"Gave up waiting for root device" & "configured for UDMA/66..." message

[blitzter47]

I have an old computer with old hard drives made before 2000:
Motherboard : AOpen AX34 Pentium III 1Ghz
Hard drives : 13 GB QUANTUM FIREBALL CX13.0A + 20 GB Seagate ST320414A + 13 GB FUJITSU MPC3064AT.

The problem

The first time I start booting Ubuntu, I got the message saying "Gave up waiting for root device ...". I searched about it on the Net and found a popular "alternative" to get rid of the shell message by adding rootdelay=90 or 120... For me, I put rootdelay=126 exactly according to the verbose message while booting, after GRUB menu, or in dmesg log in terminal command just below :
Take care to look at the bold sections and underlined ones.


dmesg[ 32.816074] ata1: lost interrupt (Status 0x58)
[ 32.820021] ata1: drained 32768 bytes to clear DRQ.
[ 32.856542] ata1.01: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
[ 32.856614] ata1.01: failed command: READ DMA
[ 32.856687] ata1.01: cmd c8/00:08:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/f0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
[ 32.856691] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
[ 32.856841] ata1.01: status: { DRDY }
[ 32.856938] ata1: soft resetting link
[ 33.044521] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/66
[ 33.060285] ata1.01: configured for UDMA/66
My comment : The kernel seems to try booting the system hard drive (ata1.01 : which is used to boot Ubuntu) in UDMA/66 Mode

[ 33.060353] ata1.01: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
[ 33.060428] ata1: EH complete
[ 63.816066] ata1: lost interrupt (Status 0x58)
[ 63.820021] ata1: drained 32768 bytes to clear DRQ.
[ 63.856524] ata1.01: limiting speed to UDMA/44:PIO4
[ 63.856590] ata1.01: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
[ 63.856660] ata1.01: failed command: READ DMA
[ 63.856733] ata1.01: cmd c8/00:08:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/f0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
[ 63.856737] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
[ 63.856886] ata1.01: status: { DRDY }
[ 63.856975] ata1: soft resetting link

[ 64.044489] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/66
[ 64.060285] ata1.01: configured for UDMA/44
My comment : Now, the kernel seems to try booting the system hard drive (ata1.01 : which is used to boot Ubuntu) in UDMA/44 Mode

[ 64.060350] ata1.01: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
[ 64.060423] ata1: EH complete
[ 94.816062] ata1: lost interrupt (Status 0x58)
[ 94.820022] ata1: drained 32768 bytes to clear DRQ.
[ 94.856514] ata1.01: limiting speed to UDMA/33:PIO4
[ 94.856580] ata1.01: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
[ 94.856648] ata1.01: failed command: READ DMA
[ 94.856720] ata1.01: cmd c8/00:08:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/f0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
[ 94.856724] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
[ 94.856874] ata1.01: status: { DRDY }
[ 94.856960] ata1: soft resetting link
[ 95.044523] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/66
[ 95.060285] ata1.01: configured for UDMA/33
[ 95.060350] ata1.01: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
[ 95.060421] ata1: EH complete
[ 125.816067] ata1: lost interrupt (Status 0x58)
[ 125.820020] ata1: drained 32768 bytes to clear DRQ.
[ 125.856521] ata1.01: limiting speed to PIO4
[ 125.856586] ata1.01: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
[ 125.856655] ata1.01: failed command: READ DMA
[ 125.856728] ata1.01: cmd c8/00:08:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/f0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
[ 125.856732] res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
[ 125.856882] ata1.01: status: { DRDY }
[ 125.856970] ata1: soft resetting link

[ 126.044487] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/66
[ 126.060284] ata1.01: configured for PIO4
My comment : After the 126th seconds while booting, the kernel detected FINALLY that the system hard drive (ata1.01 : which is used to boot Ubuntu) can support as best as PIO4 mode only.

[ 126.060349] ata1.01: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
[ 126.060420] ata1: EH complete
[ 126.070024] sdb1 sdb2
[ 126.070519] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
[126 .070993] sda: detected capacity change from 0 to 13020069888
[126 .071357] sdb: detected capacity change from 0 to 20020396032
[126 .072682] sda: detected capacity change from 0 to 13020069888
[ 126.073138] sd 0:0:1:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
[ 126.088848] sdb: detected capacity change from 0 to 20020396032
My comment : At the end of the 126th seconds, the kernel is adjusting itself to the PIO4 mode of the Ubuntu system hard drive, and Ubuntu starts loading! That's why I put rootdelay=126.The real solution for me

As I can see, I think the kernel go through all possible UDMA modes before getting the right mode for my hard drive. So after a long research about this issue on the Net and about the kernel, here's the solution for me to avoid the delay and load Ubuntu immediately, with "libata.force=1:pio4" to force the kernel to go directly to PIO4 mode (the appropriate mode for me) without passing by UDMA modes.

I tested it by pressing "e" key at GRUB menu startup after highlighted "Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS, kernel 2.6.32-24-generic" in the menu.
and added "libata.force=1:pio4" at the end of "kernel" line as below

title Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS, kernel 2.6.32-24-generic
uuid 0a6411bd-3776-4186-bc4a-8d63e2d1eb5f
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic root=UUID=0a6411bd-3776-4186-bc4a-8d63e2d1eb5f ro rootdelay=126 libata.force=1:pio4
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-24-genericThen I booted with this parameter ("Ctrl + b" or "b") and not only the shell should disappeared but the time delay waiting for the device also. If it works, go to the next section to see how to make this permanent.

I suppose who has a SATA hard drive may try "libata.force=1:sata" or "libata.force=1:1.5Gbps" or "libata.force=1:3.0Gbps" or a combination of them, separated with comma like libata.force=1:sata,1.5Gbps". More info about libata.force at the end of this post.

To make this permanent (if the solution works)

For GRUB 1
In terminal: edit /boot/grub/menu.lst

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
...or for GRUB 2:

sudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfgand add "libata.force=1:pio4" in text editor like above, where "pio4" is the supported mode of your hard drive, according to the kernel parameters at the end of this post.
Another way for GRUB 2 (little more steps):
To edit /etc/default/grub file in text editor, type in terminal

sudo gedit /etc/default/grubthen find, in the 9th line of the opened file, GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT Then change the content in quotes in the following way:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="libata.force=1:pio4 quiet splash"then run sudo update-grub in the terminal.

Hope that will help.

Info about libata.force=... :


1195 libata.force= [LIBATA] Force configurations. The format is comma
1196 separated list of "[ID:]VAL" where ID is
1197 PORT[.DEVICE]. PORT and DEVICE are decimal numbers
1198 matching port, link or device. Basically, it matches
1199 the ATA ID string printed on console by libata. If
1200 the whole ID part is omitted, the last PORT and DEVICE
1201 values are used. If ID hasn't been specified yet, the
1202 configuration applies to all ports, links and devices.
1203
1204 If only DEVICE is omitted, the parameter applies to
1205 the port and all links and devices behind it. DEVICE
1206 number of 0 either selects the first device or the
1207 first fan-out link behind PMP device. It does not
1208 select the host link. DEVICE number of 15 selects the
1209 host link and device attached to it.
1210
1211 The VAL specifies the configuration to force. As long
1212 as there's no ambiguity shortcut notation is allowed.
1213 For example, both 1.5 and 1.5G would work for 1.5Gbps.
1214 The following configurations can be forced.
1215
1216 * Cable type: 40c, 80c, short40c, unk, ign or sata.
1217 Any ID with matching PORT is used.
1218
1219 * SATA link speed limit: 1.5Gbps or 3.0Gbps.
1220
1221 * Transfer mode: pio[0-7], mwdma[0-4] and udma[0-7].
1222 udma[/][16,25,33,44,66,100,133] notation is also
1223 allowed.

sources :
http://www.mjmwired.net/kernel/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt

[NexaYa]

I have an old computer with old hard drives made before 2000:
Motherboard : AOpen AX34 Pentium III 1Ghz
Hard drives : 13 GB QUANTUM FIREBALL CX13.0A + 20 GB Seagate ST320414A + 13 GB FUJITSU MPC3064AT.

The problem

The first time I start booting Ubuntu, I got the message saying "Gave up waiting for root device ...". I searched about it on the Net and found a popular "alternative" to get rid of the shell message by adding rootdelay=90 or 120... For me, I put rootdelay=126 exactly according to the verbose message while booting, after GRUB menu, or in dmesg log in terminal command just below :
Take care to look at the bold sections and underlined ones.
The real solution for me

As I can see, I think the kernel go through all possible UDMA modes before getting the right mode for my hard drive. So after a long research about this issue on the Net and about the kernel, here's the solution for me to avoid the delay and load Ubuntu immediately, with "libata.force=1:pio4" to force the kernel to go directly to PIO4 mode (the appropriate mode for me) without passing by UDMA modes.

I tested it by pressing "e" key at GRUB menu startup after highlighted "Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS, kernel 2.6.32-24-generic" in the menu.
and added "libata.force=1:pio4" at the end of "kernel" line as below
Then I booted with this parameter ("Ctrl + b" or "b") and not only the shell should disappeared but the time delay waiting for the device also. If it works, go to the next section to see how to make this permanent.

I suppose who has a SATA hard drive may try "libata.force=1:sata" or "libata.force=1:1.5Gbps" or "libata.force=1:3.0Gbps" or a combination of them, separated with comma like libata.force=1:sata,1.5Gbps". More info about libata.force at the end of this post.

To make this permanent (if the solution works)

In terminal:

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lstor for GRUB 2:

sudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfgand add "libata.force=1:pio4" in text editor like above, where "pio4" is the supported mode of your hard drive, according to the kernel parameters at the end of this post.

Hope that will help.

Info about libata.force=... :
Thanks a lot!!!

[JeremyT]

Wowza! That worked. Thank you so very much, chtnh! You are awesome!

However, would it be better to place the parameter in /etc/default/grub because when update-grub is run, the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file is written over, isn't it?

So, change the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT value to include the libata.force=1:pio4 line

example:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="libata.force=1:pio4 quiet splash"

[blitzter47]

@JeremyT

Yes, you can edit /etc/default/grub as sudo (e.g. with gedit) in the way you said :

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="libata.force=1:pio4 quiet splash"
then run update-grub in the terminal.

Usually, the way you suggested or mine gives the same result as /boot/grub/grub.cfg file is edited in both manipulations.

But people seem to say that editing /etc/default/grub then update-grub (for GRUB 2) is safer and avoids risks for linux misreading the grub file.

[jsa36]

I just now registered on the forum just to say thank you. I am completely new to Ubuntu and Linux as I am trying to resurrect an old desktop for my kids to use.

With a little tweaking, your post fixed my problem booting. At first I wasn't able to boot at all, but adding the rootdelay solved that.

I still had issues with the boot taking so long and the libata.force wasn't helping.

Finally, I noticed that in dmesg ata1 (my hard drive) wasn't the problem, it was ata2 (my cd/dvd drive) that took so long to finally configure for pio4. So I took a guess and made the slight change to "libata.force=2:pio4" to the line in /etc/default/grub and it worked like a charm.

So again, thank you for sharing your knowledge and solving my issue.