ata1.01: status: {DRDY ERR}

[rootless]

Hey, Ubuntu works fine until I startx, at which point, my desktop launches, but my system monitor reads 100% processor usage. If I click on anything, the system becomes unresponsive. When I start gnome, if I go back down to the cli, I can see the following errors being thrown.

[various changing numbers] ata1.01: status: {DRDY ERR}
[various changing numbers] ata1.01 ERROR: {unc}
[various changing numbers] ata1.01 exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x0
[various changing numbers] ata1.01 cmd c8/00:08:5f:99:e5/00:00:00:00:00/f0 tag 0 dma 4069 in

Can anyone help me with this? Any advice at all would be good, even if it's not a solution.

[CatKiller]

I believe that ERROR: {unc} means "Uncorrectable Data." Sounds like the hard drive could be on the way out. The manufacturer of the hard drive may have a diagnostic tool on their website, and it may help, but backup all the data that you can. Now.

[rootless]

That's too bad... It's a new drive though.

Do you think a drive could be behind these problems? it's such a weird problem- it only happens when X is running, and this %100 processor thing...

You really think it's a drive?

[CatKiller]

While you're wondering about it, you could be backing up your data. It's a new drive, so it won't take long.

I think it could be the drive failing, which is why you have to take every precaution. You don't want to lose any more of your data than you have to. The manufacturer's diagnostic may tell you more. They won't give you a replacement drive until you've run it, anyway.

It might be something entirely benign, but do you really want to take the risk?

I had a similar message on two brand new drives (but without the {unc}, which should worry you) but when I lowered the processor clock all was fine. There might be something similarly non drive-related causing your problem.

[msrk]

I got the same error and read some forums. I installed smartmontools and ran some commands. Following is a transcript of the session. I don't understand the output. Is there a hardware problem with my disk or is something configured wrong? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you, Marc


Session Transcript:

root@ny:~# smartctl -a -d ata -s on /dev/sda
smartctl version 5.38 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Western Digital Caviar RE EIDE family
Device Model: WDC WD3200SB-01KMA0
Serial Number: WD-WCAMR3541958
Firmware Version: 08.05J08
User Capacity: 320,072,933,376 bytes
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: 6
ATA Standard is: Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated
Local Time is: Tue Sep 15 07:55:31 2009 EDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Disabled

=== START OF ENABLE/DISABLE COMMANDS SECTION ===
SMART Enabled.

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x82) Offline data collection activity
was completed without error.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: (9600) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
No General Purpose Logging support.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 116) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 6) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x001f) SCT Status supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 226 182 021 Pre-fail Always - 3691
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 59
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 067 067 000 Old_age Always - 24383
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 253 051 Pre-fail Always - 0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0012 100 253 051 Old_age Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 54
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 113 098 000 Old_age Always - 37
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 186 186 000 Old_age Always - 773
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 186 186 000 Old_age Offline - 773
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0009 197 197 051 Pre-fail Offline - 166

SMART Error Log Version: 1
Warning: ATA error count 45602 inconsistent with error log pointer 3

ATA Error Count: 45602 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
CR = Command Register [HEX]
FR = Features Register [HEX]
SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
ER = Error register [HEX]
ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 45602 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 24383 hours (1015 days + 23 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 01 ce ae c2 f6 Error: UNC 1 sectors at LBA = 0x06c2aece = 113422030

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
c8 00 08 c7 ae c2 06 59 33d+17:23:45.980 READ DMA
27 00 00 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:45.980 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT
ec 00 00 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:45.975 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 45 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:45.965 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
27 00 00 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:45.950 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT

Error 45601 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 24383 hours (1015 days + 23 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 01 ce ae c2 f6 Error: UNC 1 sectors at LBA = 0x06c2aece = 113422030

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
c8 00 08 c7 ae c2 06 59 33d+17:23:43.980 READ DMA
27 00 00 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:43.980 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT
ec 00 00 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:43.970 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 45 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:43.965 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
27 00 00 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:43.950 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT

Error 45600 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 24383 hours (1015 days + 23 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 01 ce ae c2 f6 Error: UNC 1 sectors at LBA = 0x06c2aece = 113422030

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
c8 00 08 c7 ae c2 06 59 33d+17:23:41.985 READ DMA
27 00 00 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:41.985 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT
ec 00 00 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:41.975 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 45 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:41.965 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
27 00 00 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:41.950 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT

Error 45599 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 24383 hours (1015 days + 23 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 01 ce ae c2 f6 Error: UNC 1 sectors at LBA = 0x06c2aece = 113422030

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
c8 00 08 c7 ae c2 06 59 33d+17:23:39.815 READ DMA
27 00 00 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:39.815 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT
ec 00 00 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:39.805 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 45 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:39.805 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
27 00 00 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:39.790 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT

Error 45598 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 24383 hours (1015 days + 23 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 01 ce ae c2 f6 Error: UNC 1 sectors at LBA = 0x06c2aece = 113422030

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
c8 00 08 c7 ae c2 06 59 33d+17:23:37.495 READ DMA
27 00 00 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:37.490 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT
ec 00 00 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:37.485 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 45 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:37.485 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
27 00 00 00 00 00 00 59 33d+17:23:37.470 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS EXT

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]


SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

root@ny:~#

[danwood76]

ATA Error Count: 45602 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)

Drive is pretty screwed backup and if the drive is new RMA it.
45000 errors is a hell of a lot and signifies a pretty dead drive.

[Kuea]

I was having the same issue a few weeks ago. Similar errors would fill the logs and the system would lock up - but only under heavy usage. Booting up to X was fine, and everything else was fine until any heavy usage.

I swapped drives, and to my amazement i had the same problem with a known good drive!

It turned out to be a failing-but-not-quite-dead-yet power supply. My guess is that when the cpu was at 100% and disk activity going on there wasn't enough power for everything and the hard drives would reset, or have some sort of issue.

Not enough to have the system reset but just enough to be a big problem. New replacement power supply and everything is fine.

So - it may be the drive, it may not be. You'll need to do more testing. Have any spare drives you can perhaps mirror and test?

[Zeerots]

Two days ago after an update on my two 9.04 main PCs I got the same problem on 2 PCs ! I believe it has something to do with a bug in combination with certain chips. See also the big problems with version 9.10 alpha 5:

[danwood76]

That maybe but the smart errors dont lie and that drive looks like its failing.

[tvtech]

bold font. I had this same error, I searched and searched and searched. the only common link I found in ALL of them was firefox 3.5 I have had two major kernel panics after installing and while running 3.5 the second one cause the error you described. it took 20 minutes to reboot I have reverted to firefox 3.0 and to err on the side of caution will use opera instead.has anyone filed a bug report?