[Kernel-packages] [Bug 1216397] Re: It should be possible to ignore (skip probing) a known bad disk partition at boot
Me again - thanks to @jsalisbury for changing the status to wishlist. In response to the automated script @brad-figg: boot.log & syslog from two kernel boots are already attached - albeit with somewhat different names; if something more is than that is needed, I will run the `apport- collect` script - just please advise whether a collection is needed from both boots. However, it may take me a while before I respond with the `apport-collect`, as I kinda need this PC to stay up these next couple of weeks - so I will take the advice and "change the bug status to 'Confirmed'" as soon as I've posted this. Cheers! ** Changed in: linux (Ubuntu) Status: Incomplete => Confirmed -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Kernel Packages, which is subscribed to linux in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1216397 Title: It should be possible to ignore (skip probing) a known bad disk partition at boot Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: Hi all, I guess this isn't exactly a bug - maybe more of a wishlist; but I thought it'd be good to log it while I'm experiencing the problem. Basically, I'd like a consistent kernel interface to mark faulty partitions (or drives) at boot time, regardless of the kernel subsystem (IDE, ATA) they are attributed to - but first, here is a (somewhat lengthy) exposition of my problem. I have a desktop PC, which some months ago, experienced a hard disk failure - I heard a loud scratching noise during disk operation, after which the bootable hard disk partition was unusable. At the time, I had Ubuntu Lucid installed on that bootable partition. Actually handling the broken disk at this time was/is not an option for me, as it would open up a whole lotta other (unrelated) work which I have to postpone to a future date. So, I've been using this PC in the past months primarily through the use of live bootable media - booting from live USB flash thumbdrive, to be exact. The problem here is that, at boot, the kernel starts probing all disks indiscriminately. Certaing distributions on the live USB I've tried, like PartedMagic or SliTaz, start probing and encounter the bad partitions; then 4-5 loud clicks can be heard from the drive, followed by access error messages in the log - that takes about 20-30 secinds, and then the the respective kernels give up, and the boot procedure completes successfully. Note that these distributions will recognize both the bad and the healthy partitions on this drive, and I have been mounting and using the healthy partitions from these live USB distros without a problem. However, when I try an Ubuntu-based live USB: when the kernel encounters the bad partition, it starts looping and accessing the drive, and loud clicks (followed by access errors in logs) can be heard way more often; and this loop can last up to 5-10 minutes - in all, a rather unhealthy experience. The latest I have tried is a Precise 12.04 based custom distro - based on Ubuntu Mini Remix with few extra packages, built using `ubuntu-builder`, with the `casper` files transferred to USB stick, previously made bootable manually via `syslinux`. With this distro's boot, I waited out the 272.417 seconds (some 4.5 mins) where this error loop occured, and the system finally booted; so I could obtain the logs (/var/log/syslog & /var/log/boot.log), that I am attaching to this post (syslog_pc_bad_hd and boot_pc_bad_hd.log). Thus, we can now see the messages spit out by the kernel on encountering the problem: [ 247.251272] ata5.00: failed command: READ DMA [ 247.254158] ata5.00: cmd c8/00:08:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in [ 247.254160] res 51/40:00:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error) [ 247.259985] ata5.00: status: { DRDY ERR } [ 247.262905] ata5.00: error: { UNC } [ 247.288574] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 247.291390] ata5: EH complete [ 248.614902] ata5.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x0 [ 248.617781] ata5.00: BMDMA stat 0x24 [ 248.620647] ata5.00: failed command: READ DMA [ 248.623515] ata5.00: cmd c8/00:08:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in [ 248.623517] res 51/40:00:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error) [ 248.629356] ata5.00: status: { DRDY ERR } [ 248.632265] ata5.00: error: { UNC } [ 248.656576] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 248.659393] ata5: EH complete ... [ 254.136571] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 254.139458] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Unhandled sense code [ 254.142395] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE [ 254.145393] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense Key : Medium Error [current] [descriptor] [ 254.148418] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex): [ 254.151422] 72 03 11 04 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00
[Kernel-packages] [Bug 1216397] Re: It should be possible to ignore (skip probing) a known bad disk partition at boot
** Changed in: linux (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided => Wishlist -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Kernel Packages, which is subscribed to linux in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1216397 Title: It should be possible to ignore (skip probing) a known bad disk partition at boot Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu: Incomplete Bug description: Hi all, I guess this isn't exactly a bug - maybe more of a wishlist; but I thought it'd be good to log it while I'm experiencing the problem. Basically, I'd like a consistent kernel interface to mark faulty partitions (or drives) at boot time, regardless of the kernel subsystem (IDE, ATA) they are attributed to - but first, here is a (somewhat lengthy) exposition of my problem. I have a desktop PC, which some months ago, experienced a hard disk failure - I heard a loud scratching noise during disk operation, after which the bootable hard disk partition was unusable. At the time, I had Ubuntu Lucid installed on that bootable partition. Actually handling the broken disk at this time was/is not an option for me, as it would open up a whole lotta other (unrelated) work which I have to postpone to a future date. So, I've been using this PC in the past months primarily through the use of live bootable media - booting from live USB flash thumbdrive, to be exact. The problem here is that, at boot, the kernel starts probing all disks indiscriminately. Certaing distributions on the live USB I've tried, like PartedMagic or SliTaz, start probing and encounter the bad partitions; then 4-5 loud clicks can be heard from the drive, followed by access error messages in the log - that takes about 20-30 secinds, and then the the respective kernels give up, and the boot procedure completes successfully. Note that these distributions will recognize both the bad and the healthy partitions on this drive, and I have been mounting and using the healthy partitions from these live USB distros without a problem. However, when I try an Ubuntu-based live USB: when the kernel encounters the bad partition, it starts looping and accessing the drive, and loud clicks (followed by access errors in logs) can be heard way more often; and this loop can last up to 5-10 minutes - in all, a rather unhealthy experience. The latest I have tried is a Precise 12.04 based custom distro - based on Ubuntu Mini Remix with few extra packages, built using `ubuntu-builder`, with the `casper` files transferred to USB stick, previously made bootable manually via `syslinux`. With this distro's boot, I waited out the 272.417 seconds (some 4.5 mins) where this error loop occured, and the system finally booted; so I could obtain the logs (/var/log/syslog & /var/log/boot.log), that I am attaching to this post (syslog_pc_bad_hd and boot_pc_bad_hd.log). Thus, we can now see the messages spit out by the kernel on encountering the problem: [ 247.251272] ata5.00: failed command: READ DMA [ 247.254158] ata5.00: cmd c8/00:08:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in [ 247.254160] res 51/40:00:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error) [ 247.259985] ata5.00: status: { DRDY ERR } [ 247.262905] ata5.00: error: { UNC } [ 247.288574] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 247.291390] ata5: EH complete [ 248.614902] ata5.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x0 [ 248.617781] ata5.00: BMDMA stat 0x24 [ 248.620647] ata5.00: failed command: READ DMA [ 248.623515] ata5.00: cmd c8/00:08:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in [ 248.623517] res 51/40:00:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error) [ 248.629356] ata5.00: status: { DRDY ERR } [ 248.632265] ata5.00: error: { UNC } [ 248.656576] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 248.659393] ata5: EH complete ... [ 254.136571] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 254.139458] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Unhandled sense code [ 254.142395] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE [ 254.145393] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense Key : Medium Error [current] [descriptor] [ 254.148418] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex): [ 254.151422] 72 03 11 04 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00 [ 254.154438] 00 00 01 18 [ 254.157448] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error - auto reallocate failed [ 254.160556] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] CDB: Read(10): 28 00 00 00 01 18 00 00 08 00 [ 254.163673] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 280 [ 254.166742] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 280 [ 254.169819] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 281 [ 254.172915] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 282 [ 254.175978] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 283 [ 254.178991] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logic
[Kernel-packages] [Bug 1216397] Re: It should be possible to ignore (skip probing) a known bad disk partition at boot
** Attachment added: "syslog_pc_bad_hd" https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1216397/+attachment/3786321/+files/syslog_pc_bad_hd -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Kernel Packages, which is subscribed to linux in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1216397 Title: It should be possible to ignore (skip probing) a known bad disk partition at boot Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu: Incomplete Bug description: Hi all, I guess this isn't exactly a bug - maybe more of a wishlist; but I thought it'd be good to log it while I'm experiencing the problem. Basically, I'd like a consistent kernel interface to mark faulty partitions (or drives) at boot time, regardless of the kernel subsystem (IDE, ATA) they are attributed to - but first, here is a (somewhat lengthy) exposition of my problem. I have a desktop PC, which some months ago, experienced a hard disk failure - I heard a loud scratching noise during disk operation, after which the bootable hard disk partition was unusable. At the time, I had Ubuntu Lucid installed on that bootable partition. Actually handling the broken disk at this time was/is not an option for me, as it would open up a whole lotta other (unrelated) work which I have to postpone to a future date. So, I've been using this PC in the past months primarily through the use of live bootable media - booting from live USB flash thumbdrive, to be exact. The problem here is that, at boot, the kernel starts probing all disks indiscriminately. Certaing distributions on the live USB I've tried, like PartedMagic or SliTaz, start probing and encounter the bad partitions; then 4-5 loud clicks can be heard from the drive, followed by access error messages in the log - that takes about 20-30 secinds, and then the the respective kernels give up, and the boot procedure completes successfully. Note that these distributions will recognize both the bad and the healthy partitions on this drive, and I have been mounting and using the healthy partitions from these live USB distros without a problem. However, when I try an Ubuntu-based live USB: when the kernel encounters the bad partition, it starts looping and accessing the drive, and loud clicks (followed by access errors in logs) can be heard way more often; and this loop can last up to 5-10 minutes - in all, a rather unhealthy experience. The latest I have tried is a Precise 12.04 based custom distro - based on Ubuntu Mini Remix with few extra packages, built using `ubuntu-builder`, with the `casper` files transferred to USB stick, previously made bootable manually via `syslinux`. With this distro's boot, I waited out the 272.417 seconds (some 4.5 mins) where this error loop occured, and the system finally booted; so I could obtain the logs (/var/log/syslog & /var/log/boot.log), that I am attaching to this post (syslog_pc_bad_hd and boot_pc_bad_hd.log). Thus, we can now see the messages spit out by the kernel on encountering the problem: [ 247.251272] ata5.00: failed command: READ DMA [ 247.254158] ata5.00: cmd c8/00:08:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in [ 247.254160] res 51/40:00:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error) [ 247.259985] ata5.00: status: { DRDY ERR } [ 247.262905] ata5.00: error: { UNC } [ 247.288574] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 247.291390] ata5: EH complete [ 248.614902] ata5.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x0 [ 248.617781] ata5.00: BMDMA stat 0x24 [ 248.620647] ata5.00: failed command: READ DMA [ 248.623515] ata5.00: cmd c8/00:08:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in [ 248.623517] res 51/40:00:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error) [ 248.629356] ata5.00: status: { DRDY ERR } [ 248.632265] ata5.00: error: { UNC } [ 248.656576] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 248.659393] ata5: EH complete ... [ 254.136571] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 254.139458] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Unhandled sense code [ 254.142395] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE [ 254.145393] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense Key : Medium Error [current] [descriptor] [ 254.148418] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex): [ 254.151422] 72 03 11 04 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00 [ 254.154438] 00 00 01 18 [ 254.157448] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error - auto reallocate failed [ 254.160556] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] CDB: Read(10): 28 00 00 00 01 18 00 00 08 00 [ 254.163673] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 280 [ 254.166742] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 280 [ 254.169819] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 281 [ 254.172915] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 282 [ 254.175978] Buffer I/O error on devi
[Kernel-packages] [Bug 1216397] Re: It should be possible to ignore (skip probing) a known bad disk partition at boot
** Attachment added: "syslog_pc_better" https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1216397/+attachment/3786323/+files/syslog_pc_better -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Kernel Packages, which is subscribed to linux in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1216397 Title: It should be possible to ignore (skip probing) a known bad disk partition at boot Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu: Incomplete Bug description: Hi all, I guess this isn't exactly a bug - maybe more of a wishlist; but I thought it'd be good to log it while I'm experiencing the problem. Basically, I'd like a consistent kernel interface to mark faulty partitions (or drives) at boot time, regardless of the kernel subsystem (IDE, ATA) they are attributed to - but first, here is a (somewhat lengthy) exposition of my problem. I have a desktop PC, which some months ago, experienced a hard disk failure - I heard a loud scratching noise during disk operation, after which the bootable hard disk partition was unusable. At the time, I had Ubuntu Lucid installed on that bootable partition. Actually handling the broken disk at this time was/is not an option for me, as it would open up a whole lotta other (unrelated) work which I have to postpone to a future date. So, I've been using this PC in the past months primarily through the use of live bootable media - booting from live USB flash thumbdrive, to be exact. The problem here is that, at boot, the kernel starts probing all disks indiscriminately. Certaing distributions on the live USB I've tried, like PartedMagic or SliTaz, start probing and encounter the bad partitions; then 4-5 loud clicks can be heard from the drive, followed by access error messages in the log - that takes about 20-30 secinds, and then the the respective kernels give up, and the boot procedure completes successfully. Note that these distributions will recognize both the bad and the healthy partitions on this drive, and I have been mounting and using the healthy partitions from these live USB distros without a problem. However, when I try an Ubuntu-based live USB: when the kernel encounters the bad partition, it starts looping and accessing the drive, and loud clicks (followed by access errors in logs) can be heard way more often; and this loop can last up to 5-10 minutes - in all, a rather unhealthy experience. The latest I have tried is a Precise 12.04 based custom distro - based on Ubuntu Mini Remix with few extra packages, built using `ubuntu-builder`, with the `casper` files transferred to USB stick, previously made bootable manually via `syslinux`. With this distro's boot, I waited out the 272.417 seconds (some 4.5 mins) where this error loop occured, and the system finally booted; so I could obtain the logs (/var/log/syslog & /var/log/boot.log), that I am attaching to this post (syslog_pc_bad_hd and boot_pc_bad_hd.log). Thus, we can now see the messages spit out by the kernel on encountering the problem: [ 247.251272] ata5.00: failed command: READ DMA [ 247.254158] ata5.00: cmd c8/00:08:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in [ 247.254160] res 51/40:00:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error) [ 247.259985] ata5.00: status: { DRDY ERR } [ 247.262905] ata5.00: error: { UNC } [ 247.288574] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 247.291390] ata5: EH complete [ 248.614902] ata5.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x0 [ 248.617781] ata5.00: BMDMA stat 0x24 [ 248.620647] ata5.00: failed command: READ DMA [ 248.623515] ata5.00: cmd c8/00:08:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in [ 248.623517] res 51/40:00:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error) [ 248.629356] ata5.00: status: { DRDY ERR } [ 248.632265] ata5.00: error: { UNC } [ 248.656576] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 248.659393] ata5: EH complete ... [ 254.136571] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 254.139458] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Unhandled sense code [ 254.142395] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE [ 254.145393] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense Key : Medium Error [current] [descriptor] [ 254.148418] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex): [ 254.151422] 72 03 11 04 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00 [ 254.154438] 00 00 01 18 [ 254.157448] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error - auto reallocate failed [ 254.160556] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] CDB: Read(10): 28 00 00 00 01 18 00 00 08 00 [ 254.163673] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 280 [ 254.166742] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 280 [ 254.169819] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 281 [ 254.172915] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 282 [ 254.175978] Buffer I/O error on devi
[Kernel-packages] [Bug 1216397] Re: It should be possible to ignore (skip probing) a known bad disk partition at boot
** Attachment added: "boot_pc_bad_hd.log" https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1216397/+attachment/3786320/+files/boot_pc_bad_hd.log -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Kernel Packages, which is subscribed to linux in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1216397 Title: It should be possible to ignore (skip probing) a known bad disk partition at boot Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu: Incomplete Bug description: Hi all, I guess this isn't exactly a bug - maybe more of a wishlist; but I thought it'd be good to log it while I'm experiencing the problem. Basically, I'd like a consistent kernel interface to mark faulty partitions (or drives) at boot time, regardless of the kernel subsystem (IDE, ATA) they are attributed to - but first, here is a (somewhat lengthy) exposition of my problem. I have a desktop PC, which some months ago, experienced a hard disk failure - I heard a loud scratching noise during disk operation, after which the bootable hard disk partition was unusable. At the time, I had Ubuntu Lucid installed on that bootable partition. Actually handling the broken disk at this time was/is not an option for me, as it would open up a whole lotta other (unrelated) work which I have to postpone to a future date. So, I've been using this PC in the past months primarily through the use of live bootable media - booting from live USB flash thumbdrive, to be exact. The problem here is that, at boot, the kernel starts probing all disks indiscriminately. Certaing distributions on the live USB I've tried, like PartedMagic or SliTaz, start probing and encounter the bad partitions; then 4-5 loud clicks can be heard from the drive, followed by access error messages in the log - that takes about 20-30 secinds, and then the the respective kernels give up, and the boot procedure completes successfully. Note that these distributions will recognize both the bad and the healthy partitions on this drive, and I have been mounting and using the healthy partitions from these live USB distros without a problem. However, when I try an Ubuntu-based live USB: when the kernel encounters the bad partition, it starts looping and accessing the drive, and loud clicks (followed by access errors in logs) can be heard way more often; and this loop can last up to 5-10 minutes - in all, a rather unhealthy experience. The latest I have tried is a Precise 12.04 based custom distro - based on Ubuntu Mini Remix with few extra packages, built using `ubuntu-builder`, with the `casper` files transferred to USB stick, previously made bootable manually via `syslinux`. With this distro's boot, I waited out the 272.417 seconds (some 4.5 mins) where this error loop occured, and the system finally booted; so I could obtain the logs (/var/log/syslog & /var/log/boot.log), that I am attaching to this post (syslog_pc_bad_hd and boot_pc_bad_hd.log). Thus, we can now see the messages spit out by the kernel on encountering the problem: [ 247.251272] ata5.00: failed command: READ DMA [ 247.254158] ata5.00: cmd c8/00:08:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in [ 247.254160] res 51/40:00:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error) [ 247.259985] ata5.00: status: { DRDY ERR } [ 247.262905] ata5.00: error: { UNC } [ 247.288574] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 247.291390] ata5: EH complete [ 248.614902] ata5.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x0 [ 248.617781] ata5.00: BMDMA stat 0x24 [ 248.620647] ata5.00: failed command: READ DMA [ 248.623515] ata5.00: cmd c8/00:08:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in [ 248.623517] res 51/40:00:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error) [ 248.629356] ata5.00: status: { DRDY ERR } [ 248.632265] ata5.00: error: { UNC } [ 248.656576] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 248.659393] ata5: EH complete ... [ 254.136571] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 254.139458] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Unhandled sense code [ 254.142395] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE [ 254.145393] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense Key : Medium Error [current] [descriptor] [ 254.148418] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex): [ 254.151422] 72 03 11 04 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00 [ 254.154438] 00 00 01 18 [ 254.157448] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error - auto reallocate failed [ 254.160556] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] CDB: Read(10): 28 00 00 00 01 18 00 00 08 00 [ 254.163673] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 280 [ 254.166742] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 280 [ 254.169819] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 281 [ 254.172915] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 282 [ 254.175978] Buffer I/O error on
[Kernel-packages] [Bug 1216397] Re: It should be possible to ignore (skip probing) a known bad disk partition at boot
** Attachment added: "boot_pc_better.log" https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1216397/+attachment/3786322/+files/boot_pc_better.log -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Kernel Packages, which is subscribed to linux in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1216397 Title: It should be possible to ignore (skip probing) a known bad disk partition at boot Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu: Incomplete Bug description: Hi all, I guess this isn't exactly a bug - maybe more of a wishlist; but I thought it'd be good to log it while I'm experiencing the problem. Basically, I'd like a consistent kernel interface to mark faulty partitions (or drives) at boot time, regardless of the kernel subsystem (IDE, ATA) they are attributed to - but first, here is a (somewhat lengthy) exposition of my problem. I have a desktop PC, which some months ago, experienced a hard disk failure - I heard a loud scratching noise during disk operation, after which the bootable hard disk partition was unusable. At the time, I had Ubuntu Lucid installed on that bootable partition. Actually handling the broken disk at this time was/is not an option for me, as it would open up a whole lotta other (unrelated) work which I have to postpone to a future date. So, I've been using this PC in the past months primarily through the use of live bootable media - booting from live USB flash thumbdrive, to be exact. The problem here is that, at boot, the kernel starts probing all disks indiscriminately. Certaing distributions on the live USB I've tried, like PartedMagic or SliTaz, start probing and encounter the bad partitions; then 4-5 loud clicks can be heard from the drive, followed by access error messages in the log - that takes about 20-30 secinds, and then the the respective kernels give up, and the boot procedure completes successfully. Note that these distributions will recognize both the bad and the healthy partitions on this drive, and I have been mounting and using the healthy partitions from these live USB distros without a problem. However, when I try an Ubuntu-based live USB: when the kernel encounters the bad partition, it starts looping and accessing the drive, and loud clicks (followed by access errors in logs) can be heard way more often; and this loop can last up to 5-10 minutes - in all, a rather unhealthy experience. The latest I have tried is a Precise 12.04 based custom distro - based on Ubuntu Mini Remix with few extra packages, built using `ubuntu-builder`, with the `casper` files transferred to USB stick, previously made bootable manually via `syslinux`. With this distro's boot, I waited out the 272.417 seconds (some 4.5 mins) where this error loop occured, and the system finally booted; so I could obtain the logs (/var/log/syslog & /var/log/boot.log), that I am attaching to this post (syslog_pc_bad_hd and boot_pc_bad_hd.log). Thus, we can now see the messages spit out by the kernel on encountering the problem: [ 247.251272] ata5.00: failed command: READ DMA [ 247.254158] ata5.00: cmd c8/00:08:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in [ 247.254160] res 51/40:00:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error) [ 247.259985] ata5.00: status: { DRDY ERR } [ 247.262905] ata5.00: error: { UNC } [ 247.288574] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 247.291390] ata5: EH complete [ 248.614902] ata5.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x0 [ 248.617781] ata5.00: BMDMA stat 0x24 [ 248.620647] ata5.00: failed command: READ DMA [ 248.623515] ata5.00: cmd c8/00:08:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in [ 248.623517] res 51/40:00:18:01:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error) [ 248.629356] ata5.00: status: { DRDY ERR } [ 248.632265] ata5.00: error: { UNC } [ 248.656576] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 248.659393] ata5: EH complete ... [ 254.136571] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 [ 254.139458] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Unhandled sense code [ 254.142395] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE [ 254.145393] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense Key : Medium Error [current] [descriptor] [ 254.148418] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex): [ 254.151422] 72 03 11 04 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00 [ 254.154438] 00 00 01 18 [ 254.157448] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error - auto reallocate failed [ 254.160556] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] CDB: Read(10): 28 00 00 00 01 18 00 00 08 00 [ 254.163673] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 280 [ 254.166742] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 280 [ 254.169819] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 281 [ 254.172915] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 282 [ 254.175978] Buffer I/O error on