Fix-disk failing to run "Error - pending sectors but LBA not found"

[!nd!go]

Hi All,

Over the last couple of months my HDR box started throwing up some issues to the point now where it is a regular problem. These issues are in the form of playback interruption (freezing and image degradation) during most recordings; recording failing to start or failing in the first few minutes; very sluggish media menu system which can take 30 seconds to respond.

I've been running CF for about a year with no issues until now and having looked through the forum help decided running fix-disk in maintenance mode was my best bet. However when I run it I get the following message "Error - pending sectors but LBA not found" and the process can't complete. This was the same when running the short or long check.

I've attached the hardware diagnostics page if it helps.



I'd be very grateful if someone can point me in the direction of where I go next to resolve this.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[prpr]

Get a new disk.

 

[Trev]

Do you not feel that a better explanation would be in order so that the OP (and I) has some idea of exactly what information has led you to this diagnosis?

 

[MontysEvilTwin]

The disk has been in use for 38 thousand hours: it is quite old but according to the estimated 'life left' values it has had less than half of its potential lifespan. It has 179 reallocated sectors, but this is not awful just something to keep an eye on. The disk has been getting quite hot (up to 60°C); it should cope with this temperature, but I would install the fan package and keep it a bit cooler (below 50°C). It is the current pending sectors/ offline uncorrectable sectors that are troubling. The value is small but the system is not reporting where the problem sectors are (LBA value). It is also odd that the disk self tests are completing, pending sectors should make these fail. If there were no other symptoms I would suspect that the pending/ uncorrectable sectors were being misreported, but there clearly are problems. I would personally copy any recordings I wanted to keep and try a security erase on the disk: this should force any necessary sector reallocations. I would then replace the disk with a new one if this were unsuccessful.
To add, the command timeout value (line 188) should be zero, which it clearly isn't. Could this be a consequence of the pending sectors, or indicative of another problem?

 

[!nd!go]

Many thanks for the quick replies. I'd hoped there maybe a fix-disk switch way of getting past the LBA problem to avoid either security erasing the disk or replacing it but it doesn't seem so. So looks like I need to find some spare space for the keeper recordings and give security erase a go. If that fails maybe it's time to consider moving to a new Humax with Freeview Play or YouView.

MET thanks for the tip on the fan package to help reduce the temp. It's odd as the box has a good 10-30cm of space all round it.

 

[prpr]

Do you not feel that a better explanation would be in order so that the OP (and I) has some idea of exactly what information has led you to this diagnosis?

No.
He asked how to resolve it, not for an explanation.

 

[Trev]

Getting a new box would also resolve his problem, expensively.

 

[!nd!go]

PRPR I really appreciated you responding to my query but do agree with Trev that some explanation as to why that was my option would be useful. I'm no expert in this field so a bit of justification always helps provide reassurance that it is an informed course of action and not just a brush off to a newbie.

Before I head down the path is there truly no way to get past the missing LBA message without a security erase or worse still a disk replacement?

Thanks again for your help on this.

 

[af123]

I've been running CF for about a year with no issues until now and having looked through the forum help decided running fix-disk in maintenance mode was my best bet. However when I run it I get the following message "Error - pending sectors but LBA not found" and the process can't complete. This was the same when running the short or long check.

As a first step, try running the disk repair process with the -P option. That will skip the LBA search but still do a filesystem check and repair.
It isn't usual to have pending sectors which cannot be found but it isn't unknown. I have a disk with four pending sectors which works perfectly fine and always passes long self-tests as well as an entire disk badblocks run.

If you're running the disk check from the telnet menu then just enter -P when asked for any extra options.

 

[!nd!go]

THanks AF123. I've run the fix-disk with -P and got the following result:

/---------------------------------------------\
| M A I N T E N A N C E M O D E M E N U |
\---------------------------------------------/

[ Humax HDR-Fox T2 (humax) 1.03.12/3.03 ]

1 - Check and repair hard disk (fix-disk).
2 - Run short hard-disk self test.
3 - Run long hard-disk self test.
4 - Check self-test progress.
epg - Clear persistent EPG data.
dlna - Reset DLNA server database.
x - Leave maintenance mode (Humax will restart).
diag - Run a diagnostic.
cli - System command line (advanced users).

Please select option: 1
Any additional options (or press return for none): -P
Are you sure you wish to run the hard disk checker (-P)? [Y/N] y
Running /bin/fix-disk
Custom firmware version 3.03


Checking disk sda

Unmounted /dev/sda1
Unmounted /dev/sda2
Unmounted /dev/sda3
Skipped pending sector error tests
Using superblock 0 on sda1
Using superblock 0 on sda2
Using superblock 0 on sda3


Checking partition /dev/sda3...
e2fsck 1.42.10 (18-May-2014)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
/lost+found not found. Create? yes

Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information

/dev/sda3: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
/dev/sda3: 15/655776 files (0.0% non-contiguous), 162536/2622611 blocks

Checking partition /dev/sda1...
e2fsck 1.42.10 (18-May-2014)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
/lost+found not found. Create? yes

Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information

/dev/sda1: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
/dev/sda1: 15/65808 files (6.7% non-contiguous), 16125/263064 blocks

Creating swap file...
Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 1073737728 bytes
UUID=faaaef01-2000-4ca1-9b2f-cbc32ff4b504

Checking partition /dev/sda2...
e2fsck 1.42.10 (18-May-2014)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
/lost+found not found. Create? yes

Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information

/dev/sda2: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
/dev/sda2: 7074/29860704 files (6.1% non-contiguous), 113856752/119209984 blocks
Removing extra swap space.
Are you having problems with a delete loop? [Y/N]: n
Skipped

Finished
-------------------------------

I then ran the fix-disk again without options and it came back again with:

Please select option: 1
Any additional options (or press return for none):
Are you sure you wish to run the hard disk checker? [Y/N] y
Running /bin/fix-disk
Custom firmware version 3.03


Checking disk sda

Partition /dev/sda1 is already unmounted
Partition /dev/sda2 is already unmounted
Partition /dev/sda3 is already unmounted

Running short disk self test

Pending sector error(s) found

LBA has not yet been found

Should I run with -P more times?

Thanks

 

[af123]

Should I run with -P more times?

No, there is no point - your filesystems are clean.
The next thing I would try is to go to the command line (cli option) and run the badblocks program:

badblocks -s -b 512 /dev/sda​

This will take a while but will try to read every block on the disk.
If it finds any unreadable ones then they can be repaired or forced to reallocate with additional commands.

 

[!nd!go]

I tried to run the command but get:

humax# badblocks -s -b 512 /dev/sda
/usr/lib/ext2/bin/badblocks: No such file or directory while trying to determine device size

Any thoughts?

 

[prpr]

PRPR I really appreciated you responding to my query but do agree with Trev that some explanation as to why that was my option would be useful. I'm no expert in this field so a bit of justification always helps provide reassurance that it is an informed course of action and not just a brush off to a newbie.

MontysEvilTwin has already said what I would have said. Just look at that Command Timeout figure. There's got to be something wrong there. Now badblocks doesn't work either...

Get a new disk! It's not worth pi$$ing about with this one. You'll probably waste loads of time and get nowhere. Unless you want to use it as a learning experience of course. But you'll still need a new disk, IMHO.

 

[!nd!go]

Sorry all for not being able to reply but I had to go away for a for few days and wasn't able to connect in. Thanks all for your assistance with this issue. It's clear there's no option but to replace the disk or upgrade to a new Freeview Play or YouView box. Although I need to investigate if that's a good route.

This is a great forum for a great bit of custom firmware.

Cheers!