TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA errors in security output

[Subhro]

Well it is really unfortunate that hard disks don't need a reason to
die. Maybe you are right. Are you using a 40 conductor or a 80
conductor cable? You can also try disabling DMA by setting the values
displayed by sysctl -a | grep dma to 0 in /boot/loader.conf

Regards
S.

On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 18:47:13 -0400, Louis LeBlanc
<freebsd at keyslapper.org> wrote:
> I doubt this is the problem.  The disk is only a couple months old and
> hasn't seen any abuse so far.
> 
> It is also unlikely to be "goofy data cables" as suggested by another
> poster.  The cable is no older than the drive, and no more abused.
> 
> Thanks all the same.
> Lou
> 
> On 08/27/04 06:18 PM, Sopov Alexey sat at the `puter and typed:
> > Backup your data imediatly!
> > I think your ad4 dies...
> >
> >
> >
> > LL> Hey all.  I'm seeing some things I'm not comfortable with in the
> > LL> security output from one of my systems - a new Dell Dimension 8300.
> >
> > LL> This is what I'm seeing:
> >
> > LL> key2.keyslapper.org kernel log messages:
> > >> ad4: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (2 retries left) LBA=31672255
> > >> ad4: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (2 retries left) LBA=31672383
> >
> > LL> The ad4 timeouts have happened before.  They usually coincide with a
> > LL> moderate to large port build.  If I'm building some huge package like
> > LL> OpenOffice or xorg when this happens, the whole system hangs.  No
> > LL> mouse, keyboard, nothing.  Last time I just left it to see if things
> > LL> resolved, and next morning I found it freshly rebooted.  (I did
> > LL> eventually get both OpenOffice and xorg built though)
> >
> > LL> Ad4 is a 160G hard drive with the following partitioning:
> > LL> $ df -k
> > LL> Filesystem  1K-blocks    Used    Avail Capacity  Mounted on
> > LL> /dev/ad4s1a   1012974   57462   874476     6%    /
> > LL> devfs               1       1        0   100%    /dev
> > LL> /dev/ad4s1h  57896520       4 53264796     0%    /export
> > LL> /dev/ad4s1g  60931274 2371112 53685662     4%    /home
> > LL> /dev/ad4s1e   1012974    7882   924056     1%    /tmp
> > LL> /dev/ad4s1f  20308398 4000050 14683678    21%    /usr
> > LL> /dev/ad4s1d   8122126   85068  7387288     1%    /var
> >
> > LL> fdisk output is:
> > LL> # fdisk
> > LL> ******* Working on device /dev/ad4 *******
> > LL> parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are:
> > LL> cylinders=310019 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)
> >
> > LL> Figures below won't work with BIOS for partitions not in cyl 1
> > LL> parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
> > LL> cylinders=310019 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)
> >
> > LL> Media sector size is 512
> > LL> Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1
> > LL> Information from DOS bootblock is:
> > LL> The data for partition 1 is:
> > LL> sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
> > LL>     start 63, size 312496317 (152586 Meg), flag 80 (active)
> > LL>         beg: cyl 0/ head 1/ sector 1;
> > LL>         end: cyl 1023/ head 254/ sector 63
> > LL> The data for partition 2 is:
> > LL> <UNUSED>
> > LL> The data for partition 3 is:
> > LL> <UNUSED>
> > LL> The data for partition 4 is:
> > LL> <UNUSED>
> >
> >
> > LL> Any other info that would help, please let me know, but I'd like to
> > LL> know what the cause could be and how to fix it.
> >
> > LL> TIA
> > LL> Lou
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >  [ /Iexa ]                           mailto:adler at smtp.ru
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> >
> 
> --
> Louis LeBlanc               FreeBSD at keyslapper.org
> Fully Funded Hobbyist, KeySlapper Extrordinaire :)
> http://www.keyslapper.org                     Ô¿Ô¬
> 
> I object to intellect without discipline;  I object to power without
> constructive purpose.
>    -- Spock, "The Squire of Gothos", stardate 2124.5
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> 


-- 
Subhro Sankha Kar
School of Information Technology
Block AQ-13/1 Sector V
ZIP 700091
India