Hard Shutdown / Crashes... Partitions & HD Problems. HELP!

[flipjargendy]

I've been running Debian Squeeze for the past couple of months. I decided to use a ReiserFS (not sure if it's relevant) and had a few problems where I had to hold the power button to shut down the computer. After that the system was not the same and froze from time to time (long periods of freezing) forcing me to hold the power button to shut down the computer, again.

Now, after /dev, /sbin...etc... not being found root not exiting, I have decided to do a new install, however, after several attempts at setting up new partition tables, deleting data on the HD and re-installing, I have failed. Maybe someone can give me some input... here are is my /var/log/syslog from when I ran the Debian install disk: pastebin - syslog - post number 1941832 (I think the end is most relevant).

In the mean time I am going to delete data on the current partitions (if I can) and try to re-install.

Thank you for any help, it will be VERYappreciated.

[MikeTbob]

How old is the hard drive? I think it's failing anyway.

[flipjargendy]

I was fearing, that might be happening. I am the second owner of the laptop... so I am not sure how old the HD is... it was owned by the police department. I believe this series was made around 2000 or 2001.

[oz]

I was fearing, that might be happening. I am the second owner of the laptop... so I am not sure how old the HD is... it was owned by the police department. I believe this series was made around 2000 or 2001.

Try running the diagnostics software provided by your hard drive manufacturer to see if it shows any problems with the drive. You can also try checking it with S.M.A.R.T. to see if it finds any problems. If those both say the drive is okay, it's probably fine and might just need to be reformatted again.

[flipjargendy]

So far I cannot find anything on Toshiba's website... their website is terrible... it sends you in loops. I doubt they have a diagnostics tool. Going to look for something OpenSource...

[oz]

You can use the Parted Magic LiveCD if you want. It's a small download and quick burn to disk, and it comes with SmartMonTools which is a front end for SMART, or you can run SMART diagnostics from the terminal in Parted Magic, or from a live system:

smartctl --all /dev/sdX

...changing to X to equal your own drive letter.

I could have sworn that I ran across a diagnostics tool a few months back for Toshiba drives, but could be mistaken.

[flipjargendy]

Not sure what this all means... here is the readout, if anyone is familiar with this type of thing... I'm going to see if I can find more info.

Output of smartctl --all /dev/sda

[Segfault]

Run a test with smartctl, if it does not complete your drive is a brick.

[flipjargendy]

I am running a short test, does that matter? Also, judging by the readout and what I have read... at least I have my old laptop (unusable) downstairs, with a good HD (i hope).

I'm at the command prompt, still waiting for the test to end... it says it will take a couple of minutes (a short test).. Not sure how i'll know it's done... off to read more...

I VERY MUCH appreciate your help guys!

[flipjargendy]

Short Test Results (of two short tests, so two tests with the same results):
Status: Completed: read failure... remaining: 0%.... lifetime(hours):8046..... LBA of first error: 529031

User output: "I got a brick"