the laptop story get's stranger

[forgotten_aria]

So I started install linux today, and while installing it would somtimes read the CD and sometimes not. Now maybe this is a problem with the burner not doigna good job in the machine I burned them in, or maybe this indicates nothing wrong with my HD, but some sort of power issue (which someone suggested to me might be the problem.) So far, during the install, there have been no hard drive errors, so 1) it's a good thing I didn't just buy a new disk. 2) I should start trying to save for a new laptop, since this one feels like it's crumbling in my hands. Given that i'm already trying to save for Christmas presents, taiko and trips I would like to take, this will be rather tricky. I will likely have to use greg's icky think pad brick or go with out for a while if this one continues to degrade.

EDIT: hmm. that install was relatively painless, except forthe disk failure.

Comments

[jered]

Have you tried installing and running "smartctl" (part of the smart-tools package, I think) and asking the disk if it thinks its bad? It might be remapping sectors like crazy, so once you write to a bad part of the disk it's ok... until it isn't again.

[forgotten-aria.livejournal.com]

Except I don't think, given the behavoir, that there is a bad part of the disk, rather than some key part ofthe disk (the bearing, or the arm) that is intermittently failing. The sector numbers it spews when it when it fails, are fairly, but not amazingly random.

It might be interesting information, but it would just be frustrating, since Sony's policy on anything beyond "I restore it, and it failed," is to stick their fingers in their ears and go "lalala."

Sill smartctl be able to tell me information that might lead to the real root of the problem if it's not actually the HD and acctually the power system? I can't imagine what it could know that would be helpful, thought.

[jered]

Well, at worst it would let you rule the disk out; at best, it would show that the drive thinks it is failing.