Re: Harddisk Errors in Etch using Kernel 2.6.17 but not Kernel 2.6.8



On Sat, Dec 02, 2006 at 09:38:51PM +0300, Salman Al-Rahma wrote:
[..]
Stable-, so as this is just a desktop computer.. I decided an upgrade is
due.. so changed the sources in /etc/apt/sources.list from stable to
testing and did a dist-upgrade.

Same here, although on a laptop.

so I did a manual apt-get install for each of them.. until apt-get
upgrade showed that the whole system is up-to-date.

Not up to date yet.

But as updating a system is an ongoing process, I kept doing apt-get
update ; apt-get upgrade every couple of days, and it worked fine.

Until one day, I noticed that the system is very very slow. I checked
and noticed that the DMA for the harddisk is turned off and when trying
to turn it on the system stuck. I also noticed that during the boot
process the kernel gives many strange errors related to the harddisk.

Same here:
Linux kan 2.6.17-2-486 #1 Wed Sep 13 15:56:30 UTC 2006 i586 GNU/Linux
...
Dec 3 20:46:36 kan kernel: hda: 2654280 sectors (1358 MB) w/128KiB
Cache, CHS=2633/16/63, DMA
Dec 3 20:46:36 kan kernel: hda:<4>hda: dma_timer_expiry: dma status ==
0x21
Dec 3 20:46:36 kan kernel: hda: DMA timeout error
Dec 3 20:46:36 kan kernel: hda: dma timeout error: status=0x58 {
DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest }
Dec 3 20:46:36 kan kernel: ide: failed opcode was: unknown
Dec 3 20:46:36 kan kernel: spurious 8259A interrupt: IRQ7.
Dec 3 20:46:36 kan kernel: hda2 hda3 hda4
Dec 3 20:46:36 kan kernel: hda: dma_timer_expiry: dma status == 0x21
Dec 3 20:46:36 kan kernel: hda: DMA timeout error
Dec 3 20:46:36 kan kernel: hda: dma timeout error: status=0x58 {
DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest }
...

I thought my hard disk was due to cark it, now I am not so sure.

So I rebooted the system using the kernel left from Sarge and the errors
didn't show up and DMA was k and the performance was OK, although xorg
didn't work.

At the moment xorg is running toooooo slow. It is ok if just 'X' is
running but soon as I run an xterm, by just having "exec xterm" in my
.xsession then running startx, and then type top for example, everything
slows to a crawl. I am investigating. I will hunt out a 2.6.8 kernel
deb.

What is wrong? and how to rectify this?

I wish I could help. Can you try a 2.6.18 kernel? What errors does xorg
complain about on a 2.6.8 kernel?

If you could get xorg running on a 2.6.8 (or whatever kernel doesn't
give the dma errors) would you be happy?

You could start another thread about the xorg problem.

Thanks for posting this -- there *maybe* some life left in this laptop
after all.

--
Chris.
======
" ... the official version cannot be abandoned because the implication of
rejecting it is far too disturbing: that we are subject to a government
conspiracy of `X-Files' proportions and insidiousness."
Letter to the LA Times Magazine, September 18, 2005.


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