Errors while booting

Portal Home > Knowledgebase > Articles Database > Errors while booting

Posted by prashant1979, 10-20-2012, 12:29 PM
I installed CentOS 6.3 64bit edition today on a new server. The server is brand new with latest Western Digital Caviar Black Enterprise SATA Hard drives. While booting the server, it shows errors, but the server boots without any problem. Attached is the error extract in text file. Can anybody tell me what it is? Attached Files error.txt (11.1 KB, 91 views)
Posted by dareORdie, 10-20-2012, 01:03 PM
Hello, Actually each time you see "ata1.00: failed command: READ DMA" it actually fails. After this the system tries to bring the drive back. In your case it is still sometimes successful but at one point it won't come back. So replace it as soon as possible. You can also make sure that the hard-drive is wrong (and not something else) by trying to boot with another drive on the same port and check weather the error persists.
Posted by T-Junk, 10-20-2012, 11:02 PM
I just had a server (although running ubuntu) that had pretty much the exact same errors. Especially: From what I read, the error: { UNC } was an unrecoverable error, and that HDD had a bad sector. Long story short, my HDD failed and I would've lost all my data if I had not backed it up. If those hard drives are brand new, I'd take full advantage of the "30 day warranty", if you know what I mean. Good luck!
Posted by shovenose, 10-20-2012, 11:38 PM
Just want to say, WD Black is NOT Enterprise
Posted by T-Junk, 10-21-2012, 12:11 AM
I didn't say it was.
Posted by shovenose, 10-21-2012, 12:12 AM
But the OP did:
Posted by T-Junk, 10-21-2012, 12:26 AM
OH!! Sorry, I didn't get why you quoted me. My bad.
Posted by BestServerSupport, 10-21-2012, 01:13 AM
It seems that it is related to drivers error and not related to CentOS. Your drivers seems to be failing.
Posted by prashant1979, 10-21-2012, 01:53 AM
I had tried to configure raid 10 in the server, but it was failing due to issue with drivers. Next, I used a RocketRaid 640 Card which again failed because the drivers were not compatible with the OS. I then decided to disable the raid completely, remove the raid card and then install OS on a single drive. However, I was not able to do so since it was throwing errors while formatting. I then figured out that the Raid information is still present somewhere and I checked the BIOS to find that it was indeed treating it as raid. Since I did not want 4 drives without Raid, I disconnected two drives and the Raid was throwing warnings that there are two drives missing and while installation it was trying to install via Raid 1. I then cleared the Raid configuration from the BIOS and only then was I able to see both the drives independently and was able to install OS on it. While trying to install the BIOS driver, I had mounted a USB thumb drive in the server which was showing /dev/sda. I now have a feeling that the BIOS is still thinking the thumb drive to be mounted as /dev/sda and when it was not found, is throwing errors followed by proper booting into the CentOS. Can anyone correct me if what I think is wrong?
Posted by prashant1979, 10-22-2012, 08:08 AM
I run smartctl on both the /dev/sda and /dev/sdb drives in the server to check if there are any errors. Of these, the /dev/sda has the OS and the other files while /dev/sdb is still unpartitioned and unmounted. To my surprise, I got same errors on both the hard drives. I am confused on what could be the actual issue. I am attaching a text file containing the errors on both the drives. Attached Files smart_errors.txt (8.4 KB, 35 views)
Posted by Server Sentinel, 10-23-2012, 06:14 AM
This means your disk is going to fail and will need a replacement soon
Posted by prashant1979, 10-23-2012, 07:43 AM
You mean to say both the hard drives?
Posted by Server Sentinel, 10-23-2012, 07:56 AM
Buffer I/O error on device sda, logical block 3" I see errors only on sda in the logs u have posted
Posted by prashant1979, 10-23-2012, 11:06 AM
It is because /dev/sdb is still unmounted. Why do I see errors while checking s.m.a.r.t on both the hard drives?