Lenovo laptop reporting "ata1.00: head unload failed!"

[Alf Sagen]

Reference is made to Bug #772273 previously reported (from Ubunti 11.04).

I am using a Lenovo laptop with a SSD installed (specifically OCZ Vertex III, but this is not really interesting, I believe).
dmesg is full of messages saying "ata1.00: head unload failed!", which seems to be caused by hdapsd is triggered by Lenovo's gravitational sensor, hence trying to park the disk's head, which is obviously failing when the laptop disk(s) is/are SSD(s), and there is no mechanical part (head to unload).

The easiest way to recreate the warning is to switch into a non-graphical TTY (e.g. CTRL+ALT+F1) and just shake the laptop a little. Even without logging in/starting a session in the tty console, the warning will be shown on screen.

This is not really a big problem other than logs filling up with warnings, and it's fixed by disabling/uninstalling hdapsd ( sudo apt-get remove --purge hdapsd ). Hence, I'm not sure whether it should really be reported as a bug.

However, upgrading Ubuntu to a new release actually re-installs hdapsd automatically (re-invoking the logged warning messages), and I believe that in an ideal world, the system would detect automatically that the disk(s) is (are) SSD(s), hence only activating hdapsd in the case that disk(s) is(are) really mechanical and in need of any head unload.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: linux-image-3.8.0-25-generic 3.8.0-25.37
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-25.37-generic 3.8.13
Uname: Linux 3.8.0-25-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu8.1
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: alfs 2551 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: alfs 2551 F...m pulseaudio
Date: Thu Jun 20 21:23:00 2013
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=2e1479f7-66dc-4e37-91cf-9d7d49628e0d
InstallationDate: Installed on 2010-06-15 (1101 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100429)
MachineType: LENOVO 20828WG
MarkForUpload: True
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcFB:
 0 inteldrmfb
 1 VESA VGA
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.8.0-25-generic root=UUID=93933782-45d9-4a8e-87ab-cac206b49c95 ro vga=792 splash quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.8.0-25-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.8.0-25-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.106
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to raring on 2013-04-28 (52 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 12/13/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 7VET94WW (3.24 )
dmi.board.name: 20828WG
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr7VET94WW(3.24):bd12/13/2011:svnLENOVO:pn20828WG:pvrThinkPadT500:rvnLENOVO:rn20828WG:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 20828WG
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T500
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Evgeni Golov (evgeni)]

With my hdapsd maintainer hat on: not a bug in hdapsd (even if it could be smarter in regards to SSDs).
Why Ubuntu reinstalls hdapsd when it was deinstalled by the admin (you) is up to Ubuntu :)

[Evgeni Golov (evgeni)]

Alf, can you please post the output of:
  grep "" /sys/block/*/queue/rotational

[Evgeni Golov (evgeni)]

Just pushed https://github.com/evgeni/hdapsd/commit/5fa2741be5215846e864f86e8a03bdad08167cfd upstream.
That and some updates to the defaults of the package should "fix" this.