X31 BSODs galore!!

[ychandrani]

Here's one for the record books and for giving me numerous headaches. So far calls to IBM, Micro$ Support & postings on several WinXP forums have turned up zero. So here goes:

My X31, which had been running just fine with Win XP (upgraded factory install to SP2) these past few weeks, suddenly started giving me a BSOD upon power up this past Wednesday (i.e. Nov 17).

The specicific error codes:
0x00000071 (0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

and Session5_Initialization_Failed.

Prior to this stop error on Wednesday, I noticed that there were a large number of Event ID: 57s in the System Events log. These were identified with soemthing called Ftdisk and a warning that Data corruption may occur. The only information I found on this error message was a Microsoft recommendation to run chkdsk with the /r/x parameters; which I did. I gather this allows chkdsk to verify the harddrive and recover/repair bad sectors. Ever since running chkdsk, the computer has given me the stop error.

Next step was to run PC Doctor from a CD. System hardware passed with flying colors. This was followed by Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test software. Not a single error reported by DFT either.

After this, I tried booting into safe mode, but the system would get stuck at the point when it was trying to load agp440.sys. I am using the current version of IBM's ATI driver package.

The factory installed restore partition has been deleted by me. So next, I tried repairing the XP installation using a an XP SP2 CD and that too failed. The machine was simply caught in a loop, running chkdsk each time it started up after the failed repair and then giving me the stop error.

Assuming that the harddisk is dying a slow death, I called IBM to send out a warranty replacement. However, their stocks are running low and it will take a while for them to ship me a replacement disk.

I do weekly backups of my datafiles but usually on Saturdays or Sundays. Also needed to get two papers that I was working on so that I could finish them on time. To do this I took a chance and used Partition Commander to create a NTFS partition in the free space on the hard disk, and managed to install XP SP2 on this new partition. The install has gone fine, I have the files I need and have managed to finish the papers. Now I have two installations of XP: 1) the old one, which is on Drive C: (i.e. the first partition) and which still gives me the same stop error if I try to boot into it and 2) the new install which is on D: and works just fine. I have been watching the event viewer on this new install and have not seen a single Event ID 57/Ftdisk error message on the new install on D:.

So what could be happening with this machine? I will replace the drive just as a precaution; but I am curious to learn what causes the particular stop error that I am getting. Several users on various Windows forums have reported that BIOS upgrades made the problem go away. Others have said its not hardware related. A fresh install made the problem go away. Yet others have reported the problem did not go away despite a fresh install; and some claim that running CHKDSK on systems with SP2 and NTFS partitions that have the Event ID: 57 message caused the problem. I recall seeing one post by a Tx series owner saying that he encountered the problem after running CHKDSK--i.e. Micro$'s recommended solution for fixing Event ID: 57 warnings.

IBM's phone support was at a loss. They had no ideas about what causes this stop error other than to suggest a trip to EZ-Serve or a fresh install with recovery CDs on a new harddrive. This I will do when the replacement drive gets here.

Anyone experience this error?

Yogesh

[monty cantsin]

This was followed by Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test software. Not a single error reported by DFT either.

I have a failing drive here that the DFT reports to be in perfect health, but it isn't at all. If the system is very unstable, create or download...

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

...a DOS bootable floppy, then get the smartmon tools...

http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

...and put them on the disk. Boot up with this floppy (if the system is stable, you can also do it from the Windows command prompt) and run a SMART extended offline self-test on the drive. Execute the command...

smartctl -t long /dev/hda

..and wait. While the self-test is performed, you can still work on the drive, but it may be slow. During the self-test, you can already execute...

smartctl -a /dev/hda

...and read what is displayed. Alternatively you may type...

smartctl -a /dev/hda > A:\poll.txt
(in DOS)

or

smartctl -a /dev/hda > C:\poll.txt
(from Windows)

...in order to save the report to a file. The line "Self-test execution status" shows you information on the progress, and "Extended self-test routine recommended polling time" tells you how long a complete test run will take from the start.

But now comes the interesting part: "Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds". Search for the line "Reallocated_Event_Count". The number at the end of the line shows how many times defective areas on the drive have already been reallocated without you having noticed it. The bad drive I talked about above, which, according to the DFT, was in perfected order, had already counted more than 150 reallocations.

When the self-test has been completed, take a look at the results with the command...

smartctl -l selftest /dev/hda

or (in order to save it to a file)

smartctl -l selftest /dev/hda > A:\selftest.txt
etc.

...What does it say? The first line in the table shows the most current results. If the selftest couldn't be successfully completed due to errors, chances are high that there's something seriously wrong with your hard drive.

I do weekly backups of my datafiles but usually on Saturdays or Sundays. Also needed to get two papers that I was working on so that I could finish them on time. To do this I took a chance and used Partition Commander to create a NTFS partition in the free space on the hard disk, and managed to install XP SP2 on this new partition. The install has gone fine, I have the files I need and have managed to finish the papers.

Very risky with a drive that is expected to be faulty. Could have resulted in a complete data loss if the partition tables had been corrupted. A very convenient way to access data on computers which don't boot up their operating system any longer and where's no space left for a second installation is either to use Linux on a live-cd, like Knoppix...

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

...with which you cannot only access your Windows NTFS partitions, but also work on your office documents with the integrated OpenOffice package, or a WinPE-like environment as BartPE, for instance:

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

You can integrate Nero Burning ROM into BartPE so that you are able to back up to CD or DVD, or you can connect to a network in order to rescue data.

[ychandrani]

Edited: See below for smartmon results. smartmon reports a smart checksum error. what does this mean?

Monty, Thanks for the wealth of information. I don't have a usb floppy drive, but drive d: has been stable so far. Also, DHL just showed up five minutes ago with the replacement drive. I will run the tests you recommend and keep this post for the new drive also. Need to go buy myself a floppy drive. Now that I don't have one I miss it.

I do have bart's pe with nero burning rom installed and used it first to get at my data and move it to a 6 GB USB drive that I have hung on to for a while. Then tried the new partition route in order to get these two papers done. They were due this morning and now that they are done, I can replace the drive and reconfigure the system.

Will let you know how it goes. The tools you mention look handy and I will get them for future disasters.

Cheers,

Yogesh

Smartmon's poll.txt file is below:
smartctl version 5.33 [i386-pc-mingw32] Copyright (C) 2002-4 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model: HTS548040M9AT00
Serial Number: MRL202L2K59W7B
Firmware Version: MG2OA5BA
User Capacity: 40,007,761,920 bytes
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: 6
ATA Standard is: ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 3a
Local Time is: Mon Nov 22 11:21:46 2004 Eastern Standard Time
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: ( 645) 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: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 30) minutes.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000b 100 100 062 Pre-fail Always - 65536
2 Throughput_Performance 0x0005 106 106 040 Pre-fail Offline - 4555
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0007 218 218 033 Pre-fail Always - 1
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 879
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 005 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000b 100 100 067 Pre-fail Always - 0
8 Seek_Time_Performance 0x0005 134 134 040 Pre-fail Offline - 33
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0012 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 757
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 060 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 377
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x000a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 10
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0012 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 16343
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0002 105 105 000 Old_age Always - 52 (Lifetime Min/Max 19/56)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0008 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x000a 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 7 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
CR = Command Register [HEX]
FR = Features Register [HEX]
SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
ER = Error register [HEX]
ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 7 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 369 hours (15 days + 9 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
01 51 01 1e 12 e6 ef

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
fe a2 01 1e 12 06 e0 02 02:46:33.400 [VENDOR SPECIFIC]
fe a2 01 1d 12 06 e0 02 02:46:33.400 [VENDOR SPECIFIC]
fe a2 01 1c 12 06 e0 02 02:46:33.300 [VENDOR SPECIFIC]
fe a2 01 1b 12 06 e0 02 02:46:33.300 [VENDOR SPECIFIC]
fe a2 01 1a 12 06 e0 02 02:46:33.300 [VENDOR SPECIFIC]

Error 6 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 369 hours (15 days + 9 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
01 51 01 1e 12 e6 ef

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
fe a2 01 1e 12 06 e0 02 02:46:24.500 [VENDOR SPECIFIC]
fe a2 01 1d 12 06 e0 02 02:46:24.500 [VENDOR SPECIFIC]
fe a2 01 1c 12 06 e0 02 02:46:24.500 [VENDOR SPECIFIC]
fe a2 01 1b 12 06 e0 02 02:46:24.500 [VENDOR SPECIFIC]
fe a2 01 1a 12 06 e0 02 02:46:24.500 [VENDOR SPECIFIC]

Error 5 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 4 hours (0 days + 4 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
10 51 01 ff 52 a8 e4

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
f9 00 01 ff 52 a8 e4 00 00:01:52.500 SET MAX ADDRESS [OBS-6]
f8 00 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00:01:52.500 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS
f8 00 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00:01:52.500 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS
f8 00 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00:01:52.500 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS
20 00 01 ff 52 a8 e4 02 00:01:52.500 READ SECTOR(S)

Error 4 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 4 hours (0 days + 4 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
10 51 01 ff 52 a8 e4

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
f9 00 01 ff 52 a8 e4 00 00:01:49.400 SET MAX ADDRESS [OBS-6]
f8 00 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00:01:49.400 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS
f8 00 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00:01:49.400 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS
f8 00 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00:01:49.400 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS
20 00 01 ff 52 a8 e4 02 00:01:49.400 READ SECTOR(S)

Error 3 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 0 hours (0 days + 0 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
10 51 01 ff 52 a8 e4

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
f9 00 01 ff 52 a8 e4 00 00:01:49.800 SET MAX ADDRESS [OBS-6]
f8 00 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00:01:49.800 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS
f8 00 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00:01:49.800 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS
f8 00 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00:01:49.800 READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS
20 00 01 ff 52 a8 e4 02 00:01:49.800 READ SECTOR(S)

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Extended offline Completed without error 00% 757 -
# 2 Short offline Completed without error 00% 695 -
# 3 Short offline Completed without error 00% 690 -

Warning! SMART Selective Self-Test Log Structure error: invalid SMART checksum.
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.