ASUS Notebook F3Jr Hard Disk Heading for Destruction

[NoWorries]

For some time now I have noticed that the Hard Disk light constantly flickers when there is no load on the machine. I have tried to solve this problem but have not been successful. I tried adding the option "commit=300" to the HD mount command in /etc/fstab. This did not change anything.

Next, I installed smartmontools and the output given by smartctl is given below.

root:~# smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda
smartctl version 5.37 [x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-6 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model: ST9120822AS
Serial Number: 5LZ1WC2M
Firmware Version: 3.ALC
User Capacity: 120,034,123,776 bytes
Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is: 7
ATA Standard is: Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated
Local Time is: Sun Jun 15 08:27:59 2008 CST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x82) Offline data collection activity
was completed without error.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 426) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
No Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
No General Purpose Logging support.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 111) minutes.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 100 253 006 Pre-fail Always - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 099 099 000 Pre-fail Always - 0
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 972
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 036 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 073 060 030 Pre-fail Always - 23141022
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 964
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 034 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 848
187 Unknown_Attribute 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
189 Unknown_Attribute 0x003a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
190 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 076 052 045 Old_age Always - 403898392
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 814
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 028 028 000 Old_age Always - 144810
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 024 048 000 Old_age Always - 24 (Lifetime Min/Max 0/16)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x001a 076 057 000 Old_age Always - 43055373
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
202 TA_Increase_Count 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

I claim no expertise in this area, but I would point out the areas of concern to me which are highlighted in orange. I can hear a constant rapid clicking of the disk which is reflected in the Load_Cycle_Count value of 144810.

I would greatly appreciate some help on solving this problem before kubuntu destroys my Hard Disk.

NoWorries

[Rog131]

Re: ASUS Notebook F3Jr Hard Disk Heading for Destruction

Maybe it this > Topic: Default HD power management settings will kill drive ?

>> Bug #104535 in Ubuntu / Default HD power management settings will kill drive

>> Bug #59695 in acpi-support (Ubuntu) / High frequency of load/unload cycles on some hard disks may shorten lifetime

[NoWorries]

Re: ASUS Notebook F3Jr Hard Disk Heading for Destruction

I had already tried the suggestions at the sites you recommended and found that they made no difference. On closer inspection, I have found that the Load_Cycle_Count does not increase once the Notebook is booted. What does increase is the Seek_Error_Rate and Hardware_ECC_Recovered. The changes from two runs of smartctl 4 minutes apart are:

# smartctl -A /dev/sda
smartctl version 5.37 [x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-6 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 100 253 006 Pre-fail Always - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 099 099 000 Pre-fail Always - 0
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 974
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 036 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 073 060 030 Pre-fail Always - 23240924
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 965
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 034 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 850
187 Unknown_Attribute 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
189 Unknown_Attribute 0x003a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
190 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 069 052 045 Old_age Always - 521338911
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 816
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 028 028 000 Old_age Always - 144812
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 031 048 000 Old_age Always - 31 (Lifetime Min/Max 0/16)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x001a 074 057 000 Old_age Always - 56186315
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
202 TA_Increase_Count 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0

after 4 minutes I get the following output:

# smartctl -A /dev/sda
smartctl version 5.37 [x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-6 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 100 253 006 Pre-fail Always - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 099 099 000 Pre-fail Always - 0
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 974
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 036 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 073 060 030 Pre-fail Always - 23247431
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 965
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 034 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 850
187 Unknown_Attribute 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
189 Unknown_Attribute 0x003a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
190 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 068 052 045 Old_age Always - 538116128
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 816
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 028 028 000 Old_age Always - 144812
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 032 048 000 Old_age Always - 32 (Lifetime Min/Max 0/16)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x001a 074 057 000 Old_age Always - 56323739
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
202 TA_Increase_Count 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0

This problem does not occur with MS Windows XP. I am beginning to wonder if there is a fault in the Hard Disk which is being detected by Kubuntu and not MS. Also, I am mystified by kubuntu constantly trying to correct errors when nothing is active. I will be interested to know what the consensus is on the above output.

[NoWorries]

Re: ASUS Notebook F3Jr Hard Disk Heading for Destruction

I am pleased to report that my notebook is now working with the disc light OFF , when there is no activity. I ended up reinstalling Kubuntu on my notebook after carefully checking all the packages that I needed and saving the files for connection to my home network.

I was very pleased when I found that my Logitech V20 speakers worked out of the box. However after the latest updates, I had a very silent notebook . I followed the procedures given in http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=205449, but I only had success when I used asoundconf to set my default speaker, and now the silence is broken .

NoWorries