This has begun to annoy me...

[Bill Moran]

In response to "Kurt Buff" <kurt.buff at gmail.com>:

> On Feb 1, 2008 11:46 AM, Bill Moran <wmoran at potentialtech.com> wrote:
> > In response to "Kurt Buff" <kurt.buff at gmail.com>:
> >
> >
> > > I've been getting this in my daily security email from one of my boxes
> > > for quite a while, and have been ignoring it, because of workload.
> > >
> > > However, it's finally annoyed me enough to pursue it.
> > >
> > > What would the significance of the following section be?
> > >
> > > zsquid.mycompany.com kernel log messages:
> > > +++ /tmp/security.4blejPLW    Fri Feb  1 03:02:08 2008
> > > +ad6: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=4662143
> > > +ad6: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=113995359
> > > +ad6: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=112970015
> > > +ad6: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=4668319
> > > +ad6: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=4849151
> > > +ad6: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=115527359
> > > +ad6: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=113714335
> > > +ad6: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=113715199
> > > +ad6: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=4570911
> > > +ad6: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=42958719
> > > +ad6: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=113343327
> > > +ad6: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=117315327
> > >
> > > It looks like disk write errors to me, but I'm not sure.
> > >
> > > Thoughts?
> >
> > Looks like a failing disk to me.
> >
> > Depending on the importance of the data on that drive, make sure you're
> > getting backups and get a new drive on order.
> >
> > If it's always done this, it could also be faulty or non-standard hardware
> > (such as the SATA controller).
> 
> That's pretty much what I expected.
> 
> It's done this since I've been running the machine, about six months
> now. Given your comment, I expect it's an issue with the controller.

I recommend you _not_ trust that system.  In my experience, systems with
weird errors like this can suddenly lose your data for no reason.

-- 
Bill Moran
http://www.potentialtech.com