Is my hda dying?

Yesterday, when I plugged my player in, it waited for ages at the "reading playlist" stage. Then it eventually appeared with an empty playlist. Selecting a bookmark, it spent a long time with the "W" icon up, and sounded like it was repeatedly retrying disk access; it eventually started playing. I was in the car, so couldn't get a boot log.

I get similar behaviour here today - it won't continue playing from power-up. Boot log attached.

I've tried fsck on /dev/hd* and I've tried starting the player in RW mode to rebuild the databases, but I still get a whole load of

hda: irq timeout: status=0xd0
ide0: reset: success
hda: irq timeout: status=0xd0
ide0: reset: success
hda: irq timeout: status=0xd0
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:03 (hda), sector 46
hda: status timeout: status=0xd0
hda: drive not ready for command
ide0: reset: success
hda: irq timeout: status=0xd0
ide0: reset: success
hda: irq timeout: status=0xd0
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:03 (hda), sector 48
hda: status timeout: status=0xd0
hda: drive not ready for command
ide0: reset: success


Any hints?

My player still has a couple of weeks of warranty left, so I'd rather take it in than open it...

Could just be a cable that has worked loose. If you have a two-drive player, it could just be a jumper that has worked loose. It also could be the drive dying, too, as you have pointed out.

David fitted the 2nd drive (but note the error messages indicate hda, the first drive), replacing the drive cable and applying hot-melt glue while doing so. This puts connection issues low in my list. But it's still possible, I guess.

I had problems with my HDA's connector after messing with the cable. It tended to work loose more often than I wanted to deal with. So I hot-melt-glued it. Then the connector block ripped itself apart from the same stresses that made the cable work loose in the first place. So I had to mess with the connector block and crimp/glue/melt it back together (seems to be working fine now though). You might want to open the player, pull out the drive tray, and look at the cable and its HDA connector block.

In reply to:

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You might want to open the player, pull out the drive tray, and look at the cable and its HDA connector block.

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Thanks; I'll try that. (Actually, I'll most likely ask David to do it, to keep my warranty, and because he will be better than me at it. Luckily, Cambridge isn't very far away for me.)

Some further findings: since music is working fine, but the player can't read its state properly, I suspected /dev/hda3. Sure enough:

empeg:/empeg/bin# dd if=/dev/hda3 of=/dev/null
hda: status error: status=0x59
hda: status error: error=0x40
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:03 (hda), sector 42
hda: drive not ready for command
dd: /dev/hda3: Input/output error
42+0 records in
42+0 records out
hda: irq timeout: status=0xd0
ide0: reset: success
hda: irq timeout: status=0xd0
ide0: reset: success
hda: irq timeout: status=0xd0
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:03 (hda), sector 44
hda: status timeout: status=0xd0
hda: drive not ready for command
ide0: reset: success
hda: irq timeout: status=0xd0
ide0: reset: success
hda: irq timeout: status=0xd0
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:03 (hda), sector 46
hda: status timeout: status=0xd0
hda: drive not ready for command
ide0: reset: success
hda: irq timeout: status=0xd0
ide0: reset: success
hda: irq timeout: status=0xd0
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:03 (hda), sector 48
empeg:/empeg/bin# ide0: unexpected interrupt, status=0x59, count=4

I'm about to email support with this, but other ideas are welcome.

A few questions:

a) Are you running a hijack version? If so, which one?
b) Any loose jumpers or cables / connectors?

I'm currently running HiJack 278. I have 280 available for upload, but shied away from messing with it.

I'm not aware of any loose cables or jumpers, but I've never opened the player myself. The only person to do so has been David Moss in Cambridge, and I think he'd notice if anything was loose. He replaced the HD cable when it was in, and checked all the soldering on the cable/mainboard connectors.

I'd prefer not to open it up myself, so I'll see if I can take it in.

I took it to David Moss; he listened to the sound of the drive and said, "yes, that's a failed drive."

I've now got email telling me that he's managed to rescue all my music and playlists onto a new IBM drive.

David, you're a star. I owe you a pint next time I get the chance!