Very Computer

 Hello,
  the following errors appear after running for a while, never immediately
 on booting up. Could anybody possibly clarify the exact meaning of the
 messages? Thankyou in anticipation.

hda: set_geometry_intr: status=0x61 {DriveReady DeviceFault Error}
hda: set_geometry_intr: error=0x04 {DriveStatusError}
hda: recal_intr: status=0x61 {DriveReady DeviceFault Error}
hda: recal_intr: error=0x04 {DriveStatusError}
hda: recal_intr: status=0x61 {DriveReady DeviceFault Error}
hda: recal_intr: error=0x04 {DriveStatusError}
hda: status error: status=0x68 {DriveReady DeviceFault DataRequest}
hda: no DRQ after issuing WRITE
ide0: reset: success

    The system persists at this and occasionally returns to command line or
alternately locks up after a kernel panick.

               Fin,
                  MATT

BACK UP IMMEDIATELY!!!  This message either means that your drive is about
to fail or that it has developed bad sectors.  Step 1 before anything else
is to back up your system.  Then check for bad sectors with the -c option in
e2fsck.  By the way you will probably need to put your system in single user
mode and remount your drive to readonly before doing this.  Single user mode
can be acheived with the command init 1.  Remounting your root drive as
readonly is something like mount -o remount,ro -n -v /.  You can get an idea
of the options by looking for a simmilar line in your rc scripts.  If no bad
sectors are found it looks like your drive is failing completely.  There is
one hopeful possibility your drive might be putting itself to sleep in order
to conserve power.  Try turning off any power saving features in your BIOS.
The drive itself might also have a powersaving feature.  Consult hdparm's
man page to find out how to turn off this feature which is annoyingly common
on seagate drives.

  Thanks for the info. I've already checked for bad sectors and found none.
I'm hoping it is merely a case of power saving on the part of the hard disk as
 I've disabled that feature in the BIOS. By the way the hard disk is a
Western Digital and seems to have started playing up since the summer heat set
 in. The temperatures have been generally in the mid to late 20's centigrade.

               Fin,
                  MATT

: BACK UP IMMEDIATELY!!!  This message either means that your drive is about
: to fail or that it has developed bad sectors.  Step 1 before anything else
: is to back up your system.  Then check for bad sectors with the -c option in
: e2fsck.  By the way you will probably need to put your system in single user
: mode and remount your drive to readonly before doing this.  Single user mode
: can be acheived with the command init 1.  Remounting your root drive as
: readonly is something like mount -o remount,ro -n -v /.  You can get an idea
: of the options by looking for a simmilar line in your rc scripts.  If no bad
: sectors are found it looks like your drive is failing completely.  There is
: one hopeful possibility your drive might be putting itself to sleep in order
: to conserve power.  Try turning off any power saving features in your BIOS.
: The drive itself might also have a powersaving feature.  Consult hdparm's
: man page to find out how to turn off this feature which is annoyingly common
: on seagate drives.

:   Thanks for the info. I've already checked for bad sectors and found none.
: I'm hoping it is merely a case of power saving on the part of the hard
: disk as
:  I've disabled that feature in the BIOS. By the way the hard disk is a
: Western Digital and seems to have started playing up since the summer i
: heat set
:  in. The temperatures have been generally in the mid to late 20's
: centigrade.

Ahh....
Take a look at the specs for the disk.
I bet temperature is a lot more than 20C. *inside* the computer case.
Most drives have a max. environment temperature of about 50C.
This means they are *designed* to operate with additional fan installed.
Esecially if they are "fast server drives".

Put an extra fan!!

Running a drive with the drive electronics beeing too hot can "create"
bad sectors by ruining the "preformat" on it. This can only be fixed
at the fab. If they are not too many, they can be worked around by
putting them in the drives bad sector map, which can be done with
the special software, some manufacturers provide.

So, if you don't mind backing up and reinstall, you can use the
diagnosting software, which WD has available for download on their
ftp site. It runs under DOS, but can be run from a DOS boot disk.
It does extensive pattern checking and maps bad sectors found on
the drive itself. However this does overwrite all data, so you need
to backup and reinstall.

Regards,
Friedhelm

--
Microsoft is NOT the answer. Microsoft is the Question.
The answer is: "NO!"
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Friedhelm Mehnert,  Berliner Allee 42,  22850 Norderstedt,  Germany

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