Ubuntu
linux-source-2.6.20 package

hdd 'ticks' every 5 seconds

Bug #140924 reported by Chris Moore on 2007-09-19

This bug report is a duplicate of: Edit Remove

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	linux (Ubuntu)	Incomplete	Undecided	Unassigned
	linux-source-2.6.20 (Ubuntu)	Won't Fix	Undecided	Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: linux-source-2.6.20

Very occasionally when running feisty, my hard disk drive will start making a 'ticking' sound once every 5 seconds.

Rebooting usually stops it.

I can run for days without it happening, and then it will start, apparently at random.

Once I rebooted to the grub screen and left it there, and the ticking continued.

I use ext3 for everything. I guess grub uses the ext3 partition as well, so maybe that's the common thing here. I realise the kernel isn't running while grub is running, but ext3 seems to be part of the kernel package, so I filed the bug against the kernel anyway.

I have never heard the ticking while running Windows on the same machine, but I don't often run Windows.

A few months ago when I first heard the ticking, I ignored it. I didn't reboot. The hard disk drive completely failed 24 hours later. Maybe this is a coincidence.

I sent the laptop back for repair. They replaced the HDD, but I still hear the ticking occasionally. Wary of causing another HDD crash I now reboot as soon as I hear the ticking.

Please let me know if there's any command I can run to help debug this the next time it happens.

Tags:

Revision history for this message

CheolHan Yoon (mait) wrote on 2007-10-20:

@Chris

I have similar problem for a while. Try this,

$ sudo hdparm -M255 /dev/sda

change /dev/sda to your actual disk name.

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Chris Moore (dooglus) wrote on 2007-10-21:

What does that do?

According to the manual:

-M Get/set Automatic Acoustic Management (AAM)
  setting. Most modern harddisk drives have the ability
  to speed down the head movements to reduce their noise
  output. The possible values are between 0 and 254. 128
  is the most quiet (and therefore slowest) setting and
  254 the fastest (and loudest). Some drives have only
  two levels (quiet / fast), while others may have
  different levels between 128 and 254. At the moment,
  most drives only support 3 options, off, quiet, and
  fast. These have been assigned the values 0, 128, and
  254 at present, respectively, but integer space has
  been incorporated for future expansion, should this
  change.

the only valid numbers are 0, 128, and 254. 254 is the loudest.

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CheolHan Yoon (mait) wrote on 2007-10-24:

@Chris

So sorry, 'M' was typo. It's 'B'

Check this bug report,
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695

Maybe this problem seems not direct relate with kernel. It seems acpi-support package control this issue.

For quick answer,
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695/comments/10

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Chris Moore (dooglus) wrote on 2007-10-24:

Thanks for that Mait. I wonder why this wasn't fixed already. It could give Ubuntu a bad name if people find out about it.

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Brian Ealdwine (eode) wrote on 2007-10-24: Re: [Bug 140924] Re: hdd 'ticks' every 5 seconds

Not if it's handled expediently.. ..I think Ubuntu has escalation
problems.. :-(

On Wed, 2007-10-24 at 21:30 +0000, Chris Moore wrote:
> *** This bug is a duplicate of bug 59695 ***
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/59695
>
> Thanks for that Mait. I wonder why this wasn't fixed already. It could
> give Ubuntu a bad name if people find out about it.
>

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Chris Moore (dooglus) wrote on 2007-10-25:

I think it might be a little late for expediency - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695 was reported over a year ago, with a clear description of the problem. Since then I've lost one hard drive to the bug, and the replacement has been regularly loading and unloading its write head too.

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Chris Moore (dooglus) wrote on 2007-10-31:

sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda > /tmp/hdparm.txt Edit (2.5 KiB, text/plain)

My drive just started 'ticking' again. Most recently it 'ticked' at these times:

Wed Oct 31 16:38:42 CET 2007
Wed Oct 31 16:38:47 CET 2007
Wed Oct 31 16:38:53 CET 2007
Wed Oct 31 16:38:59 CET 2007
Wed Oct 31 16:39:05 CET 2007
Wed Oct 31 16:39:16 CET 2007
Wed Oct 31 16:39:22 CET 2007
Wed Oct 31 16:39:28 CET 2007
Wed Oct 31 16:39:36 CET 2007

note it's every 5 or 6 seconds, with the occasional gap of 11 seconds.

$ sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
Advanced power management level: 254 (0xfe)
Advanced Power Management feature set

running:

I've attached the output of "sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda"

$ sudo hdparm -S 0 /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
setting standby to 0 (off)
$

didn't stop the ticking either.

Revision history for this message

Chris Moore (dooglus) wrote on 2007-11-21:

I've been using Windows a bit recently, and have had this bug happen once there too.

So this bug is OS-independent and should probably be rejected.

It should also not be marked as a dup of those other bugs, since it is quite different. It happens without the disk spinning down or unloading.

Revision history for this message

Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote on 2008-08-11: This bug is now reported against the 'linux' package

Beginning with the Hardy Heron 8.04 development cycle, all open Ubuntu kernel bugs need to be reported against the "linux" kernel package. We are automatically migrating this bug to the new "linux" package. However, development has already began for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. It would be helpful if you could test the upcoming release and verify if this is still an issue - http://www.ubuntu.com/testing . If the issue still exists, please update this report by changing the Status of the "linux" task from "Incomplete" to "New". We appreciate your patience and understanding as we make this transition. Thanks!