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After a new install on my newly-built HTPC, I can't boot! I end up in initramfs every time, and get lots of ata2: COMRESET failed (errno=16)

Full error here:

ata2.00 exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
ata2.00: cmd a0/01:00:00:60:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 0 dma 96 in
         res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
ata2.00: status: { DRDY }
ata2.00: COMRESET failed (errno=16)

The machine:

  • Board: ASUS AT3IONT-I Duluxe
  • 2Gigs of OCZ Ram
  • 80GB Western Digital Laptop Harddrive
  • Ubuntu 11.04 Minimal

More details:

  • I've done multiple re-installs
  • I've done a disk check
  • I've done a CPU check
  • I've done a memory check
  • I've filled the first and last million bytes with zeros using Ultimate Boot CD
  • Checked SATA ports are enabled
  • Tried RAID, SATA, and AHCI modes
  • Tried all new sata cables.
  • Tried booting Arch from a USB - similar error: [sda] No caching mode page present and Error: boot device didn't show up after 30 seconds, then chucked into initramfs.

Help?

John Hamelink
  • 369
  • Tried all new sata cables. By the way, the disk spins down before that error occurs, is it possible it's the CDROM drive? – John Hamelink Sep 20 '11 at 19:41
  • attempt #3: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=549981#c12 add the option line to grub to disable ncq : libata.force=noncq – Rinzwind Sep 20 '11 at 20:51
  • Surprisingly many SATA errors are actually caused by SATA chipset being unstable. If you can increase the voltage of the chipset, you could try that. If that's not an option, slowing down the SATA bandwidth typically helps: try adding a kernel flag libata.force=3.0Gbps. – Mikko Rantalainen Jan 22 '24 at 12:38