troubleshoot: hdparm gives ''read(2097152) returned 1572864 bytes''

I have about 20 dedicated hosts at different hosting providers, running CentOS 4.x and 5.x, and on most of them, running:

hdparm -t /dev/hda2

(or whatever the hard disk is), gives an output something like:

/dev/sda1:

Timing buffered disk reads: 104 MB in 3.02 seconds = 34.44 MB/sec

However, there is one remotely hosted dedicated server running CentOS release 4.7, where if I use hdparm to try and get the hard disk read/write speed, I get the following:

[rootlocalhost ~]# hdparm -t /dev/hda2

/dev/hda2:

Timing buffered disk reads: read(2097152) returned 1572864 bytes

[rootlocalhost ~]#

That looks like some kind of error output, but I don't know how to interpret that and "man hdparm" doesn't say anything about it. I assume it means that a call to some operating system API function read() returned an unexpected number of bytes, so hdparm could not continue? So what does this indicate is wrong -- a bad disk, a corrupt hard disk driver, or what? And how to fix it? I don't expect a lot of help from the hosting company so they probably won't fix the hardware for me unless I can bang them over the head with evidence that it's a hardware problem.

I found a lot of threads through Google discussing this problem, by searching for

hdparm "read(2097152) returned"

(the second number in the error message seems to vary, but the first number always seems to be 2097152), but I could not find a solution anywhere. I am looking for some help to troubleshoot this.

I cannot give out root access to the machine, so I am just looking for tips about how to fix it, if you're familiar with this type of problem or you find a source that gives the solution.

Either (a) you can submit a bid, or (b) if you submit a comment that solves the problem, I'll send you a tip through R.A.C. Thanks!

## Deliverables

I'm looking for either (a) a way to fix the problem myself, or (b) if it's a hardware problem, I need to make absolutely sure that it's a hardware problem, before I ask the hosting company to replace the hard drive. They probably won't replace the hard drive unless I can show them very convincingly, that it's a hardware problem.

More information:

Here are the outputs of some other hard-disk-related commands run on

the same machine. I have no idea what they mean, but apparently gurus

like to see this stuff when trying to figure out what went wrong with

hdparm:

******

[rootlocalhost ~]# lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. P4M266 Host Bridge

00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8633 [Apollo Pro266 AGP]

00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge

00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/

VT823x/A/

C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)

00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II]

(rev 74)

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: S3 Inc. VT8375 [ProSavage8 KM266/

KL266]

[rootlocalhost ~]# hdparm -I /dev/hda1

/dev/hda1:

ATA device, with non-removable media

Model Number: WDC WD2500JB-00REA0

Serial Number: WD-WMANK6255772

Firmware Revision: [url removed, login to view]

Standards:

Supported: 7 6 5 4

Likely used: 7

Configuration:

Logical max current

cylinders 16383 65535

heads 16 1

sectors/track 63 63

--

CHS current addressable sectors: 4128705

LBA user addressable sectors: 268435455

LBA48 user addressable sectors: 488397168

device size with M = 1024*1024: 238475 MBytes

device size with M = 1000*1000: 250059 MBytes (250 GB)

Capabilities:

LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)

Queue depth: 1

Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, with device specific

minimum

R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16 Current = 16

Recommended acoustic management value: 128, current value: 254

DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5

Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns

PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4

Cycle time: no flow control=120ns IORDY flow

control=120ns

Commands/features:

Enabled Supported:

* NOP cmd

* READ BUFFER cmd

* WRITE BUFFER cmd

* Host Protected Area feature set

* Look-ahead

* Write cache

* Power Management feature set

Security Mode feature set

* SMART feature set

* FLUSH CACHE EXT command

* Mandatory FLUSH CACHE command

* Device Configuration Overlay feature set

* 48-bit Address feature set

Automatic Acoustic Management feature set

SET MAX security extension

* DOWNLOAD MICROCODE cmd

* General Purpose Logging feature set

* SMART self-test

* SMART error logging

Security:

Master password revision code = 65534

supported

not enabled

not locked

not frozen

not expired: security count

not supported: enhanced erase

HW reset results:

CBLID- above Vih

Device num = 0 determined by the jumper

Checksum: correct

[rootlocalhost ~]#

## Platform

I am encountering this problem on CentOS 4.7.

Linux

Projektin tunnus: #3526907

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