, udma2, udma3 etc), HDD Smart (enabled, disabled, auto). Tried to disable smart, no help. I guess it's not possible to manually configure HDD type with this bios.

It did the badblocks test with your very good instructions and curiously found no bad blocks at all.

There's been tango-fever in Finland for decades! Argentina is very famous for tango over here. I have to admit the teen-agers prefer Britney-Spears/Justin-Timberlake/etc though.

Which are your selected options over that? Is your HD Sata III, isn't?
Should be "LBA/Large mode auto" and the UDMA Mode depends on your hd specification. What's your HD specification? And something I thought last night: Are the 5 minutes delay going on only when the OS is booting, or before, when the bios recognizes the HD and other hardware?
EDIT: Forgot something, is there a "legacy mode" for the controller to select in the Bios?
I'm getting out of ideas. Having in mind that Sata drives do not have jumpers (for anything but power mode and compatibility), everything points to bios configuration or cabling isn't? However, I've read from several people (in spanish) with exactly the same problem, 5 minutes delay, etc, that they tried the hd on a friend's box and no change, they go for replacing the disk and... solved, was the freaking disk.

OFF-TOPIC:
That's the usual. However, a change form Spears-Timberlake to Aguilera could be an improvement. Anyway, have the Bajofondo Tango Club, Narcotango or Gotan Project (trance, house, electronic tango) hit the radios or pubs there?

Before, when BIOS is recognizing the hardware.

You got it there!! Changing SATA cable position in mobo from 3rd primary master to 3rd primary slave fixed the problem. No ata3-messages, no boot delay. If I switch cable back to 3rd master slot -> the problem returns. So I've got a solution or a work-around at least. Could there be a mechanical fault in mobo (cable connection?) or something like that? What do you think?

Having been living in Lapland last year (quite north, level with the polar circle actually) I'm rather outdated when it comes to clubbing in Helsinki...

That's it, bios config or cabling. Don't know why I thought the boot hang or delay was during OS boot time.

That doesn't let me without questions, same as you.

I think I'm confused Sata drives doesn't have Master-Slave-CableSelect configurations, they are all "master" 'cos they use one sata channel each. Possibly you have a EIDE drive over a pata-sata adapter, and the hd has its jumper in "slave".
Electronic fault in motherboard is very difficult to prove, in my experience, and much more difficult without direct access to the hardware, you have to follow procedures to check out errors, until you close the perimeter to one or two possible ones, it's a drag. But guessing hard, don't think your mobo have that fault, (mostly because you access the drive before) just that master-slave thing calls my attention.

OFF-TOPIC:
So you are living close to Santa Christ, I can hardly believe the beauty of the province, not to mention if there is any ice bar close!. Have a great new year, you and Kimi Raikkonen, I'm specting something from him.

Runnerfrog: I sent you e-mail via Linuxquestions but you propably haven't got it? Thanks for all your help anyway! My hardware supplier took the machine back for tests. I'll let you know if they find anything interesting.

I'll post a brief summary of the case for those who may have been following the thread or google their way here.


1. Broken memory
Very unstable system. Problems installing OS (FC6/Ubuntu). Memtest86+ errors on test #7. Replacing memory modules fixed the problem.

2. Auto wake-up on LAN
System powered up by itself. This propably was a bug in BIOS (auto wakeup from S5 when LAN link status change). A BIOS update fixed the problem.

3. Auto-detecting SATA HDD took several minutes at boot
Constant ata3-error output like this in var/log/messages:
ata3: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4000000 action 0x2 frozen
ata3: (irq_stat 0x00000040, connection status changed)
ata3: soft resetting port
ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)

Problem was fixed by a new mobo of the same make. Looks like all problems were with hardware, not OS related at all. Many thanks to runnerfrog for all his help!