Unnecessary HDIO_GET_IDENTITY message on boot

[David Clayton]

When there is a USB drive connected at boot time, the kernel displays the message "....HDIO_GET_IDENTITY failure...." before starting the X system which is only going to confuse and alarm users as it is basically useless and has no relevance to the actual operation of the system.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: linux-generic 3.2.0.17.17
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-17.27-generic 3.2.6
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-17-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 1.93-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: dc 2025 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: dc 2025 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: command ['iw', 'reg', 'get'] failed with exit code 1: nl80211 not found.
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'SB'/'HDA ATI SB at 0xfe024000 irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC889A'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0885,1458a002,00100101'
   Controls : 48
   Simple ctrls : 22
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'Generic'/'HD-Audio Generic at 0xfdffc000 irq 43'
   Mixer name : 'ATI R6xx HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:1002aa01,00aa0100,00100200'
   Controls : 6
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card1.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
   Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Mono: Playback [on]
CurrentDmesg: [ 2.785517] generic-usb 0003:045E:008C.0003: input,hidraw2: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [Microsoft Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse\xffffffc2\xffffffae\xffffffae 1.0A] on usb-0000:00:12.0-3/input0
Date: Sun Feb 26 18:04:35 2012
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=0691bc9f-226f-4a40-8605-c61f79baaa95
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Alpha amd64 (20120206)
IwConfig:
 lo no wireless extensions.

 eth0 no wireless extensions.
MachineType: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-MA78GM-S2HP
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_AU:en
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-17-generic root=UUID=ea4615d5-47f3-4456-a28f-98a456c88e80 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.2.0-17-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.2.0-17-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.71
RfKill:

SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 07/14/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: Award Software International, Inc.
dmi.bios.version: F6d
dmi.board.name: GA-MA78GM-S2HP
dmi.board.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAwardSoftwareInternational,Inc.:bvrF6d:bd07/14/2010:svnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:pnGA-MA78GM-S2HP:pvr:rvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:rnGA-MA78GM-S2HP:rvr:cvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: GA-MA78GM-S2HP
dmi.sys.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

Thank you for taking the time to file a bug report on this issue.

However, given the number of bugs that the Kernel Team receives during any development cycle it is impossible for us to review them all. Therefore, we occasionally resort to using automated bots to request further testing. This is such a request.

We have noted that there is a newer version of the development kernel than the one you last tested when this issue was found. Please test again with the newer kernel and indicate in the bug if this issue still exists or not.

You can update to the latest development kernel by simply running the following commands in a terminal window:

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get upgrade

If the bug still exists, change the bug status from Incomplete to Confirmed. If the bug no longer exists, change the bug status from Incomplete to Fix Released.

If you want this bot to quit automatically requesting kernel tests, add a tag named: bot-stop-nagging.

 Thank you for your help, we really do appreciate it.

[David Clayton (dcstar)]

Still there in 3.2.0-18.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v3.3 kernel[1] (Not a kernel in the daily directory). Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag(Only that one tag, please leave the other tags). This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text.

If this bug is fixed by the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream-KERNEL-VERSION'. For example, if kernel version 3.3-rc6 fixed the issue, the tag would be: 'kernel-fixed-upstream-v3.3-rc6'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, for example it will not boot, please add the tag: 'kernel-unable-to-test-upstream'.
Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[1] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.3-rc6-precise/

[David Clayton (dcstar)]

Ok, tested it with the upstream kernel and this message still appears - along with other additional diagnostic code that is not displayed with the release kernels.

I suspect that I only see these before the Plymouth screen appears because I use the BURG bootloader on my 10.04 system to boot 12.04, when I use the standard 12.04 Grub bootloader it masks any kernel messages with a mono-colour screen before continuing.

It just looks like someone has forgotten to comment out this bit of diagnostic code in the kernel package, or it is not placed correctly in the diagnostic code segments that are not compiled in the production kernels.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

This issue appears to be an upstream bug, since you tested the latest upstream kernel. Would it be possible for you to open an upstream bug report at bugzilla.kernel.org [1]? That will allow the upstream Developers to examine the issue, and may provide a quicker resolution to the bug.

If you are comfortable with opening a bug upstream, It would be great if you can report back the upstream bug number in this bug report. That will allow us to link this bug to the upstream report.

[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/kernel

[David Clayton (dcstar)]

Upstream bug report:

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42894

[3vi1 (launchpad-net-eternaldusk)]

This is still present in the current 3.4.0-3 (quantal) kernel.

I noticed that I only see the error for one of my USB3.0 drives, not for my USB2.0 connected drive.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

David Clayton, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please just make a comment to this.

Also, could you please test the latest upstream kernel available (not the daily folder) following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds ? It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested. If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tags:
kernel-fixed-upstream
kernel-fixed-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

where VERSION-NUMBER is the version number of the kernel you tested. For example:
kernel-fixed-upstream-v3.12

This can be done by clicking on the yellow circle with a black pencil icon next to the word Tags located at the bottom of the bug description. As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the following tags:
kernel-bug-exists-upstream
kernel-bug-exists-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug's Status as Confirmed. Please let us know your results. Thank you for your understanding.

[David Clayton (dcstar)]

The Upstream bug I reported has no action (as far as I can tell) taken on it.

The bug seems to be only apparent when a USB connected rotational drive does not support certain features when interrogated by the kernel at start-up, so for most drives it may not appear but for my tiny 8GB SEAGATE ST68022CF non-SMART drive they do.