smartd Read SMART Self Test Log Failed on Intel X25-M SSD

[Nikil Mehta]

Binary package hint: smartmontools

smartd occasionally throws up the following error to syslog for my Intel X25-M SSD:

smartd[30210]: Device: /dev/disk0, Read SMART Self Test Log Failed
kernel: [216499.012614] ata3.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
kernel: [216499.012629] ata3.00: failed command: SMART
kernel: [216499.012643] ata3.00: cmd b0/d5:01:06:4f:c2/00:00:00:00:00/00 tag 0 pio 512 in
kernel: [216499.012646] res 40/00:00:00:4f:c2/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
kernel: [216499.012654] ata3.00: status: { DRDY }
kernel: [216499.012664] ata3: hard resetting link
kernel: [216499.362802] ata3: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
kernel: [216499.363745] ata3.00: configured for UDMA/133
kernel: [216499.363796] ata3: EH complete

It looks like smartd cannot read the SMART log on the drive, causing it to reset the SATA link. This causes a system freeze for a couple of seconds. This happens once every couple of days. Since smartd is configured to read SMART logs (note that's the reading of logs, not necessarily the running of self tests) every 1800 seconds (per the setting in /etc/default/smartmontools) the bug is only occasional.

It looks like the same bug was reported upstream: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=560701

However, the bug was closed due to inactivity. It should probably be reopened because it's still happening.

[Michael Stucki (mstucki)]

I'm having the same problem. The hardware seems to work fine though, so I think it must be a software issue...

[cacula (cacula)]

I'm also having the same problem.

[Andrew (andrewlewine)]

I registered just to post that I'm having the same problem. I have an Intel X25-V 40GB ssd in my system (Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS) and get the same error from smartd. I've only had this system up and running with this drive for a few days, so I'm not sure how often this happens.

I'll be happy to post more specs or logs if it would be helpful.

[Andrew (andrewlewine)]

New Intel firmware ought to fix the problem. See here:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18363

And from the release notes: "This firmware revision fixes enumeration and slow-boot issues on SATA 6Gb/s controllers, adds improvements to S.M.A.R.T. attributes for more accurate reporting of drive health, improves NCQ capability, and fixes possible drive hangs when reading S.M.A.R.T. self-test log."

[Nikil Mehta (nikil.mehta)]

Interesting. I updated my firmware a week ago and haven't seen any hangs. Should probably close this bug.