Hard Drive - Random Errors...

[kripkenstein]

I have a new computer, and I have the following odd behavior. On Windows it works fine (which I installed just to test things, after I ran into the following problems), but in Ubuntu I get random hard drive errors. At first I would just get strange behavior that I couldn't figure out, but now I have the following test, what I did was this:

I compiled a project hundreds of times and md5sum-ed the output, to see if it was the same. When run on a ramdrive (that is, all the source files are on the ramdrive and I compile on the ramdrive as well, this is on /dev/shm), I get the exact same result every time. But on the hard drive, I get around 20% failures. A failure might be even a single wrong byte, I guess, all I know is that the md5sum is different. This is on files of size 6MB, so, perhaps one wrong byte per 30MB or so?

Again, what is strange is that the drive works fine in Windows, it's only on Ubuntu that I get these errors. This is on Hardy, but I get the same in Fedora, so I guess it's a general Linux issue?

If anyone has any ideas what might be the issue, I'd appreciate it. This is driving me nuts... and of course the store won't replace anything because "it works fine in Windows, so the hardware is fine".

The machine is a Core 2 Duo E8400, Gigabyte EP35-DS3L motherboard, 4GB RAM, and the hard drive is a WD Caviar Blue 250 GB (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=298).

Here are my hdparm results, I don't even know what to look for myself, but maybe it's relevant:

$ sudo hdparm -i /dev/sda

/dev/sda:

Model=WDC WD2500AAKS-00B3A0 , FwRev=01.03A01, SerialNo= WD-WMAT11662633
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=50
BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=16384kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=?16?
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=488397168
IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
PIO modes: pio0 pio3 pio4
DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6
AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: Unspecified: ATA/ATAPI-1,2,3,4,5,6,7

* signifies the current active mode


$ sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda

/dev/sda:

ATA device, with non-removable media
Model Number: WDC WD2500AAKS-00B3A0
Serial Number: WD-WMAT11662633
Firmware Revision: 01.03A01
Transport: Serial, SATA 1.0a, SATA II Extensions, SATA Rev 2.5
Standards:
Supported: 8 7 6 5
Likely used: 8
Configuration:
Logical max current
cylinders 16383 16383
heads 16 16
sectors/track 63 63
--
CHS current addressable sectors: 16514064
LBA user addressable sectors: 268435455
LBA48 user addressable sectors: 488397168
device size with M = 1024*1024: 238475 MBytes
device size with M = 1000*1000: 250059 MBytes (250 GB)
Capabilities:
LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
Queue depth: 32
Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, with device specific minimum
R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16 Current = 16
Recommended acoustic management value: 128, current value: 254
DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6
Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
Cycle time: no flow control=120ns IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
Enabled Supported:
* SMART feature set
Security Mode feature set
* Power Management feature set
* Write cache
* Look-ahead
* Host Protected Area feature set
* WRITE_BUFFER command
* READ_BUFFER command
* NOP cmd
* DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
SET_MAX security extension
Automatic Acoustic Management feature set
* 48-bit Address feature set
* Device Configuration Overlay feature set
* Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
* FLUSH_CACHE_EXT
* SMART error logging
* SMART self-test
* General Purpose Logging feature set
* 64-bit World wide name
* Segmented DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
* SATA-I signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)
* SATA-II signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)
* Native Command Queueing (NCQ)
* Host-initiated interface power management
* Phy event counters
DMA Setup Auto-Activate optimization
* Software settings preservation
* SMART Command Transport (SCT) feature set
* SCT Long Sector Access (AC1)
* SCT LBA Segment Access (AC2)
* SCT Error Recovery Control (AC3)
* SCT Features Control (AC4)
* SCT Data Tables (AC5)
unknown 206[12] (vendor specific)
unknown 206[13] (vendor specific)
Security:
Master password revision code = 65534
supported
not enabled
not locked
not frozen
not expired: security count
supported: enhanced erase
54min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 54min for ENHANCED SECURITY ERASE UNIT.
Logical Unit WWN Device Identifier: 50014ee0ab401e26
NAA : 5
IEEE OUI : 14ee
Unique ID : 0ab401e26
Checksum: correct

Thanks in advance!

[Dougie187]

Are you sure its the hard drive?

Did you do the same test in windows?

Also, what type of project are you compiling? And what Compiler are you using to complile it? (versions as well)

I'm thinking, that if you have the same issue in both linux distributions and not in the windows one, then it might be a compiler issue. But im not really sure. But if that is the case, I have a hard time believing that its a hard drive issue.

[kripkenstein]

Are you sure its the hard drive?

Did you do the same test in windows?

Also, what type of project are you compiling? And what Compiler are you using to complile it? (versions as well)

I'm thinking, that if you have the same issue in both linux distributions and not in the windows one, then it might be a compiler issue. But im not really sure. But if that is the case, I have a hard time believing that its a hard drive issue.

Well, it's hard to do the exact same test in Windows, I don't even know how to compile things there. But I guess I can try. However, I used Windows for days and encountered no errors, while running for a few hours on Hardy leads to problems (downloaded files are corrupt and other strange and random stuff).

The compilation on Linux was using the default compiler in Hardy, says it is gcc 4.2.3. I'm compiling Sauerbraten, a nice FPS game. Takes around 1-2 minutes to compile, binary is around 6 MB at the end.

The reason I think it is a hard drive issue is that when I compile on a ramdrive then it goes well 100% of the time. Only compiling on the hard drive fails. These are the exact same sources, same machine, and same compiler, so I don't think the compiler is at fault. The only difference is one thing is all in RAM, the other is on the hard disk.

Also, I tested my CPU and RAM extensively using memtest and memtest+, also cpuburn, and found 0 errors, so I don't think it is a CPU or RAM issue. It all seems to point to a hard drive problem at this point, but I'm no expert and I'm just guessing, so tell me if that makes sense or not.

[Odrodzona-Sarmacja]

On some hardware configurations Linux hate ext3 file system. It's the kernel bug. Even Linus Thorvald knows about it last few years and still did nothing about it.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.15/+bug/53102

Enjoy this reading and your Linux OS.

[kripkenstein]

On some hardware configurations Linux hate ext3 file system. It's the kernel bug. Even Linus Thorvald knows about it last few years and still did nothing about it.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.15/+bug/53102

Enjoy this reading and your Linux OS.

Thanks for the info. That was certainly a depressing read, those are serious bugs... I'm not sure they are related to my problems, however, they say entire filesystems get corrupted, can't be mounted, etc., when I have just minor random errors when saving files.

[Daelyn]

The bug seems to only be present in 64bit systems with AMD CPU's.
And, from what I gather, you don't have that.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/203537

[Odrodzona-Sarmacja]

I have AMD CPU, Athlon XP 2.5Ghz and even if it is only 32bit CPU I am also having these issues. Corruption occurs when downloading files into ext3 partition, so even a simple software update can send entire computer into hard drive lockup and need to reboot and need to run fsck (sometimes even manually). I use also 32bit i386 version of Xubuntu and not 64bit, as it doesn't run on my Athlon XP.

[kripkenstein]

Ok, my problem isn't the hard drive, and isn't ext3 either: I get the same errors on a USB flash drive.

So, when I compile in a ramdrive, all is well, but the hard drive and flash drive give corrupt results sometimes.

I am baffled, any idea what the problem could be?