SATA link down and other messages - hardware failing?

[chippywood]

I'm getting lots of these messages in syslog on my Linux Mint 20.1 system:

ata8: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300) ... frequently repeated
ata8: COMRESET failed (errno=-32)
ata8: reset failed (errno=-32), retrying in xxx secs

Internet wisdom says this is a hardware problem with either the motherboard, SATA HDD or connecting cable, so I'm trying to pin it down. Although I have more than one HDD I've disconnected all of them except the boot drive so I know this is the one associated with the problem.

I've moved the SATA cable to another slot on the motherboard (it has 4) but the problem persists. Ditto with changing the cable. I've performed a self-test on the HDD using smartctl, which gives it a clean bill of health although I've no idea how definitive this is. I'm assuming that the motherboard could have a general SATA problem that would be visible across all slots.

My system is old but still has legs and I'm reluctant to trash just yet it unless it's inevitable:

ASUS P5K motherboard w/ JMicron JMB363 SATA/IDE controller
Intel Core 2 Q9400 Quad Processor
Samsung HD502HI 500GB SATA HDD (boot)

What more can I do to track this down?

[mikeflan]

I'm getting lots of these messages in syslog on my Linux Mint 20.1 system:

ata8: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300) ... frequently repeated
ata8: COMRESET failed (errno=-32)
ata8: reset failed (errno=-32), retrying in xxx secs

Yes, that sounds like a hardware problem, but of 9,200 lines in my syslog file, 10 of them match those errors. I'm not sure there is a serious problem with your system.

[ricardogroetaers]

ata8: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300) ... frequently repeated
ata8: COMRESET failed (errno=-32)
ata8: reset failed (errno=-32), retrying in xxx secs

Are there any devices connected to this port?
If it doesn't exist, any "link" that points to it will disable it.
In my case, nothing is connected to sata ports 3 and 4, the "down" link, of course.

[chippywood]

Yes, that sounds like a hardware problem, but of 9,200 lines in my syslog file, 10 of them match those errors. I'm not sure there is a serious problem with your system.

Unfortunately on my system almost half the lines in syslog are of these messages (nearly 5000 out of 10900). Strangely there is no obvious outward sign that anything is wrong, at least nothing I've spotted, but you'd think that something would be suffering.

Are there any devices connected to this port?

This is the boot/root drive.

For want of a better idea, I've decided to get a replacement HDD and copy the existing HDD to it - it's not expensive. If it's the motherboard which I assume it must be if it's not the HDD then that's effectively a complete new system at perhaps 20x the cost, so it's worth a try.

[mikeflan]

Is it possible to plug the boot drive into another slot? I think that is another option.

[chippywood]

Is it possible to plug the boot drive into another slot? I think that is another option.

Already done that (my original post says what I've already tried).

[AndyMH]

For want of a better idea, I've decided to get a replacement HDD and copy the existing HDD to it

If not too late, now is the time to switch to an SSD, you will be amazed at the speed improvement.

[chippywood]

For want of a better idea, I've decided to get a replacement HDD and copy the existing HDD to it

If not too late, now is the time to switch to an SSD, you will be amazed at the speed improvement.

Good advice, and if a new motherboard is needed that will be part of the upgrade. However, this board is too old to support one properly (problems with suspend/resume) - I tried a few years ago.

[chippywood]

For want of a better idea, I've decided to get a replacement HDD and copy the existing HDD to it - it's not expensive. If it's the motherboard which I assume it must be if it's not the HDD then that's effectively a complete new system at perhaps 20x the cost, so it's worth a try.

Well, that's it then. The errors persist even with the new HDD, so it has to be the motherboard. At least I get to upgrade my system with a clear conscience .