Files getting "corrupted" or stop working

[olividir]

Hello all

I am currently running Linux Mint 18.3 Cinnamon, version 3.6.7
I have been noticing some strange behavior with few files, mainly mp3 files and pdf files. So few of my mp3 songs which I bought online (from a vendor I trust) have all of a sudden stopped working. There is no sound and Clementine (and VLC) just skips over these songs. These songs worked few weeks ago with the same hardware. The songs that have stopped working still show size (the ones I am talking about now are around 15 MB in size). There is no error message if I try to play these songs, they just won't start.

Second, two pdf files have stopped working and the default pdf viewer says that there is no support for these files (application/octet-stream). I did install Xpdf to see if that would help, but no success.

I have seen this problem with the mp3 files before, and so far I have always needed to download the files again. I did not have this problem while running Ubuntu 16.04 (but I moved to Mint due to other problems). I have not been able to find exactly this problem in the forum so far.

Here is info about my hardware, kernel and more:
CPU~Quad core Intel Core i5-2400 (-MCP-) speed/max~1614/3400 MHz Kernel~4.13.0-41-generic x86_64 Up~5:44 Mem~3124.1/7925.2MB HDD~2620.5GB(7.4% used) Procs~214 Client~Shell inxi~2.2.35

With hope that this matter will be resolved, I don't want to start the process of installing a new OS.

Regards
Ólafur V.

[kukamuumuka]

How do you shutdown a computer?

[olividir]

The correct way, "shut down" button and allow the computer to turn off.

[absque fenestris]

About "application/octet-stream" MIME attachments

https://kb.iu.edu/d/agtj

[Flemur]

Second, two pdf files have stopped working and the default pdf viewer says that there is no support for these files (application/octet-stream)

The only time I've seen something like your symptoms, the disk was dying. This will force a filesystem check at boot, though it might not fix anything:

Code: Select all

sudo touch /forcefsck

then reboot.

You can get more information about your files with

Code: Select all

file filename
mediainfo filename
mediainfo-gui

You can get better error messages from your programs by running them from a terminal:

Code: Select all

vlc filename

[olividir]

About "application/octet-stream" MIME attachments

https://kb.iu.edu/d/agtj

Well, both of my pdf files are .pdf, and did work about a month ago.

[olividir]

Second, two pdf files have stopped working and the default pdf viewer says that there is no support for these files (application/octet-stream)

The only time I've seen something like your symptoms, the disk was dying. This will force a filesystem check at boot, though it might not fix anything:

Code: Select all

sudo touch /forcefsck

then reboot.

You can get more information about your files with

Code: Select all

file filename
mediainfo filename
mediainfo-gui

You can get better error messages from your programs by running them from a terminal:

Code: Select all

vlc filename

Well, when checking files, both pdf and mp3, I get no such file or directory. But if I right click the file and go to properties, those files have size. Will try check my ssd, think it is a long shot, but you never know.

[olividir]

Second, two pdf files have stopped working and the default pdf viewer says that there is no support for these files (application/octet-stream)

The only time I've seen something like your symptoms, the disk was dying. This will force a filesystem check at boot, though it might not fix anything:

Code: Select all

sudo touch /forcefsck

then reboot.

I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary after rebooting. The computer took a bit longer, and I saw the screen connecting to the computer few times. But other than that...

[Flemur]

Well, both of my pdf files are .pdf, and did work about a month ago.

They might have the .pdf extension and still not be pdf files; that why I suggested the "mediainfo" commands:

Pdf file that works:

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$  file R*.pdf
Rain-Bird--ESP-LX--Manual.pdf: PDF document, version 1.6

$ mediainfo Rain*.pdf
General
Complete name                            : Rain-Bird--ESP-LX--Manual.pdf
Format                                   : PDF
Format version                           : 1.6
File size                                : 5.12 MiB
Text
Format                                   : PDF

a.pdf = "binary" file of random numbers:

Code: Select all

$ file a.pdf
a.pdf: data
$
$ mediainfo a.pdf
General
Complete name                            : a.pdf
File size                                : 1 000 Bytes

[Flemur]

I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary after rebooting. The computer took a bit longer, and I saw the screen connecting to the computer few times. But other than that...

That sounds right. And it probably won't "fix" any corrupted files so much as prevent new files from getting corrupted.

[olividir]

I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary after rebooting. The computer took a bit longer, and I saw the screen connecting to the computer few times. But other than that...

That sounds right. And it probably won't "fix" any corrupted files so much as prevent new files from getting corrupted.

Does that mean that my SSD is dying or is it normal?

[olividir]

Well, both of my pdf files are .pdf, and did work about a month ago.

They might have the .pdf extension and still not be pdf files; that why I suggested the "mediainfo" commands:

Well, this is what

Code: Select all

mediainfo

gives me (see photo).


I just find it so strange that I used these files not that long ago and then they worked fine. Now it just says "no file or directory". Maybe my SSD is dying, it is close to 10 years old, but why didn't this happen while I was using a different OS? It is not that many months since I moved to Linux Mint.

[Flemur]

"mediainfo" returning nothing is certainly odd.
With an empty file:

Code: Select all

$ touch aa
$ mediainfo aa
E: File read error
[...about 100 more ...]
E: File read error
General
Complete name                            : aa
File size                                : 0.00 Byte
$
$ file aa
aa: empty

So "mediainfo" is delicate and "file" is less so.

[olividir]

"mediainfo" returning nothing is certainly odd.

So "mediainfo" is delicate and "file" is less so.

Not sure what you mean there, and I am not sure how to use this code which you had in last answer.

Anyway, I right clicked on two of the files and went to properties, and they show sizes, as shown in attachment.

I don't remember if this happened on my laptop, which is (was) running the same OS. I cannot check if any files have stopped working on my laptop, it fell down and the screen is ruined

[Flemur]

Not sure what you mean there, and I am not sure how to use this code which you had in last answer.

Just to try "file filename" rather than "mediainfo" because it was strange the mediainfo didn't return anything, and that mediainfo is easy to fool (an empty file confuses it) which make it "delicate".

But I think there' something wrong with your drive that's corrupting the files...
"How to check and fix the disk for errors and bad sectors"
https://mintguide.org/system/283-how-to ... -mint.html

There's other stuff you do to see if there's an actual file there, as opposed to just a messed-up directory entry;

Code: Select all

strings filename
cat filename
cp filename filename2

etc.

[olividir]

Not sure what you mean there, and I am not sure how to use this code which you had in last answer.

Just to try "file filename" rather than "mediainfo" because it was strange the mediainfo didn't return anything, and that mediainfo is easy to fool (an empty file confuses it) which make it "delicate".

But I think there' something wrong with your drive that's corrupting the files...
"How to check and fix the disk for errors and bad sectors"
https://mintguide.org/system/283-how-to ... -mint.html

I went through this guide and used a USB to go through the steps (and there were 2 bad sectors). The only thing I have noticed after is that both pdf files that didn't work are now missing, so I am guessing those really were bad.

There's other stuff you do to see if there's an actual file there, as opposed to just a messed-up directory entry;

Code: Select all

strings filename
cat filename
cp filename filename2

etc.

After going through strings, cat and cp, in the right directory, it still says that there is no file with that name, see pick.

[Flemur]

After going through strings, cat and cp, in the right directory, it still says that there is no file with that name, see pick.

That's why "I think there' something wrong with your drive that's corrupting the files": I've had files show up in an "ls" then when you try to do something with them they don't really exist. Because of a disk with bad sectors.

The other problem might be the spaces and other special characters in the name(s). Don't use spaces, they always cause problems, eventually.

I see you're trying different ways of dealing with the spaces.

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8 file name.mp3

should be

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"8 file name.mp3"

or

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8\ file\ name.mp3"

Or, you could try

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cat 8*

[olividir]

Thank you for your help, you are probably right. My system has been behaving bit weird lately. Wouldn't be surprised if it is really dying, after all, it is quite old.

Anyway, I am going to try to keep it running for now until I can update it.

Thank you for your help.

[Flemur]

Anyway, I am going to try to keep it running for now until I can update it.

I shoulda said this sooner - try installing smartmontools. It's in the repos.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Smartmontools

[absque fenestris]

...and here is a graphical frontend: GSmartControl - Is included in the repos, please search with Synaptic.