Re: SATA problems and fs corruption on recent kernels

Re: SATA problems and fs corruption on recent kernels

[Robert Hancock]

Fabio Coatti wrote:
> Hi all,
> I'm facing a quite annoying problem with sata disks. Googling a bit I've seen 
> several references to similar issues, but without any hint on how to solve.
> Short description, details below and on request ;) : on a quite old Pentium 
> IV /IC7G abit mobo, I've started to see sata lockups when moving files of 
> 4~15Mb size. I do this quite often (photo, actually) and prior the 
> 2.6.25.something I can't recall any single problem. On that machine I've 3 
> sata disks, both maxtor and seagate. The lockup caused XFS corruption, and a 
> simple reset is not enough: I've to turn off the power to have the hd drive 
> responding again, otherwise the machine will stop at POST.
> It doesn't matter which HD are involved in file transfer, it can happen moving 
> files on different partition of the same disk, between different disks and 
> between sata and usb disks as well.
> the same configuration worked without a glitch for years, using drivers  
> sata_sil and ata_piix (that mobo has two controllers)
> 
> Since then, I've changed hardware: new mobo (M3N-HT asus), new processor, 
> kernel and even some disks (I've added a new one). Of course new cables and 
> power supply. So I think that a hw culprit can be excluded.
> The driver has changed as well, now I use  ahci mode for sata disks. Tried 
> with 2.6.26.2
> The behaviour is exactly the same: moving files (more or less of the same size 
> as before) causes a HD lockup so bad that it needs a power cycle to recover, 
> otherwise the post will fail ahci detection of the drive (for those used to 
> that controller, it waits  for some seconds with "Port:00" message, then the 
> POST process locks)
> now even a mount of the damaged xfs partition can trigger the freeze: I can 
> only see a that xfs starts the recovery, then the hd stops blinking (always 
> on) and after that even a "ls" on the drive remains stuck. This happens on a 
> brand new 500Mb sata disk.
> so it seems that nor the hardware, nor the 64 or 32 bit of cpu/kernel nor the 
> low level drivers can explain this. I've tried only with xfs, but sounds 
> strange that a fs can lockup a drive.
> the hardware that I'm using is a 9850AMD phenom, m3n-ht mobo, 2.6.26.2 kernel, 
> gentoo 2008.0, sata hd from seagate and maxtor, different sizes and models. 
> AHCI sata drivers.
> working on small size files seems to be fine, as I can compile kernels and 
> I've installed the system without problems.
> Now I will try several things to get more clues, I can donwngrade kernels to 
> see if the situation changes (dunno if the new mobo is compatible with too 
> old kernels...), but if someone can give me some hints about which tests has 
> to be made and wich information I must provide, it will be most welcome
> Thanks for any help.

For things to lock up badly enough that even BIOS POST fails to detect 
the drives or locks up really seems like a hardware problem to me. 
You're still using some of the same disks from the old machine?

Re: SATA problems and fs corruption on recent kernels

[Fabio Coatti]

Alle Tuesday 12 August 2008, Robert Hancock ha scritto:
> Fabio Coatti wrote:
> > Hi all,
> > I'm facing a quite annoying problem with sata disks. Googling a bit I've
> > seen several references to similar issues, but without any hint on how to
> > solve. Short description, details below and on request ;) : on a quite
> > old Pentium IV /IC7G abit mobo, I've started to see sata lockups when
> > moving files of 4~15Mb size. I do this quite often (photo, actually) and
> > prior the 2.6.25.something I can't recall any single problem. On that
> > machine I've 3 sata disks, both maxtor and seagate. The lockup caused XFS
> > corruption, and a simple reset is not enough: I've to turn off the power
> > to have the hd drive responding again, otherwise the machine will stop at
> > POST.
> > It doesn't matter which HD are involved in file transfer, it can happen
> > moving files on different partition of the same disk, between different
> > disks and between sata and usb disks as well.
> > the same configuration worked without a glitch for years, using drivers
> > sata_sil and ata_piix (that mobo has two controllers)
> >
> > Since then, I've changed hardware: new mobo (M3N-HT asus), new processor,
> > kernel and even some disks (I've added a new one). Of course new cables
> > and power supply. So I think that a hw culprit can be excluded.
> > The driver has changed as well, now I use  ahci mode for sata disks.
> > Tried with 2.6.26.2
> > The behaviour is exactly the same: moving files (more or less of the same
> > size as before) causes a HD lockup so bad that it needs a power cycle to
> > recover, otherwise the post will fail ahci detection of the drive (for
> > those used to that controller, it waits  for some seconds with "Port:00"
> > message, then the POST process locks)
> > now even a mount of the damaged xfs partition can trigger the freeze: I
> > can only see a that xfs starts the recovery, then the hd stops blinking
> > (always on) and after that even a "ls" on the drive remains stuck. This
> > happens on a brand new 500Mb sata disk.
> > so it seems that nor the hardware, nor the 64 or 32 bit of cpu/kernel nor
> > the low level drivers can explain this. I've tried only with xfs, but
> > sounds strange that a fs can lockup a drive.
> > the hardware that I'm using is a 9850AMD phenom, m3n-ht mobo, 2.6.26.2
> > kernel, gentoo 2008.0, sata hd from seagate and maxtor, different sizes
> > and models. AHCI sata drivers.
> > working on small size files seems to be fine, as I can compile kernels
> > and I've installed the system without problems.
> > Now I will try several things to get more clues, I can donwngrade kernels
> > to see if the situation changes (dunno if the new mobo is compatible with
> > too old kernels...), but if someone can give me some hints about which
> > tests has to be made and wich information I must provide, it will be most
> > welcome Thanks for any help.
>
> For things to lock up badly enough that even BIOS POST fails to detect
> the drives or locks up really seems like a hardware problem to me.
> You're still using some of the same disks from the old machine?

Yes, and the hardware problem is the first thing I thinked of, but I've 
changed MB and cables, as well as bought a new disk. An I still get some I/O 
errors, even on the new one.
So, or I'm a bit unlucky to find several faulty disks in a row (it can be :) ) 
or something unclear is going on. 
The disk that suffers most lockups, after many tries, is the new one, the only 
SATA-II drive.
I'll keep stressing the HD trying to figure out what's going on, I'll even try 
a new sata-II unit, to see if I've really picked a heap of faulty disks.

Thanks for the answer!


-- 
Fabio Coatti       http://members.ferrara.linux.it/cova     
Ferrara Linux Users Group           http://ferrara.linux.it
GnuPG fp:9765 A5B6 6843 17BC A646  BE8C FA56 373A 5374 C703
Old SysOps never die... they simply forget their password.

Re: SATA problems and fs corruption on recent kernels

[Tejun Heo]

Fabio Coatti wrote:
> Yes, and the hardware problem is the first thing I thinked of, but I've 
> changed MB and cables, as well as bought a new disk. An I still get some I/O 
> errors, even on the new one.
> So, or I'm a bit unlucky to find several faulty disks in a row (it can be :) ) 
> or something unclear is going on. 
> The disk that suffers most lockups, after many tries, is the new one, the only 
> SATA-II drive.
> I'll keep stressing the HD trying to figure out what's going on, I'll even try 
> a new sata-II unit, to see if I've really picked a heap of faulty disks.

Heh... that's strange.  New power and new m/b and new disks don't solve
it?  Please let us know the test result.

Thanks.

-- 
tejun

SATA problems and fs corruption on recent kernels

[Fabio Coatti]

Hi all,
I'm facing a quite annoying problem with sata disks. Googling a bit I've seen 
several references to similar issues, but without any hint on how to solve.
Short description, details below and on request ;) : on a quite old Pentium 
IV /IC7G abit mobo, I've started to see sata lockups when moving files of 
4~15Mb size. I do this quite often (photo, actually) and prior the 
2.6.25.something I can't recall any single problem. On that machine I've 3 
sata disks, both maxtor and seagate. The lockup caused XFS corruption, and a 
simple reset is not enough: I've to turn off the power to have the hd drive 
responding again, otherwise the machine will stop at POST.
It doesn't matter which HD are involved in file transfer, it can happen moving 
files on different partition of the same disk, between different disks and 
between sata and usb disks as well.
the same configuration worked without a glitch for years, using drivers  
sata_sil and ata_piix (that mobo has two controllers)

Since then, I've changed hardware: new mobo (M3N-HT asus), new processor, 
kernel and even some disks (I've added a new one). Of course new cables and 
power supply. So I think that a hw culprit can be excluded.
The driver has changed as well, now I use  ahci mode for sata disks. Tried 
with 2.6.26.2
The behaviour is exactly the same: moving files (more or less of the same size 
as before) causes a HD lockup so bad that it needs a power cycle to recover, 
otherwise the post will fail ahci detection of the drive (for those used to 
that controller, it waits  for some seconds with "Port:00" message, then the 
POST process locks)
now even a mount of the damaged xfs partition can trigger the freeze: I can 
only see a that xfs starts the recovery, then the hd stops blinking (always 
on) and after that even a "ls" on the drive remains stuck. This happens on a 
brand new 500Mb sata disk.
so it seems that nor the hardware, nor the 64 or 32 bit of cpu/kernel nor the 
low level drivers can explain this. I've tried only with xfs, but sounds 
strange that a fs can lockup a drive.
the hardware that I'm using is a 9850AMD phenom, m3n-ht mobo, 2.6.26.2 kernel, 
gentoo 2008.0, sata hd from seagate and maxtor, different sizes and models. 
AHCI sata drivers.
working on small size files seems to be fine, as I can compile kernels and 
I've installed the system without problems.
Now I will try several things to get more clues, I can donwngrade kernels to 
see if the situation changes (dunno if the new mobo is compatible with too 
old kernels...), but if someone can give me some hints about which tests has 
to be made and wich information I must provide, it will be most welcome
Thanks for any help.