Hdd errors: hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }

redarrow · 09-05-2006, 02:53 PM

Hi all,

I've been having problems with my HDD, the kernel log reports the following:

Code:

ide: failed opcode was: unknown
hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hda: dma_intr: error=0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
ide: failed opcode was: unknown
hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hda: dma_intr: error=0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
ide: failed opcode was: unknown
hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hda: dma_intr: error=0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
ide: failed opcode was: unknown
ide0: reset: success

It does this randomly and normally is accompanied by the system momentarily "locking up"...
I thought I might have a bad hard drive, however I replaced it recently and the new one is doing precisely the same thing

I also checked the smartd error logs (smartctl -l error /dev/hda), which contained some errors too:

Code:

Error 87 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 155 hours (6 days + 11 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
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  84 51 00 00 00 00 e0  Error: ICRC, ABRT at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  25 00 08 3a 27 95 e0 00      00:25:19.760  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 08 3a 27 95 e0 00      00:25:19.758  READ DMA EXT
  10 00 3f 00 00 00 e0 00      00:25:19.436  RECALIBRATE [OBS-4]
  25 00 08 3a 27 95 e0 00      00:25:19.416  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 08 3a 27 95 e0 00      00:25:18.983  READ DMA EXT

Anybody have any ideas what's going on here?
Remedies or ideas?

Thanks!

Half_Elf · 09-05-2006, 11:09 PM

Sound like your hdd is dying... at least it would be my first guess. In any ways, BACK UP NOW.

Maybe it's just your DMA settings that are too intensive, you could try to slow this down with hdparm.
[WARNING : below commands can be dangerous. Beware!]
First, use hdparm to get your disk supported settings, like in : "hdparm -vi /dev/hda".
You should get some infos like :

...
PIO modes : pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
DMA modes : mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
UDMA modes : udma0 udma2 udma3 *udma4
...

The * is what you are currenly using. To slow it down, try a command like :
"hdparm -Xudma0 /dev/hda"

DMA is very intensive on hdd, plus using a mode badly supported by your hdd might make it to die faster than usual.
It is also possible that your motherboard is getting old and that the chipset is sending some bad things to the hdds.
Or maybe your power supply is having up-down, which are deadly to any electronic components.

redarrow · 09-06-2006, 07:16 AM

Hi Half_Elf, Thanks very much for your response!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Half_Elf

Sound like your hdd is dying... at least it would be my first guess. In any ways, BACK UP NOW.

That's what I first thought.. but two hdd's in a row? This one is only about one month old..
I have backup up my important stuff though

Quote:

Originally Posted by Half_Elf

Maybe it's just your DMA settings that are too intensive, you could try to slow this down with hdparm.
[WARNING : below commands can be dangerous. Beware!]
First, use hdparm to get your disk supported settings, like in : "hdparm -vi /dev/hda".
You should get some infos like :

...
PIO modes : pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
DMA modes : mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
UDMA modes : udma0 udma2 udma3 *udma4
...

The * is what you are currenly using. To slow it down, try a command like :
"hdparm -Xudma0 /dev/hda"

DMA is very intensive on hdd, plus using a mode badly supported by your hdd might make it to die faster than usual.

I will give this a try and report back... thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Half_Elf

It is also possible that your motherboard is getting old and that the chipset is sending some bad things to the hdds.
Or maybe your power supply is having up-down, which are deadly to any electronic components.

I had actually wondered about my PSU.. some of the voltage levels seem a bit low...
I was planning to replace it shortly..

Thanks again..

redarrow · 09-06-2006, 11:02 AM

Hmm, running the command: "hdparm -vi /dev/hda" results in:

Code:

/dev/hda:
 multcount    = 16 (on)
 IO_support   =  1 (32-bit)
 unmaskirq    =  1 (on)
 using_dma    =  1 (on)
 keepsettings =  0 (off)
 readonly     =  0 (off)
 readahead    = 256 (on)
 geometry     = 30401/255/63, sectors = 488397168, start = 0

 Model=ST3250820A, FwRev=3.AAC, SerialNo=5QE006BF
 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs RotSpdTol>.5% }
 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4
 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=8192kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
 CurCHS=65535/1/63, CurSects=4128705, LBA=yes, LBAsects=268435455
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2
 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
 Drive conforms to: Unspecified:  ATA/ATAPI-1 ATA/ATAPI-2 ATA/ATAPI-3 ATA/ATAPI-4 ATA/ATAPI-5 ATA/ATAPI-6 ATA/ATAPI-7

 * signifies the current active mode

Which is kind of odd... the * which is meant to tell me the currently active mode is not there??

I copied this straight from my terminal btw...

Any ideas?

Thanks..

Half_Elf · 09-06-2006, 11:14 AM

Hmmm okay, this might be the problem. Either your system is using a mode not supported by your hdd, or the system can't tell you what mode it is using.
Sooo my guest would be to force a DMA mode; udma2 is the fastest it seems to support, so if you like the best performance it would be the correct choice. However you might want to slow it down (to udma0 as example).
So, something like :
"hdparm -Xudma0 /dev/hda"

You might need to modify your boot script then to force the system to use this mode each time it boots up.

redarrow · 09-06-2006, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Half_Elf

Hmmm okay, this might be the problem. Either your system is using a mode not supported by your hdd, or the system can't tell you what mode it is using.

Funny thing is it seems to know what it is during startup...
dmesg | grep hda :

Code:

    ide0: BM-DMA at 0xe000-0xe007, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA
hda: ST3250820A, ATA DISK drive
hda: max request size: 512KiB
hda: 488397168 sectors (250059 MB) w/8192KiB Cache, CHS=30401/255/63, UDMA(100)
hda: cache flushes supported

UDMA 100... According to seagate my HDD is meant to support UDMA 100 ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Half_Elf

Sooo my guest would be to force a DMA mode; udma2 is the fastest it seems to support, so if you like the best performance it would be the correct choice. However you might want to slow it down (to udma0 as example).
So, something like :
"hdparm -Xudma0 /dev/hda"

You might need to modify your boot script then to force the system to use this mode each time it boots up.

That works to set the mode... I'll have to try if for a while to see if the errors occur again..

It's just a bit sucky because it slows the disk down quite a bit - I discovered the read test with hdparm: hdparm -t /dev/hda..

On the default settings I get:

Code:

/dev/hda:
 Timing buffered disk reads:  210 MB in  3.00 seconds =  69.88 MB/sec

With hdparm -Xudma2 /dev/hda applied it drops to:

Code:

/dev/hda:
 Timing buffered disk reads:   86 MB in  3.03 seconds =  28.38 MB/sec

However if it solves the problem... stability before speed..

Thanks!

redarrow · 09-16-2006, 10:37 AM

Just for interests sake, I believe I have solved this problem...
I replaced my PSU (which I believed to be faulty) exactly one week ago, and the problem has not returned once since then...

Half_Elf · 09-16-2006, 11:44 AM

Glad to hear that.
So the PSU was messy... Interesting.