Usually, having those kind of messages means hardware problem.
Try to switch between CS (Cable Sense) and Jumper-configured HD, change the IDE cable, reduce the IDE bus speed, avoid fast HD on the same IDE controler, ...
I would strongly advice you to backup your HD. Does your BIOS report a S.M.A.R.T. status for that disk at boot time ? Maybe enable it for once, just to see... If you have "Iminent failure on HD... detected", please replace.

We had problems at Plan-Net with misbehaving HDs. One finally collapsed, and all those problems dissepeared. Hopefully, it was part of a (Linux-based software) raid device, so no problem. In between, we replaced the low-cost IDE controler with a better one. The performance increased by a factor of 2.5. Maybe you should purchase an external IDE controler, just to check if it solves the problem ? Such an investment is often a good idea...

But for sure, defenitely, if you want to avoid IDE trouble, go for SCSI...

Eric Dondelinger a écrit :

Hi Al,

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004, Alex wrote:

Since SuSE 8.2, I have trouble with the IDE drivers. If the kernel tries to
reach the drives, I got a message:
kernel: hdd:  packet command error: error =0x51 {Drive Ready SeekComplete
Error)
kernel:hdd: packet command error: error = 0x54


Hmm... and after several such messages, the whole bus gets resetted?
I've seen the same sort of trouble on other machines, with other
distros.
I'd guess at a hardware problem - not sure if it's the controller,
the drive, or simply the IDE cable.

That slowss down the system!


Indeed...

Go SCSI? :-)
Seriously though, I don't have a decent solution for this.
I hope you keep good backups?

Greets Eric

_______________________________________________
Lilux-help mailing list
Lilux-help@lilux.lu
http://lilux.lu/mailman/listinfo/lilux-help

-- 
Brent Frère

Private e-mail:  Brent@BFrere.net

Postal address: 5, rue de Mamer
                L-8280 Kehlen
                Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg
                European Union

Mobile: +352-021/29.05.98
Fax:    +352-26.30.05.96
Home:   +352-307.341
URL:    http://BFrere.net 

This e-mail signature can be checked if you have the CaCERT certificate installed.
Check http://www.CaCERT.org for details.