Extremely slow IDE disk performance

Question

Kernel 2.6.31.6
I'm absolutely sure the disk is not damaged.
The problem arose some time ago, probably after a kernel upgrade and it's very annoying. Desktop is nearly unusable when the disk is accessed and transferring data is a nightmare. Any suggestion? Thanks.
#hdparm -tT /dev/sda
/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads: 50 MB in 2.06 seconds = 24.26 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 6 MB in 3.28 seconds = 1.83 MB/sec
#hdparm -i /dev/sda
/dev/sda:
Model=Maxtor 6E040L0, FwRev=NAR61590, SerialNo=E13DDGHE
Config={ Fixed }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=57
BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=2048kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=80293248
IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
UDMA modes: udma0 *udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 udma6
AdvancedPM=yes: disabled (255) WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-7 T13 1532D revision 0: ATA/ATAPI-1,2,3,4,5,6,7
* signifies the current active mode
#dmesg | grep ata
BIOS-e820: 0000000023ff3000 - 0000000024000000 (ACPI data)
modified: 0000000023ff3000 - 0000000024000000 (ACPI data)
#0 [0000000000 - 0000001000] BIOS data page ==> [0000000000 - 0000001000]
PERCPU: Embedded 14 pages at c19f9000, static data 34332 bytes
Memory: 576968k/589760k available (3111k kernel code, 12132k reserved, 1120k data, 416k init, 0k highmem)
.data : 0xc1309ddd - 0xc1421ea8 (1120 kB)
libata version 3.00 loaded.
pata_via 0000:00:07.1: version 0.3.4
scsi0 : pata_via
scsi1 : pata_via
ata1: PATA max UDMA/66 cmd 0x1f0 ctl 0x3f6 bmdma 0xd000 irq 14
ata2: PATA max UDMA/66 cmd 0x170 ctl 0x376 bmdma 0xd008 irq 15
ata1.00: ATA-7: Maxtor 6E040L0, NAR61590, max UDMA/133
ata1.00: 80293248 sectors, multi 16: LBA
ata1.00: limited to UDMA/33 due to 40-wire cable
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33
ata2.00: ATAPI: HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4480B, 1.03, max UDMA/33
ata2.00: configured for UDMA/33
ata1: drained 32768 bytes to clear DRQ.
ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
ata1.00: BMDMA stat 0x25
ata1.00: cmd c8/00:08:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
ata1.00: status: { DRDY DRQ }
ata1: soft resetting link
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33
ata1: EH complete
ata1.00: limiting speed to UDMA/25:PIO4
ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6
ata1.00: BMDMA stat 0x25
ata1.00: cmd c8/00:08:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
ata1.00: status: { DRDY ERR }
ata1.00: error: { ICRC ABRT }
ata1: soft resetting link
ata1.00: configured for UDMA/25
ata1: EH complete
ata1.00: limiting speed to PIO4
ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6
ata1.00: BMDMA stat 0x25
ata1.00: cmd c8/00:08:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
ata1.00: status: { DRDY ERR }
ata1.00: error: { ICRC ABRT }
ata1: soft resetting link
ata1.00: configured for PIO4
ata1: EH complete
EXT4-fs (sda2): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode
EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with writeback data mode.
EXT4-fs (sda3): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode
Last edited by Taylor001 (2009-12-23 10:12:44)

Answer 1

I've had the same problem on multiple kernels as well... http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=83392
Does this always happen? For me it only occurs after I suspend.