Scary hda & ext3 messages

From: Alphonse Ogulla (ogulla_at_uonbi.ac.ke)
Date: 03/10/04

  • Next message: Kent West: "Re: More on installation" 
    To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 16:12:18 +0300

    Hi all,
    I got this rather scary message when I booted up my Debian PC last evening.
    First I noticed my hdd was making relatively more noise than usual. I had
    removed it quite recently for use in backing-up data of a windoze machine
    that was showing symptoms of imminent disk failure. (discovered later that it
    wasn't actually the disk, but the IDE cable). I connected this device as the
    master, booted Linux and transfered all data on the ntfs partition to a newly
    created vfat partition and returned the disk to where it belonged.

    So, upon restarting Linux successfully, running fsck at boot, logging in and
    using the machine for a while whilst listening to grinding noises coming from
    the hdd, I heard this clicking sound just before the light of the hdd went
    off. I then issued ls command to list directory contents but what I got was a
    sequence of lost interrupt messages;

    hda: lost interrupt
    hda: lost interrupt
    hda: lost interrupt

    and so on..........

    Soon after, the following spate of messages flooded my screen.

    end_request: I/O error, dev 03:02(hda), sector 5511824
    end_request: I/O error, dev 03:02(hda), sector 15504728
    ...
    Bus error

    end_request: I/O error, dev 03:02(hda), sector 0
    end_request: I/O error, dev 03:02(hda), sector 8
    end_request: I/O error, dev 03:02(hda), sector 24
    end_request: I/O error, dev 03:02(hda), sector 18350248
    ...

    EXT3-fs error (device ide0 (3,2)) in start_transaction: Journal has aborted.

    After this, things stoped working as normal. Not knowing what to do, I logged
    into another VT as root and issued init 0 to bring down the system but it
    didn't shutdown. So I just depressed the power off button and decided to
    seek an explanation & help on what is really happening.

    The only significant change on my debian PC is of course creation of a large
    vfat partition and reduced RAM because of using a 256MB/133Mhz DIMM on a
    100Mhz motherboard so only 133MB is seen. Don't know if this is the root
    cause to my problem.

    Otherwise my partition layout is as follows:

    hda1 NTFS (Not in fstab) 8GB
    hda2 Ext3 (Mounted root) 25GB
    hda3 Swap 1GB
    hda5 Ext3 (Mounted home) 10GB
    hda6 Vfat (Not in fstab) 16GB

    hdb1 Ext3 (Not in fstab) 8GB

    Shall greatly appreciate any help on what the problem might be and how to
    revert to a state of tranquility. Already have a backup of the most important
    data & configuration files so even if it means formatting hda then I'll take
    that route.

    One more bit of information. I think S.M.A.R.T, Super DMA, APM Suspend etc are
    all enabled for my drives in the BIOS settings i.e on "Loading Optimal
    Configuration Settings". Could these be having incompatibility issues with
    Linux?

    Thanks & regards 

    -- 
Alphonse Ogulla
Nairobi,Kenya
"I choose to use Debian/GNU Linux, not because it is easy, but because it is 
hard."
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