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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > Corrupting FireWire/USB Disks

Corrupting FireWire/USB Disks
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Biggerfoot
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Nov 2, 2005, 08:54 AM
 
No matter what external drive I connect to my 10.4.2 QuickSilver, it will freeze my system and is unrepairable with Disk Warrior while connected to the system.

This happens when I try and run a backup via Retrospect or Carbon Copy. I can run Disk Warrior or Disk Utility without it freezing the system.

However, I can connect all of the disks to my PowerBook, repair them and they are fine and usable, but as soon as I connect them to my QuickSilver, boom.

I tried two different hard drives, and booted up to two different internal drives, same problem.

I can work between my two internal disks okay and without a problem.

I tried connecting them to the factory USB and FireWire ports and with PCI FireWire and 2.0 USB ports...no difference.

My FireWire scanner works fine and all of my USB items work fine...even my camera works fine via USB.

I tried reseting the cards.

I also found an old internal hard drive and installed a fresh copy of 10.4.3 without any luck.

I can understand how either the USB or FireWire ports can go bad, especially if the board is bad, but both USB and FireWire and both the factory and PCI card ports, seem weird, especially, since the all of the plugged in items on all of them work, I just can not run any backups or repairs the disks.

i also receive an I/O error -36 when trying to drag items to the disks.

I also reset everything in open firmware and pressed the reset button.

I ran the hardware test and it showed okay.


What's the next step?
( Last edited by Biggerfoot; Nov 2, 2005 at 09:10 AM. )
     
reader50
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Nov 3, 2005, 01:58 AM
 
Check the Console Log and System Log. You can access both from /Applications/Utilities/Console.app

The info in the log right after a failed access attempt may give us a bit more info.
     
Biggerfoot  (op)
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Nov 3, 2005, 10:55 AM
 
Thanks.

I managed to get a backup done on an external hard drive via USB 1 (not USB 2.0...took over 24 hours!).

It looks like I can transfer files via slow USB 1 but no high speed access USB 2 or FireWire.

Here is the last panic report:

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.2.0: Fri Jun 24 17:46:54 PDT 2005; root:xnu-792.2.4.obj~3/RELEASE_PPC
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xFFFF0007): 0x700 - Program
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x00095544 0x00095A5C 0x0002683C 0x000A819C 0x000ABB00
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x501F3280)
PC=0x026F29A0; MSR=0x00089030; DAR=0x0034EFEC; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x38365460; R1=0x22083C60; XCP=0x0000001C (0x700 - Program)
Backtrace:
0x38365444 0x002BCC70 0x002BCA38 0x002BD4A0 0x002BDB0C 0x000A9694
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.driver.IOFireWireSerialBusProtocolSansPh ysicalUnit(1.4.0)@0x38364000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireSBP2(1.7.5)@0x3834a000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily(1.4. 0)@0x51b000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireSerialBusProtocolTranspo rt(1.4.0)@0x38360000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily(2.0.0)@0x95f000
Exception state (sv=0x50943A00)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x000


After seeing this, I tried another disk and one with a fresh install of OS 10.4 and nothing changed.

Here is the Retrospect Crash Log:

Command: Retrospect
Path: /Applications/Retrospect 6.0/Retrospect/Contents/MacOS/AuthenticateUser.app/Contents/MacOS/../../../Retrospect
Parent: launchd [1]

Version: 6.0.212 (6.0)
Build Version: ???
Project Name: ???
Source Version: ???

PID: 1676
Thread: 0

Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS (0x0001) at 0x4375f7cc
( Last edited by Biggerfoot; Nov 3, 2005 at 11:24 AM. )
     
reader50
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Nov 3, 2005, 02:07 PM
 
Create a new user account and try to access the external disks from there. That will eliminate stuff in your local Library folder. If problems continue:

Safe-boot by holding down the Shift key during boot. This eliminates stuff in the root Library folder as well as your local Library folder. If problems continue:

Boot from an alternate partition or an optical disk. Hopefully, the optical disk has all the needed drivers. It does if Disk Utility can mount and work on the drives in question. This eliminates everything but hardware issues.

Question, what version of DiskWarrior are you using? Only the latest point release knows how to handle a Journaled volume under Tiger. Earlier versions are likely to refuse to fix the disk, with weird error messages.

Are you attempting to run backup scripts from a regular user account? Try running them from an admin account or the root account. If one or both of those work, you are likely hitting a permissions limit.
     
Biggerfoot  (op)
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Nov 5, 2005, 11:51 AM
 
Thanks.

I could not safe-boot...it only booted up to a black screen and I had to restart.

I could not boot from my Disk Warrior Cd (v3.03) since I have a 2 GHz PowerLogix upgrade and it requires 10.3x and the CD is only 10.2x.

I could boot from my 10.4 CD and it finds the disks okay but can not repair them (the reported problem is just like those having FireWire problems with the new 10.4.3)

I did boot to 9.2.2 and I had the same problems with the disks.

I am guessing the logic board had a failure but I have a hard time figuring out why it not only affected the stock FireWire ports but also the PCI 2.0 USB (USB 1 still works fine) and the the PCI FireWire ports too.
     
jamil5454
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Nov 5, 2005, 12:09 PM
 
Could be a RAM or CPU problem.
     
Biggerfoot  (op)
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Nov 5, 2005, 12:52 PM
 
Originally Posted by jamil5454
Could be a RAM or CPU problem.
Thanks

I ran Memtest several times and it came up okay.

I placed my original 733 MHz processor back in and it did not make a difference.
     
reader50
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Nov 5, 2005, 02:14 PM
 
Biggerfoot, is there anything near your computer that might be electrically noisy? Something that isn't near your PowerBook, assuming you try with the PowerBook somewhere else.

An example might be a nearby PC running with it's side panel open. Or perhaps a cell phone being used continuously right next to where you place the external drive. Something that emits high frequency signals, close enough to the drives to get through their shielding.

Here's what I'm thinking. So far you've done a fair job eliminating the more likely software and hardware causes that are internal to your QuickSilver. Since it affects multiple drives, over both USB2 and FW, that kinda eliminates the cables and drive enclosures too. It might still be something obscure in the QS, but it might also be the location. The only pattern you've found is it acts unreliable when you connect over high-frequency cable connections, but it's ok over a fairly low-frequency USB1 connection.

So look for nearby EM sources. Try moving your QS to a different room, and plugging into a power plug on a different branch circuit. Also try unplugging other devices on the USB/FW busses in case another peripheral is causing interference.
     
seanc
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Nov 5, 2005, 03:53 PM
 
Also make sure that you don't have any devices daisy chained through your drives.
     
Biggerfoot  (op)
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Nov 14, 2005, 11:10 AM
 
Okay, I had some time over the weekend to really work on this ...but still no luck.

I guess I am going to punt and start thinking of looking for a logic board.

My only really question in my mind is why both the internal and PCI ports are affected.

I did take this back to stock as best as I could, updated to 10.4.3, moved the CPU to another room, and had nothing but the stock keyboard and mouse connected...all without luck.
     
   
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