Interesting case - healthy HDD but no OS boot from It

[Zao]

This is a very interesting case. I more interested in understanding It than in fixing It though fixing It would be nice too.

Initial partitions status (I will use Linux partition names):

Code:

No GPT
sda1 100 MB primary partition (the Windows 7 system partition)
sda2 282 GB primary partition (Windows 7 and user files)
sda3 16 GB primary partition (hidden factory image partition)


Suddenly Windows 7 cannot boot displaying error: "A disk read error occurred."

But you boot from a Linux Live CD and you cannot find anything wrong with the disk. chkdsk from Windows CD also cannot find any error nor bad sectors.

I initially thought that the message was from BIOS but later I confirmed It was from Windows. So I thought something got corrupt in OS. I was about to update this notebook to Windows 10 anyway so It thought this was a good chance to do it. I used GParted to resize the Windows partition and create a data only partition with the unallocated space, moved user files to data partition, delete Windows boot and install partition and recreate them using the Windows 10 DVD without touching the partition containing personal files.

Second partition status

Code:

No GPT
sda1 500 MB (Windows 10 system partition)
sda2 100 GB NTFS (Windows 10 32 bits)
sda3 182 GB NTFS (files)
sda4 16 GB (factory image)


Boot during the first reboot of the installation process when Windows boot from HDD for the first time, again the error "A disk read error occurred.".

Reading about this error I found that some times Linux boots OK in disks with this problem so I had this great idea, If I create a small partition to put a flavour of Linux in it and confirm It boots OK maybe the Windows menu entry in GRUB (the Linux multi OS loader) can boot Windows too. So I tried that. I deleted the factory image partition, I probably won't need It again, It has all the bloatware of the notebook maker, the trial antivirus and all, and It's a very outdated image.

Final partition status:

Code:

No GPT
sda1 500 MB (Windows 10 system partition)
sda2 100 GB NTFS (Windows 10 32 bits)
sda3 182 GB NTFS (files)
sda5 12 GB EXT4 (Linux Lubuntu 14.04 32 bits)
sda6 4 GB SWAP (swap linux partition)


I ran out of primary partitions that's why I used logical partitions for Linux and It's swap space. This notebook has 2 GB of RAM so I don't think that not having swap is a good idea.

When Linux tried to boot from HDD for the first time GRUB gave the error message:

Code:

error: no such partition.
Entering rescue mode...


OK. No panic. We know the data is there. This is probably related to whatever is happening to this HDD. Let's try to use GRUB rescue mode to boot any of the two OS.

I entered:

Code:

ls

And obtained the output:

Code:

(hd0) (hd0,msdos6) (hd0,msdos5) (hd0,msdos3) (hd0,msdos2) (hd0,msdos1)

Following this procedure (do not visit the link yet, continue reading) and knowing that Linux partition is (hd0,msdos5) we must enter these 3 commands:

Code:

set boot=(hd0,msdos5)
set prefix=(hd0,msdos5)/boot/grub
insmod normal


And after insmod normal, you use normal and It should boot. But at "insmod normal" the process fail with:

Code:

"error: attempt to read or write outside of disk 'hd0'."

The second time I tried to boot this notebook after installing Linux, It went to grub rescue again and I tried the commands again, but this time, at insmod normal, the error was:

Code:

"error: no such partition"

Per this post in Tom's Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/25036 ... r-occurred

A BIOS update may solve this.
A BIOS factory reset may solve this.

Sometimes there is no solution. The disk can be used for data, It won't die soon. But no OS will boot from It no matter what you do. I can backup data to other media and wipe the whole disk but something tells me that won't work either.

All information omitted about this notebook is only to not bloat this post. Feel free to ask for any additional info that interests you.

[lcoughey]

If I were paid $1 for every time I am told the drive is healthy and it is not, I'd be rich.

[Zao]

I could obtain the SMART log but I had problems running scan with MHDD. MHDD does not detect this drive with F2 key, when I try it, it says "Drive is not ready". I tried selecting drives 1, 2 and 3 and then press F2 for each of them, all gave error "Drive is not ready".

Note: I ran MHDD from Hirens Boot 15 and to complicate things more I used an external USB Optical Drive because this notebook has no internal Optical Drive. Hirens does strange things when loading drivers. So I don't think "Drive is not ready" means that something is bad with this drive, It's more like MHDD cannot communicate with It due to the way Hirens loads It. I will try Victoria.

----

SMART log, obtained by executing "smartctl -ia /dev/sda".

Code:

smartctl 6.2 2013-07-26 r3841 [i686-linux-3.19.0-25-generic] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-13, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Seagate Momentus SpinPoint M8 (AF)
Device Model:     ST320LM001 HN-M320MBB
Serial Number:    S2TJJ9KC500861
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0004cf 207682eac
Firmware Version: 2AR10002
User Capacity:    320.072.933.376 bytes [320 GB]
Sector Sizes:     512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate:    5400 rpm
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 6
SATA Version is:  SATA 3.0, 3.0 Gb/s (current: 1.5 Gb/s)
Local Time is:    Sun Mar 20 00:01:51 2016 UTC
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x00)   Offline data collection activity
               was never started.
               Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0)   The previous self-test routine completed
               without error or no self-test has ever
               been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection:       ( 5220) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:           (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
               Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
               Suspend Offline collection upon new
               command.
               Offline surface scan supported.
               Self-test supported.
               No Conveyance Self-test supported.
               Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003)   Saves SMART data before entering
               power-saving mode.
               Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01)   Error logging supported.
               General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time:     (   2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:     (  87) minutes.
SCT capabilities:           (0x003f)   SCT Status supported.
               SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
               SCT Feature Control supported.
               SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x002f   100   100   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       1
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0026   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0023   091   086   025    Pre-fail  Always       -       2852
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       947
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   252   252   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   252   252   051    Old_age   Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0024   252   252   015    Old_age   Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       2764
10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   252   252   051    Old_age   Always       -       0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       74
12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       943
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       561
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0022   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   064   052   000    Old_age   Always       -       35 (Min/Max 13/48)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x003a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   252   252   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0036   094   094   000    Old_age   Always       -       3195
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x002a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1250
223 Load_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       74
225 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   096   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       50131

SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 462 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
   CR = Command Register [HEX]
   FR = Features Register [HEX]
   SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
   SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
   CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
   CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
   DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
   DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
   ER = Error register [HEX]
   ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 462 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2761 hours (115 days + 1 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 00 00 00 40

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  18 9f 18 9f 18 f0 18 9f      10:54:18.685  RECALIBRATE [RET-4]
  00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00      00:00:11.124  NOP [Reserved subcommand] [OBS-ACS-2]
  60 00 03 9c d9 79 40 00      00:00:11.128  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 06 96 d9 79 40 00      00:00:11.128  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 01 95 d9 79 40 00      00:00:11.128  READ FPDMA QUEUED

Error 461 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2761 hours (115 days + 1 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 00 00 00 40

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  18 9f 18 9f 18 f0 18 9f      10:54:18.685  RECALIBRATE [RET-4]
  00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00      00:00:11.055  NOP [Reserved subcommand] [OBS-ACS-2]
  61 02 18 00 2d ba 40 00      00:00:11.058  WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
  61 02 10 c8 5f ba 40 00      00:00:11.058  WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
  61 02 10 f0 5d ba 40 00      00:00:11.058  WRITE FPDMA QUEUED

Error 460 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2761 hours (115 days + 1 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 00 00 00 40

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  18 9f 18 9f 18 f0 18 9f      10:54:18.685  RECALIBRATE [RET-4]
  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00      00:00:10.985  NOP [Abort queued commands]
  61 02 28 88 68 bd 40 00      00:00:10.986  WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
  61 02 10 70 68 bd 40 00      00:00:10.986  WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
  61 02 18 50 68 bd 40 00      00:00:10.986  WRITE FPDMA QUEUED

Error 459 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2761 hours (115 days + 1 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 00 00 00 40

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  18 9f 18 9f 18 f0 18 9f      10:54:18.685  RECALIBRATE [RET-4]
  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00      00:00:10.950  NOP [Abort queued commands]
  61 02 00 30 55 c0 40 00      00:00:10.952  WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
  61 02 00 30 54 c0 40 00      00:00:10.952  WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
  61 02 00 30 53 c0 40 00      00:00:10.952  WRITE FPDMA QUEUED

Error 458 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2761 hours (115 days + 1 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 00 00 00 a0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  18 9f 18 9f 18 f0 18 9f      10:54:18.685  RECALIBRATE [RET-4]
  00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00      00:00:10.910  NOP [Reserved subcommand] [OBS-ACS-2]
  61 00 00 20 fc bf 40 00      00:00:10.918  WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
  61 00 00 20 fb bf 40 00      00:00:10.918  WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
  61 00 00 20 fa bf 40 00      00:00:10.918  WRITE FPDMA QUEUED

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged.  [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]


SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 0
Note: revision number not 1 implies that no selective self-test has ever been run
SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Completed [00% left] (0-65535)
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.


[fzabkar]

ISTM that the SATA link may be downshifting due to comms errors.

Code:

SATA Version is:  SATA 3.0, 3.0 Gb/s (current: 1.5 Gb/s)

199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0036   094   094   000    Old_age   Always       -       3195

Could the above be responsible for the "A disk read error occurred" messages? Otherwise I don't see any problem with the SMART report, at least not one that would be consistent with the symptoms.

The GRUB errors seem to be suggesting that the Linux partitions are incorrectly sized.

Can you list the contents of the /boot/grub directory on sda5? IIUC that's the location of the "normal" module.

[Zao]

This notebook was passed on to me by its previous owner. I never dropped a device in my life, except my cellphone, but I don't know If the previous owner dropped It. I'm still in contact with that person, I will try to confirm if the notebook was dropped. If the SATA connector of the motherboard is suspected then buy another HDD is a waste of money. Fortunately I didn't buy anything yet.

Note: I have another 2.5 HDD lying around, It has data on It as I use It as external disk (with a USB case), If I find enough space in my desktop computer to temporarily place the data there, I can format that drive and install it in the notebook and try to confirm if It's a motherboard problem. I will take the chance to try the notebook HDD in the desktop computer too.

The GRUB errors seem to be suggesting that the Linux partitions are incorrectly sized.

I created the Linux root and swap partitions in the installation dialog, not in GParted, but I had done that before for this same Linux distro and there is not known BUG in the installation dialog that would make It create invalid partitions. Also GParted should report an incorrectly sized partition when you launch It (I think). I tried to verify the partitions too, with GParted, and found no errors.

Can whatever is happening with this HDD corrupted the partitions when they were being written? Weird is that when I copy data between partitions no corruption occurs. Also all partitions mounts OK when browsing the HDD using the file manager of the Lubuntu Live CD.

Contents of /boot directory obtained with: tree -sa

Code:

.
├── [    1266546]  abi-3.19.0-25-generic
├── [     182014]  config-3.19.0-25-generic
├── [       4096]  grub
│   ├── [       4096]  fonts
│   │   └── [    2405285]  unicode.pf2
│   ├── [        699]  gfxblacklist.txt
│   ├── [       7765]  grub.cfg
│   ├── [       1024]  grubenv
│   ├── [      12288]  i386-pc
│   │   ├── [       7980]  915resolution.mod
│   │   ├── [       9952]  acpi.mod
│   │   ├── [       1312]  adler32.mod
│   │   ├── [       5768]  affs.mod
│   │   ├── [       6668]  afs.mod
│   │   ├── [      15408]  ahci.mod
│   │   ├── [        701]  all_video.mod
│   │   ├── [       1048]  aout.mod
│   │   ├── [       2940]  archelp.mod
│   │   ├── [       5652]  ata.mod
│   │   ├── [       4248]  at_keyboard.mod
│   │   ├── [       1632]  backtrace.mod
│   │   ├── [       7252]  bfs.mod
│   │   ├── [       4660]  biosdisk.mod
│   │   ├── [       2244]  bitmap.mod
│   │   ├── [       3636]  bitmap_scale.mod
│   │   ├── [       2152]  blocklist.mod
│   │   ├── [        512]  boot.img
│   │   ├── [       2456]  boot.mod
│   │   ├── [      30072]  bsd.mod
│   │   ├── [      14452]  btrfs.mod
│   │   ├── [       2108]  bufio.mod
│   │   ├── [       2876]  cat.mod
│   │   ├── [       3744]  cbfs.mod
│   │   ├── [       3584]  cbls.mod
│   │   ├── [       2384]  cbmemc.mod
│   │   ├── [       1072]  cbtable.mod
│   │   ├── [       2556]  cbtime.mod
│   │   ├── [       3504]  chain.mod
│   │   ├── [       3040]  cmdline_cat_test.mod
│   │   ├── [       1216]  cmosdump.mod
│   │   ├── [       1836]  cmostest.mod
│   │   ├── [       1984]  cmp.mod
│   │   ├── [       3803]  command.lst
│   │   ├── [       2264]  configfile.mod
│   │   ├── [      25366]  core.img
│   │   ├── [       2744]  cpio_be.mod
│   │   ├── [       2644]  cpio.mod
│   │   ├── [       1720]  cpuid.mod
│   │   ├── [       1672]  crc64.mod
│   │   ├── [      10032]  cryptodisk.mod
│   │   ├── [        936]  crypto.lst
│   │   ├── [       4916]  crypto.mod
│   │   ├── [       3904]  cs5536.mod
│   │   ├── [       1788]  datehook.mod
│   │   ├── [       2172]  date.mod
│   │   ├── [       1269]  datetime.mod
│   │   ├── [       9764]  diskfilter.mod
│   │   ├── [       2380]  disk.mod
│   │   ├── [       3848]  div_test.mod
│   │   ├── [       1828]  dm_nv.mod
│   │   ├── [       5404]  drivemap.mod
│   │   ├── [       1984]  echo.mod
│   │   ├── [       7424]  efiemu32.o
│   │   ├── [      11313]  efiemu64.o
│   │   ├── [      23960]  efiemu.mod
│   │   ├── [      15972]  ehci.mod
│   │   ├── [       5116]  elf.mod
│   │   ├── [       1436]  eval.mod
│   │   ├── [       5508]  exfat.mod
│   │   ├── [       1468]  exfctest.mod
│   │   ├── [       5608]  ext2.mod
│   │   ├── [       4512]  extcmd.mod
│   │   ├── [       5628]  fat.mod
│   │   ├── [      16084]  file.mod
│   │   ├── [      12472]  font.mod
│   │   ├── [       2664]  freedos.mod
│   │   ├── [       2568]  fshelp.mod
│   │   ├── [        214]  fs.lst
│   │   ├── [      89748]  functional_test.mod
│   │   ├── [       1612]  gcry_arcfour.mod
│   │   ├── [       8096]  gcry_blowfish.mod
│   │   ├── [      34124]  gcry_camellia.mod
│   │   ├── [      16836]  gcry_cast5.mod
│   │   ├── [       2912]  gcry_crc.mod
│   │   ├── [      19308]  gcry_des.mod
│   │   ├── [       2264]  gcry_dsa.mod
│   │   ├── [       2976]  gcry_idea.mod
│   │   ├── [       3124]  gcry_md4.mod
│   │   ├── [       3760]  gcry_md5.mod
│   │   ├── [       2496]  gcry_rfc2268.mod
│   │   ├── [      19076]  gcry_rijndael.mod
│   │   ├── [       8108]  gcry_rmd160.mod
│   │   ├── [       2068]  gcry_rsa.mod
│   │   ├── [      15636]  gcry_seed.mod
│   │   ├── [      16124]  gcry_serpent.mod
│   │   ├── [       7460]  gcry_sha1.mod
│   │   ├── [       4348]  gcry_sha256.mod
│   │   ├── [       7988]  gcry_sha512.mod
│   │   ├── [      12536]  gcry_tiger.mod
│   │   ├── [      39376]  gcry_twofish.mod
│   │   ├── [      24688]  gcry_whirlpool.mod
│   │   ├── [      25228]  gdb.mod
│   │   ├── [       5848]  geli.mod
│   │   ├── [       4964]  gettext.mod
│   │   ├── [      39256]  gfxmenu.mod
│   │   ├── [       2864]  gfxterm_background.mod
│   │   ├── [       5032]  gfxterm_menu.mod
│   │   ├── [       9952]  gfxterm.mod
│   │   ├── [       3764]  gptsync.mod
│   │   ├── [       8224]  gzio.mod
│   │   ├── [       4336]  halt.mod
│   │   ├── [       5216]  hashsum.mod
│   │   ├── [       7208]  hdparm.mod
│   │   ├── [       1204]  hello.mod
│   │   ├── [       2576]  help.mod
│   │   ├── [       3168]  hexdump.mod
│   │   ├── [       7144]  hfs.mod
│   │   ├── [       2956]  hfspluscomp.mod
│   │   ├── [       7576]  hfsplus.mod
│   │   ├── [       5572]  http.mod
│   │   ├── [      47288]  hwmatch.mod
│   │   ├── [       2836]  iorw.mod
│   │   ├── [       8616]  iso9660.mod
│   │   ├── [       6176]  jfs.mod
│   │   ├── [       6236]  jpeg.mod
│   │   ├── [       5004]  keylayouts.mod
│   │   ├── [       1948]  keystatus.mod
│   │   ├── [       6864]  ldm.mod
│   │   ├── [      29856]  legacycfg.mod
│   │   ├── [      14480]  legacy_password_test.mod
│   │   ├── [       7920]  linux16.mod
│   │   ├── [      13076]  linux.mod
│   │   ├── [       5988]  loadenv.mod
│   │   ├── [       2984]  loopback.mod
│   │   ├── [       4788]  lsacpi.mod
│   │   ├── [       2280]  lsapm.mod
│   │   ├── [       1780]  lsmmap.mod
│   │   ├── [       4052]  ls.mod
│   │   ├── [       4824]  lspci.mod
│   │   ├── [       6660]  luks.mod
│   │   ├── [       6768]  lvm.mod
│   │   ├── [       8668]  lzopio.mod
│   │   ├── [       3308]  macbless.mod
│   │   ├── [       7516]  macho.mod
│   │   ├── [       2036]  mda_text.mod
│   │   ├── [       2040]  mdraid09_be.mod
│   │   ├── [       1960]  mdraid09.mod
│   │   ├── [       1968]  mdraid1x.mod
│   │   ├── [       2004]  memdisk.mod
│   │   ├── [       2836]  memrw.mod
│   │   ├── [       3436]  minicmd.mod
│   │   ├── [       3732]  minix2_be.mod
│   │   ├── [       3568]  minix2.mod
│   │   ├── [       3704]  minix3_be.mod
│   │   ├── [       3536]  minix3.mod
│   │   ├── [       3636]  minix_be.mod
│   │   ├── [       3504]  minix.mod
│   │   ├── [       8504]  mmap.mod
│   │   ├── [       5191]  moddep.lst
│   │   ├── [       2301]  modinfo.sh
│   │   ├── [       2368]  morse.mod
│   │   ├── [      27840]  mpi.mod
│   │   ├── [       2396]  msdospart.mod
│   │   ├── [      13292]  multiboot2.mod
│   │   ├── [      12884]  multiboot.mod
│   │   ├── [       4064]  nativedisk.mod
│   │   ├── [      46660]  net.mod
│   │   ├── [       2916]  newc.mod
│   │   ├── [       6732]  nilfs2.mod
│   │   ├── [     115876]  normal.mod
│   │   ├── [       4324]  ntfscomp.mod
│   │   ├── [       9920]  ntfs.mod
│   │   ├── [       2556]  ntldr.mod
│   │   ├── [       2728]  odc.mod
│   │   ├── [       1508]  offsetio.mod
│   │   ├── [      10540]  ohci.mod
│   │   ├── [       1668]  part_acorn.mod
│   │   ├── [       1860]  part_amiga.mod
│   │   ├── [       2112]  part_apple.mod
│   │   ├── [       2752]  part_bsd.mod
│   │   ├── [       1732]  part_dfly.mod
│   │   ├── [       1480]  part_dvh.mod
│   │   ├── [       2372]  part_gpt.mod
│   │   ├── [        111]  partmap.lst
│   │   ├── [       2344]  part_msdos.mod
│   │   ├── [       1800]  part_plan.mod
│   │   ├── [       1524]  part_sun.mod
│   │   ├── [       1620]  part_sunpc.mod
│   │   ├── [         17]  parttool.lst
│   │   ├── [       4620]  parttool.mod
│   │   ├── [       1896]  password.mod
│   │   ├── [       2800]  password_pbkdf2.mod
│   │   ├── [       4792]  pata.mod
│   │   ├── [       1460]  pbkdf2.mod
│   │   ├── [       2224]  pbkdf2_test.mod
│   │   ├── [       2460]  pcidump.mod
│   │   ├── [       1396]  pci.mod
│   │   ├── [       6208]  plan9.mod
│   │   ├── [       2424]  play.mod
│   │   ├── [       7392]  png.mod
│   │   ├── [       1556]  priority_queue.mod
│   │   ├── [       2680]  probe.mod
│   │   ├── [       2112]  procfs.mod
│   │   ├── [       2064]  progress.mod
│   │   ├── [       2668]  pxechain.mod
│   │   ├── [       3824]  pxe.mod
│   │   ├── [       1404]  raid5rec.mod
│   │   ├── [       2188]  raid6rec.mod
│   │   ├── [       1448]  read.mod
│   │   ├── [       1716]  reboot.mod
│   │   ├── [      51176]  regexp.mod
│   │   ├── [       8944]  reiserfs.mod
│   │   ├── [      14936]  relocator.mod
│   │   ├── [       4196]  romfs.mod
│   │   ├── [       4972]  scsi.mod
│   │   ├── [       3236]  search_fs_file.mod
│   │   ├── [       3196]  search_fs_uuid.mod
│   │   ├── [       3140]  search_label.mod
│   │   ├── [       3664]  search.mod
│   │   ├── [       7080]  sendkey.mod
│   │   ├── [       7756]  serial.mod
│   │   ├── [        706]  setjmp.mod
│   │   ├── [       1700]  setjmp_test.mod
│   │   ├── [       5388]  setpci.mod
│   │   ├── [       5144]  sfs.mod
│   │   ├── [       6408]  signature_test.mod
│   │   ├── [       2272]  sleep.mod
│   │   ├── [       2316]  sleep_test.mod
│   │   ├── [       2080]  spkmodem.mod
│   │   ├── [       6872]  squash4.mod
│   │   ├── [      17460]  syslinuxcfg.mod
│   │   ├── [       3348]  tar.mod
│   │   ├── [        202]  terminal.lst
│   │   ├── [       4464]  terminal.mod
│   │   ├── [      11640]  terminfo.mod
│   │   ├── [       1340]  test_blockarg.mod
│   │   ├── [       2712]  testload.mod
│   │   ├── [       5128]  test.mod
│   │   ├── [       2308]  testspeed.mod
│   │   ├── [       5296]  tftp.mod
│   │   ├── [       4448]  tga.mod
│   │   ├── [       1508]  time.mod
│   │   ├── [       1755]  trig.mod
│   │   ├── [       2388]  tr.mod
│   │   ├── [       3544]  truecrypt.mod
│   │   ├── [       1204]  true.mod
│   │   ├── [       7776]  udf.mod
│   │   ├── [       5932]  ufs1_be.mod
│   │   ├── [       5476]  ufs1.mod
│   │   ├── [       5536]  ufs2.mod
│   │   ├── [       6668]  uhci.mod
│   │   ├── [       3924]  usb_keyboard.mod
│   │   ├── [      10716]  usb.mod
│   │   ├── [       7064]  usbms.mod
│   │   ├── [       2064]  usbserial_common.mod
│   │   ├── [       2348]  usbserial_ftdi.mod
│   │   ├── [       2692]  usbserial_pl2303.mod
│   │   ├── [       1536]  usbserial_usbdebug.mod
│   │   ├── [       3608]  usbtest.mod
│   │   ├── [       9900]  vbe.mod
│   │   ├── [      11664]  verify.mod
│   │   ├── [       5028]  vga.mod
│   │   ├── [       2148]  vga_text.mod
│   │   ├── [       5700]  video_bochs.mod
│   │   ├── [       6048]  video_cirrus.mod
│   │   ├── [       5684]  video_colors.mod
│   │   ├── [      23372]  video_fb.mod
│   │   ├── [       3972]  videoinfo.mod
│   │   ├── [         33]  video.lst
│   │   ├── [       6176]  video.mod
│   │   ├── [       2396]  videotest_checksum.mod
│   │   ├── [       4248]  videotest.mod
│   │   ├── [       6168]  xfs.mod
│   │   ├── [      27336]  xnu.mod
│   │   ├── [       2144]  xnu_uuid.mod
│   │   ├── [       2012]  xnu_uuid_test.mod
│   │   ├── [      15840]  xzio.mod
│   │   ├── [       5472]  zfscrypt.mod
│   │   ├── [       6600]  zfsinfo.mod
│   │   └── [      39472]  zfs.mod
│   └── [       4096]  locale
│       ├── [       1032]  en_AU.mo
│       ├── [        587]  en_CA.mo
│       ├── [       4464]  en_GB.mo
│       └── [     130811]  es.mo
├── [   19378717]  initrd.img-3.19.0-25-generic
├── [     176500]  memtest86+.bin
├── [     178176]  memtest86+.elf
├── [     178680]  memtest86+_multiboot.bin
├── [    2877917]  System.map-3.19.0-25-generic
└── [    6191392]  vmlinuz-3.19.0-25-generic

4 directories, 287 files

File normal.mod exists and Its size is 115876 bytes. I don't have access now to another Linux installation to compare the files.

[fzabkar]

I don't understand what is going on, but ISTM that insmod is looking for normal.mod in the /boot/grub directory. Shouldn't you be pointing it to the /boot/grub/i386-pc directory? Or perhaps you could copy normal.mod to the /boot/grub directory?

Can you copy normal.mod to the null device? This should test whether the file is readable.

Could the SATA comms errors be due to a known issue with a particular SATA chipset? For example, some early VIA SATA controllers are limited to 1.5Gbps. Some AMD chipsets (eg SB850) are known to have detection problems with some Samsung drives (eg 3.5" SpinPoints), and some Intel chipsets have a bug in certain 3Gbps ports that results in escalating comms errors over time.

One other thing to note is that some OEMs hide their factory stuff inside a HPA, in which case the drive will report a lesser capacity. Your drive seems to be reporting its full capacity, though.

[Zao]

I don't understand what is going on, but ISTM that insmod is looking for normal.mod in the /boot/grub directory. Shouldn't you be pointing it to the /boot/grub/i386-pc directory? Or perhaps you could copy normal.mod to the /boot/grub directory?

You are right. I blindly followed the tutorial from linux.com on what to do when grub gives that error. Now I notice that my normal.mod is inside directory /boot/grub/i386-pc. My set prefix command at the recovery terminal is pointing to a non-existent directory. Maybe I can get Linux to boot this time.

I replaced the Notebook HDD with the one from my USB case, luckily that one had a small partition in it with Windows XP SP3 whose existence I had forgotten. When I turned on the notebook Windows XP just booted normally, except It has not the drivers of this notebook so only basic video mode supported. (Usually XP doesn't like when the motherboard changes but this time It accepted It instantly)

I think we can assume the motherboard or SATA port aren't the problem. I think I will format that small partition and do a clean install of Windows 10 just to be sure the problem doesn't reappear.

A comment on the SATA port of this motherboard: to me It looks very fragile and accident prone. This board doesn't have the classical SATA port, at the board side there is a small rectangular connector and a small cable connects that to a plastic module that contains the SATA data and power connectors. The original HDD looked correctly connected to this module but maybe It was not, maybe when I finally return the original HDD to Its place the problem just goes away.

I have the notebook original HDD connected to my desktop PC. These are the results of MHDD scan:

How MHDD detected the drive

Code:

[ST320LM001 HN-M320MBB ] [  625,142,448] [  625,142,447] [  EST:      00:01  ]

And the final scan statistics:

Code:

AVG [ 65865 kb/s]
ACT [ 48295 kb/s]
<3ms  : 2121790
<10ms : 329648
<50ms : 102
<150ms:
<500ms:
>500ms:
? TIME :
x UNC  :
! ABRT :
S IDNF :
A AMNF :
0 T0NF :
* BBK  :
[100.0% ]  [100.0%

Time spent: 01:19:04

Are you interested in the log of the second HDD that is now installed in the notebook? Maybe to confirm if the comm error is there too? So far It behaves correctly.

[fzabkar]

The MHDD scan results look good to me.

When you examine the drive in your desktop, can you see GRUB in sector 0, or do you see some other code?

http://dmde.com (freeware disc editor)

Can you see the Linux file system with Linux Reader for Windows (freeware)?

http://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader

[fzabkar]

ISTM that the drive behaves properly in all respects as long as it is not the boot drive. I'm wondering whether the boot code in sector 0 may be creating a HPA and hiding a section of the user area from the OS. This could explain the Windows read errors and the Linux "attempt to read or write outside of disk" error.

[fzabkar]

Seagate drive looks fine to me as well.

Technically it's a Samsung drive - HN-M320MBB. ISTM that the problem is logical rather than physical, though.

[Zao]

I will add more: the original notebook hdd booted in my desktop computer! Both, Windows and Linux. The GRUB menu also loads instantly (no recovery mode). Windows, as It was the first reboot of the installation process, didn't like the motherboard but It managed to reach the desktop, It installed the GPU drivers and all, and asked to reboot a couple of times. Linux in the other hand never failed me when changing motherboards, It just works. The safe way to change motherboard for Windows is to generalize It first, so all specifics to the previous board hardware is removed, but this time It just picked the new motherboard.

ISTM that the drive behaves properly in all respects as long as it is not the boot drive. I'm wondering whether the boot code in sector 0 may be creating a HPA and hiding a section of the user area from the OS. This could explain the Windows read errors and the Linux "attempt to read or write outside of disk" error.

Virus? The boot code written by Windows should not do that, isn't it? And same for the one written by Linux.

Seagate drive looks fine to me as well. Both S.M.A.R.T. and MHDD scan.
Most likely the problem is elsewhere, NOT with the drive.

No physical problem with the drive but what about a Virus?

The only problem with the Virus theory is that the drive behaviour should be consistent across motherboards but this only happens when connected to the notebook motherboard.

OK, I ended doing the following. As the notebook HDD booted in my desktop PC, and the HDD from the USB case booted when installed in the internal SATA port of the notebook (also I formatted It, and clean install Windows 10, just to be sure), I decided to do this:

1) Run DBAN in zero fill mode in the original notebook HDD (still connected to desktop PC) to destroy any faulty partition table, boot code or whatever. The principal challenge was to find enough space somewhere to temporarily copy the files.

2) Update BIOS on notebook. I used the Windows based flash utility on the Windows 10 that is temporarily living in the HDD from the USB case. The new BIOS was two versions above the previous one, this was encouraging. I didn't read the release notes.

3) In BIOS change AHCI from Auto to Manual and then in the manual options to Always Enabled. For no reason in particular, the Auto value just gave me bad vibes.

4) Reinstall original HDD into the notebook. Clean Install Windows 10. System booted normally!

Now. I know that It would be better for diagnoses purposes to do those steps one by one and then try to boot each time, so we know which one actually fixed the problem. But this notebook is not so easy to open, to access HDD you have to remove the entire bottom cover, It has screws but also you have to carefully remove a lot of... shackles? ... of plastic risking to break them. Very ugly design. The floating SATA module gives me bad vibes too. So I took the chance of having already a running OS on the notebook to update BIOS from it before removing the HDD.

So one of these solved the problem: Completely wipe the original HDD or BIOS update or remove and reconnect the HDD (maybe It wasn't correctly connected initially) or set AHCI to manual (probably not).

About the HDD not being correctly connected initially. The previous owner of the notebook told me that He didn't dropped It but that a relative had used the notebook for some time and that He doesn't know if It was dropped or not during that time.

Technically it's a Samsung drive - HN-M320MBB.

It's a Samsung notebook too.