Arch Linux

Albert Camus

Member

From: Chicago

Registered: 2014-06-18

Posts: 6

[SOLVED] Disk Input/Output Errors followed by unbootable system

I have Arch installed on my Acer C720 Chromebook (no ChromeOS at all, just using SeaBIOS and the computer boots directly into Linux).  I've upgraded my SSD from the original 16 GB to 128 GB.

While using it today I first noticed that my music application stopped playing.  Afterwards Chromium crashed.  At that point I tried to reboot the system so when I went to shutdown via the menu, I got an error saying "Disk Input/Output error".  I had a terminal open and certain commands did work (ps -aux, ls) but others did not (top, htop).

At that point I just held down the power button to reboot my system.  SeaBIOS, and grub started fine.  The boot screen comes up and asks me for my disk password (my system partition is encrypted).  It seems to accept the password but then the splash screen stays there endlessly.

I created an Live USB, and examined the disk with the disk utility.  The SSD does appear, and I can read the files off of the boot partition (/dev/sda1) of the SSD.  I cannot access the system partition (/dev/sda2) since it is encrypted.

The data on the SSD is not important.  I can be up and running within 30 minutes of a fresh install.  My quesiton is, has anyone experienced this before?  Is this a software problem or is this a hardware problem?  Is my SSD on its deathbed?  Is it some other issue?  Note I am currently posting this from the same Chromebook, just via the live session, so everything else appears to be fine.

Last edited by Albert Camus (2015-02-18 01:27:32)

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,424

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Disk Input/Output Errors followed by unbootable system

Sounds like hardware; but from the chroot look at the journal and see if anything untoward was logged. Note, you can access the system partition, you just have to unlock it first.

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Albert Camus

Member

From: Chicago

Registered: 2014-06-18

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] Disk Input/Output Errors followed by unbootable system

You're right about the unlock. Thanks for pointing that out.  I checked inside /var/log and I didn't find a messages or log file that had anything useful.  Any  specific directory/file to check?

alphaniner

Member

From: Ancapistan

Registered: 2010-07-12

Posts: 2,810

Re: [SOLVED] Disk Input/Output Errors followed by unbootable system

Check SMART information and run self-tests with smartctl (extra/smartmontools).

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-Lysander Spooner

Albert Camus

Member

From: Chicago

Registered: 2014-06-18

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] Disk Input/Output Errors followed by unbootable system

Thanks for the help.  After doing so more testing, attempting an OS reinstall, and reading the reviews of the SSD, all indications are that this was a hardware failure that a lot of other people have experienced with this model of SSD.

In case you guys are wondering, it was a MyDigitalSSD M.2 NGFF that I was using for my Acer C720.  Unfortunately I cannot replace the laptop yet so I have no choice but to buy another.