[mythtv-users] Mythtv recording filesystem (sata) goes read only

[Rich West]

spectro wrote:
>>  The symptom is that Linux reports (in dmesg) that the drive has
>>  experienced an ext3 journal error and it remounted it in read-only
>>  mode.  What gets logged is:
>>  Apr  3 16:55:03 mythtv1 kernel: ata4.00: status: { DRDY }
>>  Apr  3 16:55:03 mythtv1 kernel: ata4: soft resetting link
>>  Apr  3 16:55:03 mythtv1 kernel: ata4.00: configured for UDMA/33
>>  Apr  3 16:55:03 mythtv1 kernel: ata4: EH complete
>>
>>     
>
> I had the same issue and after some digging I recall it had something
> to do with VIA hardware, and something in the kernel related to ext3
> over LVM. I can't recall if I ever fixed it. I think it was one of the
> reasons I bought another controller and switched to xfs.
>
> Anyway, there is a mount option you can put in fstab to prevent it
> from remounting read-only as a workaround. It is a dangerous one
> thought. I don't have it handy since I'm at work, check mount options
> for ext3.

Thanks! I did try the mount option, but since the device seems to fall 
off of the SATA link all together, it didn't help.  I'm not sure what 
causes it (lots of I/O?).  Of course, for this motherboard, I've got all 
of the slots full, so I can't add another controller.  Grr..

Oh, and the cable was the first thing I swapped.  Well, not the first.. 
the first thing I did was update the BIOS.  Then, after swapping the 
SATA cable, I swapped physical ports, then drives, then power supplies 
(very remote chance), then RAM.

All I've got at home (way too many machines) are VIA based ones (three 
different motherboard brands), and this is the first to cause such 
trouble.  Of course, it happens to be the backend.  Ugh.

I'd consider opting for another motherboard if I could find one that 
meets the criteria (onboard video + 3 PCI +  AM2 + DDR2, < $65 
shipped).  I found a few (all ATX boards), but either they were pretty 
pricey or they were brands I tend to avoid (Biostar and ECS)..  I'll 
have to keep hunting to see what is out there.

I posted this question to the linux-kernel mailing list.  I'm guessing 
by the sounds of it here, though, that I might be out of luck. :(

Thanks to everyone for their input!  The WAF took a big hit because of 
the several outages and missed recordings... I guess it is time to shop 
for a new (non-via) motherboard!

-Rich