|> hda: status timeout: status=0x80 {busy} |> hda: drive not ready for command |> ide0: Reset: Success
This has come up more than once over the last year or two. If you search the list archives (especially around April of 99, I think), you should find discussion and opinions. The consensus seems to be that the error comes from some types of motherboard when DMA support is enabled in the kernel. Some people have made the problem go away by disabling DMA support in the kernel. Others suggest that the hdparms package will fix it, but this hasn't worked for all. Others still have made it go away by going into the BIOS and forcing the controller not to use DMA. In some cases at least you can do this by setting the controller for PIO-3 rather than "Auto". When the question is asked (at least on lists less knowledgeable than this one), there is usually someone who responds that `your hard disk is about to croak.' But I started getting this error on a laptop running Debian about 3 years ago, and it's still running fine (or at least as well as it ever did ....) Jim McCloskey