Error on attempted Etiona install: fsyncing/closing /dev/sda: Input/output error

2 replies [Last post]
strypey
Offline
Joined: 05/14/2015

I just got hold of a fairly recent Acer laptop and I'm trying to install 64-bit Etiona on it. It booted into a live session and seemed to work fine, although I couldn't get a wifi connection until I plugged in my ThinkPenguin USB WiFi dongle. I launched the installer and chose language and keyboard layout, unticked "Download updates while installing Trisquel", and clicked Continue. I was then presented with a popup containing an error message:

"Error fsyncing/closing /dev/sda: Input/output error"

There were two buttons on the popup; Retry and Ignore. Clicking Retry just returned me to the same popup. Clicking Ignore moved me on to the Installation type screen. I then clicked Quit and tried again. This time when I got the error popup I closed it with the x. It then presented me with another window titled:

"ubi-partman crashed (as superuser)"

With text saying:

"ubi-partman failed with exit code 141. Further information may be found in /var/log/syslog. Do you want to try running this step again before continuing? If you do not, your installation may fail entirely or may be broken."

... and three buttons; Quit, Continue anyway, and Try again

It seems unwise to continue without further advice on this error, so I quit. I then ran through the process again to make sure I am reporting the sequence of events correctly. I notice that each time I restart the installer, I get another logo for the accessibility tools on the taskbar. There are now three of them, all next to each other.

lspci output is:

fh) Processor Root Complex
00:00.2 IOMMU: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) I/O Memory Management Unit
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Stoney [Radeon R2/R3/R4/R5 Graphics] (rev ec)
00:01.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Device 15b3
00:02.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Host Bridge
00:02.1 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Processor Root Port
00:02.2 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Processor Root Port
00:02.3 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Processor Root Port
00:03.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Host Bridge
00:08.0 Encryption controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Carrizo Platform Security Processor
00:09.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Carrizo Audio Dummy Host Bridge
00:09.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 60h-6fh) Audio Controller
00:10.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB XHCI Controller (rev 20)
00:11.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 4b)
00:12.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller (rev 49)
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller (rev 4b)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge (rev 11)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Stoney HT Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Stoney Address Maps
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Stoney DRAM Configuration
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Stoney Miscellaneous Configuration
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Stoney PM Configuration
00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Stoney NB Performance Monitor
02:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8411B PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
02:00.1 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 12)
03:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 31)

Any suggestions on how to proceed?

strypey
Offline
Joined: 05/14/2015

The first time I tried to boot this laptop into a Trisquel live session, before boot I was presented with a message about the HDD saying "lock". I assumed that hitting Enter would lock the HDD, and the arrow keys didn't seem to do anything, so I tried hitting Esc to get out of it. This seemed to work and it booted into the Trisquel live session. But then I hit the installation error described above.

Given the info in the second error message, it seemed likely the installer was having trouble accessing the hard drive. But I decided to eliminate the outside change that the USB WiFi dongle might be causing the problem. So I powered the laptop down, removed the dongle, and restarted. This time when presented with the pre-boot message about the HDD, I hit enter and it asked me for an HDD password. I entered the Supervisor password I had to set before I got the option to turn off UEFI (to see if this solved the "security boot fail" message I was getting when trying to boot from USB), and again it booted into the live session. I decided to try the installer again and this time, no error messages.

Problem solved?

Magic Banana

I am a member!

I am a translator!

Offline
Joined: 07/24/2010

I would test the disk. One graphical way is:

  1. install the package named "gnome-disk-utility", as you would normally (for instance, using the "Synaptic Package Manager", if you like graphical interfaces);
  2. launch GNOME Disks;
  3. select the disk in the left-hand pane;
  4. click on "SMART Data & Self-Tests..." in the burger menu (the three stacked segments);
  5. click on the "Start Self-test" button and choose "Extended".

Once the test is over, the "Overall Assessment" will tell you whether the disk is healthy.