I'm getting this message in my logwatch email notification: --------------------- Kernel Begin ------------------------ WARNING: Kernel Errors Present sdb:<3>Buffer I/O error on device sdb, l ...: 2 Time(s) Buffer I/O error on device sdb, l ...: 12 Time(s) hde: dma_intr: error=0x84 { DriveStat ...: 12 Time(s) hde: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error } ...: 12 Time(s) ---------------------- Kernel End ------------------------- It's an old drive I'm using for swap space, /var, and /tmp. (It's on a PCI IDE controller, that's why it comes up as hde.) If I test it for bad sectors using Vivard, there are no bad sectors found or remapped. I'm just trying to move a lot of regular disk I/O from my main drive with the root installtion on it, to a replaceable spare. I cannot find which log file these messages are going to. Nothing in /var/log/dmesg or messages. Where does logwatch get these messages from? Kind Regards, Keith Roberts ----------------------------------------------------------------- Websites: http://www.karsites.net http://www.php-debuggers.net http://www.raised-from-the-dead.org.uk All email addresses are challenge-response protected with TMDA [http://tmda.net] -----------------------------------------------------------------
On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 4:45 AM, Keith Roberts <keith at karsites.net> wrote:> > It's an old drive I'm using for swap space, /var, and /tmp. > (It's on a PCI IDE controller, that's why it comes up as > hde.) > > If I test it for bad sectors using Vivard, there are no bad > sectors found or remapped. > > I'm just trying to move a lot of regular disk I/O from my > main drive with the root installtion on it, to a replaceable > spare. > > I cannot find which log file these messages are going to. > > Nothing in /var/log/dmesg or messages. > > Where does logwatch get these messages from? >Take a look at your /etc/syslog.conf and /etc/sysconfig/syslog and see where the kernel messages are being logged. There's a klogd service that logs these particular messages.. it's started from the same runscript as syslog (/etc/rc.d/init.d/syslog).
Bad sectors get reallocated automatically, so you might not find any with testing. You need to see how many have been reallocated. SMART should already be enabled, so maximize your term window and type: smartctl -a /dev/sdb That will show the reallocated sector count, as well as power on hours, and temps, etc. Do that for each drive. If its attached to a raid controller, you have to take additional steps as found on google. If there are any reallocated sectors, you might want to think about replacing it. I have a customer with a failing drive in a server that causes it to freeze from time to time as it develops new bad sectors. I'm replacing it this weekend...
Is it the ITE IT8212 ATA RAID Controller ? I would suspect that raid card - the few I've tried didn't work well even with the manufacturer's supplied windows drivers. The linux drivers might not be any better. I'm not sure why you distrust DMA, or if it's just on this one card that you have problems with it. ATA is being phased out now, it became a very mature and reliable technology its it final years. Motherboards with onboard ATA66/100/133 ports became extremely reliable. As long as you used the 80 wire cables. Unfortunately, a good controller is hard to find. I used to like Promise as a windows controller. They were very reliable if you had the lastest firmware and drivers. But I don't know if they work well in linux, or even how well their current models work. (been a while since I've used one)