repeatable IDE errors when using SMART

repeatable IDE errors when using SMART

[dean gaudet]

i'm 99.99% certain that the use of smartctl and/or hddtemp is causing my
system to lose contact with the drives.  there's just been far too many
concidental errors of this sort:

hdi: status timeout: status=0xd0 { Busy }
hdi: drive not ready for command
hdi: status error: status=0x58 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest }
hdi: drive not ready for command

at the exact time i've got cron jobs running to do either "smartctl -a" or
"hddtemp", or at a time when i run the command by hand.

at some times the error state is bad enough to cause md to mark the disk
as bad.

at one point i started running hddtemp every 5 minutes for logging
purposes and it took less than 2 days for the system to lose contact with
one of the disks... and this repeated after i rebooted.

system is:

- linux 2.4.19-pre7-ac4
- tyan 2462, dual athlon 1.4GHz (onboard IDE is unused)
- promise ultra 100TX2
- promise ultra 133TX2
- 4x maxtor D740X 80GB (each master on one of the promise channels)
  (3x 6L080J4, and 1x 6L080L4)

i've replaced drives (always D740X though), cables, and controllers
(swapping a 100TX2 for the 133TX2 which is in there now).

the problem has appeared on all the IDE ports, so it's not restricted to
any one port/drive.  however hdi seems to be particularly sensitive --
even after several controller, disk, and cable combinations.  the 4 disks
are in a sw raid5 which is well balanced according to iostat -- except
that hdi is the hottest disk in the box (41C vs 35C 28C 32C).

any suggestions?

obviously i could move to a more recent kernel ... but i stayed back on
pre7-ac4 because it seemed later kernels messed up the promise driver in
some way and i never quite paid attention enough to know what a good
stable 2.4.x ac kernel was post pre7-ac4.  suggestions welcome.

any known errata regarding SMART accesses interfering with other
operations?

-dean

Re: repeatable IDE errors when using SMART

[Xavier Bestel]

Le mer 13/11/2002 Ã  03:19, dean gaudet a écrit:
> i'm 99.99% certain that the use of smartctl and/or hddtemp is causing my
> system to lose contact with the drives.  there's just been far too many
> concidental errors of this sort:

Maybe I've seen something like this too, but I'm not sure.

Re: repeatable IDE errors when using SMART

[Alan Cox]

On Wed, 2002-11-13 at 09:38, Xavier Bestel wrote:
> Le mer 13/11/2002 Ã  03:19, dean gaudet a écrit:
> > i'm 99.99% certain that the use of smartctl and/or hddtemp is causing my
> > system to lose contact with the drives.  there's just been far too many
> > concidental errors of this sort:
> 
> Maybe I've seen something like this too, but I'm not sure.

Its certainly part of the code thats quite convoluted and would be the
ideal spot for a race. Really for the new IDE it wants testing versus
2.5.47-ac but getting 2.5.47 (ac or otherwise) to stay up for 8 hours is
challenging

Re: repeatable IDE errors when using SMART

[Ross Vandegrift]

On Tue, Nov 12, 2002 at 06:19:37PM -0800, dean gaudet wrote:
> any suggestions?

I've noticed that using smartctl on some of my drives kills them too.  I
didn't bother investigating much - too scared of losing data.  I kind of
assumed it was a problem with the drive not the code though, since it
worked fine on one drive but not the other.

I have a Maxtor and an IBM; unfortuantely I don't recall which one was
bokning out on smartctl...

If it's interesting (and resonably safe) I could do some testing on my
system.

-- 
Ross Vandegrift
ross@willow.seitz.com

A Pope has a Water Cannon.				 It is a Water Cannon.
He fires Holy-Water from it.			    It is a Holy-Water Cannon.
He Blesses it.				       It is a Holy Holy-Water Cannon.
He Blesses the Hell out of it.		It is a Wholly Holy Holy-Water Cannon.
He has it pierced.		  It is a Holey Wholly Holy Holy-Water Cannon.
Batman and Robin arrive.				       He shoots them.

Re: repeatable IDE errors when using SMART

[Jakob Oestergaard]

On Wed, Nov 13, 2002 at 12:26:10PM -0500, Ross Vandegrift wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 12, 2002 at 06:19:37PM -0800, dean gaudet wrote:
> > any suggestions?
> 
> I've noticed that using smartctl on some of my drives kills them too.  I
> didn't bother investigating much - too scared of losing data.  I kind of
> assumed it was a problem with the drive not the code though, since it
> worked fine on one drive but not the other.
> 
> I have a Maxtor and an IBM; unfortuantely I don't recall which one was
> bokning out on smartctl...
> 
> If it's interesting (and resonably safe) I could do some testing on my
> system.

Do you use Promise controllers?

If so, do you use anything newer than the Ultra33 or Ultra66
controllers?


-- 
................................................................
:   jakob@unthought.net   : And I see the elder races,         :
:.........................: putrid forms of man                :
:   Jakob Østergaard      : See him rise and claim the earth,  :
:        OZ9ABN           : his downfall is at hand.           :
:.........................:............{Konkhra}...............:

Re: repeatable IDE errors when using SMART

[Ross Vandegrift]

On Wed, Nov 13, 2002 at 08:39:30PM +0100, Jakob Oestergaard wrote:
> > I have a Maxtor and an IBM; unfortuantely I don't recall which one was
> > bokning out on smartctl...
> > 
> > If it's interesting (and resonably safe) I could do some testing on my
> > system.
> 
> Do you use Promise controllers?
> 
> If so, do you use anything newer than the Ultra33 or Ultra66
> controllers?

Sure do - one controller is the integrated VIA KT133, the second is an
on-board Promise PDC20265.  The Maxtor drive is on the VIA, IBM on
Promise.

It must've been running smartctl on the IBM drive that would bonk my
system - I just tried 'cat /proc/ide/hde/identity' and my machine froze
solid - no numlock, no sysrq, no ping.  The disk access light was on.

I hadn't even considered the different controllers.

-- 
Ross Vandegrift
ross@willow.seitz.com

A Pope has a Water Cannon.				 It is a Water Cannon.
He fires Holy-Water from it.			    It is a Holy-Water Cannon.
He Blesses it.				       It is a Holy Holy-Water Cannon.
He Blesses the Hell out of it.		It is a Wholly Holy Holy-Water Cannon.
He has it pierced.		  It is a Holey Wholly Holy Holy-Water Cannon.
Batman and Robin arrive.				       He shoots them.