Level 2

275 points

KP "ATA Device recovery failed"

I am experiencing very disturbing behavior of my Mac since upgrading to Leopard: *clean new install* on a new SATA HD using *Sonnet Tempo SATA Adapter*. Repairing the permissions was not helpful.

Any help is more than welcome, I want my stable and solid Mac back!

*1) Sometimes my Mac freezes during the startup:*
a) grey screen with no spinning, I have to restart
b) a couple of times the Apple logo is not shown correctly (pixel soup) with sporadic freezing

*2) Sporadic KP during startup:*

Fri Nov 9 18:08:07 2007
panic(cpu 1 caller 0x3C0E56B4): "ATA Device recovery failed\n"@/SourceCache/IOATABlockStorage/IOATABlockStorage-200.1.8/IOATABlockSt orageDriverV2.cpp:2325
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 1:
Backtrace:
0x0009AD18 0x0009B6BC 0x00029DC4 0x3C0E56B4 0x3C0E58D4 0x36D8B0E8 0x3BD59B5C 0x3BD5E1E4
0x3BD5C648 0x3BD62AB0 0x3BD62A14 0x003566B8 0x3BD629A0 0x3BD3AC64 0x3C0E5624 0x3C0E5748
0x3C0E58D4 0x36D8B0E8 0x3BD5DE8C 0x3BD5DAF8 0x36D960B0 0x0003F8D8 0x000AFE54
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.iokit.IOATABlockStorage(2.0.0)@0x3c0e2000->0x3c0f4fff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(1.5.2)@0x3c085000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily(1.7.3f1)@0x36d88000
com.firmtek.driver.FT ATASil3112(5.1.3)@0x3bd57000->0x3bd69fff
dependency: com.firmtek.driver.Sil3112DeviceNub(5.1.3)@0x3bd39000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.4)@0x35614000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily(1.7.3f1)@0x36d88000
com.firmtek.driver.Sil3112DeviceNub(5.1.3)@0x3bd39000->0x3bd3cfff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.4)@0x35614000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily(1.7.3f1)@0x36d88000
com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily(1.7.3f1)@0x36d88000->0x36d99fff
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0xc58000)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:
9A581

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.0.0: Tue Oct 9 21:37:58 PDT 2007; root:xnu-1228~1/RELEASE_PPC

Message was edited by: MacOne

G4 DP 1.25, Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Nov 10, 2007 12:54 AM

30 replies

Dec 2, 2007 11:54 AM in response to MacOne

MacOne,

The G5s, including mine, support SATA natively. The new harddrive I am having problems with (I purchased it 3 months ago) is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB hard drive.

Is anyone else having problems with the Seagates? I posted this issue on Seagate's support forum
here.

Upon more reflection, I think I was having problems with the drive before I installed Leopard. Sometimes when I would boot (before leopard), the Mac would boot to a hold copy of OS 10.4.6 installed on my 2nd HD. I thought it was simply confusion because of the 2 OSs . . . but even after setting the Seagate as the start-up disk, it would boot to the Media drive.

It's tough to say "it's the harddrive, I'm going to call seagate and replace it" because the HD works 75% of the time! Plus, the "not-able-to-wake-from-sleep" issue is something that I've only seen under leopard . ..

Okay, so I did and erase and install and I'm still having problems. Although, I perhaps stupidly, migrated my old account via Time Machine to the newly formated leopard. I was having hella problems with permissions on my Media drive ., . . .

Now, I'm going to delete the powermanagement preferences and reset my SMU and see what that does.

You think it's the drives?

CMF

MacOne Author

Level 2

275 points

Dec 3, 2007 9:24 AM in response to Smileswearily

Smileswearily,

I am thinking about the SATA adapter too.

In addition to more or less rare KPs I am experiencing more often 'system freezes' of about 10 seconds or so. At the beginning I thought it was the indexing process of Spotlight, but why does it still occur?

Does your G5 support SATA or SATA II?

Dec 3, 2007 10:21 AM in response to MacOne

MacOne,

The G5s (all of them, I think) are SATA I. I wonder if I set the jumper on my harddrive incorrectly. Would this account for this inconsistance in start-up/wake?

Another fellow who is having similar problems, w/o KPs, reports that he has a Seagate drive. But, he's good for now and is sitting tight.

However, he did inform me that there are some reports that Newegg shipped some Seagate drives that were intended for "DVR only." Which begs the question, where did you get your drive? I got mine from Newegg.

Is it possible that HDs designed for the 'always on' DVRs are not responding to PCs on/off/sleep/wake patterns? How are these functions controlled? Is there some sort of driver that tells the drive what to expect? Or does the PC just send power to the HD and then power it down during these patterns? Anyone know how HDs work in these situations?

I'm not experiencing the problem after deleting the powermanagement preferences and another reset of the SMU. Crossing my fingers . . .

CMF

Message was edited by: Smileswearily

Dec 4, 2007 4:22 PM in response to MacOne

Just to give those of you in this subject some more info & balance.

I too have been receiving the same Kernel Panic:

+ATA Device recovery failed\n"@/SourceCache/IOATABlockStorage/IOATABlockStorage-200.1.8/IOATABlockSt orageDriverV2.cpp:2325+

My machine would freeze just as I was using it, and or would give me a kernel panic. Usually when I would be on the phone for an extended call.

Thinking this though, I was able to determine that as soon as I turned off "put hard disk to sleep when idle" the panics reduced to a minimum. However they still occurred.

As it presently stands, the machine has to be idle for at least 1.5 hours. I have not been successful in capturing the kernel panic for this reason since the X.5.1 update and disabling the hard drive sleep option. And after 40min I have my machine set to sleep the display so usually I will not have anything other than black when the machine will not respond. The log does verify that it is always the same panic.

If I have ann iTunes radio stream playing it will be in "skip" mode when I return—just like a bad CD or record.

I am working on other analysis to attempt to determine the specific cause.

It is definitely a hard drive controller problem. I have eliminated the memory as an issue.

I am now methodically eliminated all background applications to see if I can effect a change.

This late summer I replaced the internal Fujitsu drive with a Segate 160 GB PM, but this drive is an IDE drive. Some of you have thought it was a SATA specific issue.

Also the problem seems to be a bit more prevalent when an external FW drive is physically attached. But this is not definitive.

I've never had a panic sitting at the logon screen with all users logged out.

-Alan

Hardware:
PowerBook G4 15"
1.5GB RAM
1.25 GHz
Boot: 4.7.1f1

DASD Model: ST9160821A (Segate)
Revision: 3.ALC
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Protocol: ATA
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: No
Mac OS 9 Drivers: No
Partition Map Type: APM (Apple Partition Map)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified

MacOne Author

Level 2

275 points

Dec 15, 2007 9:21 AM in response to MacOne

Folks, I think I have found a very promising indication for my problems!

You have to know that I have installed a SATAII HD (Seagate Barracuda 7200.11) together with Sonnet SATA PCI Adapter just before installing Leopard. I have left both PATA HDs in my Mac in order to use them as Backup HDs.

The slave PATA had a "*Cable Select*" jumper setting and the master was jumpered explicitly as Master.

*And that was it (so I think)!!*

I have noticed that the Disk Number of my SATA HD was changing with time (due to Disk Utility).
Additionally I have found a lot of "Bus Timeouts" in Console provided by the controller FirmtekCtrllr which led to resetting the ATA Bus all the time. This might be the reason for my temporary freezes. I can imagine that this is also the reason my sporadic KPs.

I have changed the jumper setting for the one PATA HD to Slave. I haven't found any "Bus Timeouts" any more for more than six hours.

I will keep you informed, keep your fingers crossed! 🙂

Dec 17, 2007 9:15 AM in response to MacOne

Just to add my anecdotal two-cents. I experienced a KP this morning on my Dual 1.8 G5. The report produced "ATA Device recovery failed". This is very recent (2 days) clean-install of 10.5. I chose a clean install because I had been getting very frequent crashes in Adobe InDesign CS3. A clean-install of CS3 didn't not clear up the problem so I chose to do a clean-install, something I hadn't done for years. The KP has me worried because the OS install is so new, because I have very little third party "stuff" added at this point and because even before the KP I have had to restart after apps stop responding and do not force-quit. When this occurs, launching news apps also fails. For the record I do not have a PCI ATA card installed — in fact I do not have any PCI cards installed just the factory installed AGP video card.

MacOne Author

Level 2

275 points

Dec 17, 2007 10:20 AM in response to MacOne

After 2 days of observation I am sure (99.9%) that my problems are solved by changing the jumper setting of the slave HD from CS to Slave.

Dec 17, 2007 11:13 AM in response to deanburchell@mac.com

Hey Dean,

After an extended discussion on the Powermac forums (which you can read here), I've disconnected my Superdrive to see if that is the culprit.

The logic is that the Superdrive is the only thing in my G5 that is running on the ATA bus. If it's disconnected, the ATA bus isn't processing anything, and it can't cause a kp.

Stay tuned to that discussion to, because I'll paste as soon as I have a KP! Here's to hoping it's a driver issue that Apple figures out, so that we don't have to purchase new Superdrives! (Where do you get a new Superdrive?)

CMF

Message was edited by: Smileswearily

MacOne Author

Level 2

275 points

Dec 18, 2007 5:28 AM in response to deanburchell@mac.com

Dean

Check the setting "Put HD into sleep when possible" in Energy Saver. I have read lots of comments that disabling that have helped.

Dec 18, 2007 5:50 AM in response to MacOne

Hey guys,

As I reported in the other thread, it's not the superdrive. I had a kernel panic on waking from sleep that points to the ATA driver. And, according to System Config, there is nothing running on the ATA bus.

This has got to be some Leopard stuff, right? I'm sorry if this has already been addressed, but do you guys have Seagate SATA drives?

I'm relieved that I don't have to buy a new Superdrive but the frustration is returning that I cannot isolate this problem!

CMF

MacOne Author

Level 2

275 points

Dec 18, 2007 9:50 AM in response to Smileswearily

Smileswearily

As I wrote to Dean, check the setting "Put HD into sleep when possible" in Energy Saver. I have read lots of comments that disabling that have helped.

Dec 19, 2007 7:23 AM in response to MacOne

Hey all,

A poster in the Powermac G5 forum suggested it may be a difference in the way Leopard and Tiger HD formats interact with the Leopard kernel . . . which is to say that Tiger formatted HDs are not spinning up fast enough for Leopard on start-up and wake-from-sleep.

Any thoughts on this? The poster suggested I do a low-level format with Leopard.

Do we know if there is a difference in the Tiger and Leopard kernel? Could someone with a G5 that is still running a Tiger start-up HD post their kernel version number?

Thoughts?

UPDATE: A little reserach reveals that there are differences between the Tiger and Leopard kernels . . . assuredly big differences due to the move to x64 architecture. What does this mean for our ATA kernel panics?

CMF

Message was edited by: Smileswearily

MacOne Author

Level 2

275 points

Dec 20, 2007 5:25 AM in response to Smileswearily

Well, I am using my new HD with Leopard.
First I formated it with Tiger and got a lot of troubles after the clean installation. So I formated it at least two times with Leopard.
Now after changing the jumper setting (refer to my previous posts in this thread) and an firmware update of my Sonnet SATA Adapter to 5.3.1 my problems seem to be solved.

Dec 20, 2007 6:35 AM in response to MacOne

Someone in the powermac thread suggested that it may be a problem with the format under Tiger working with the Leopard kernel . . . basically that the Tiger format is not getting the drive to spin up fast enough for Leopard.

I think I'm going to wait for the 10.5.2, which should come out sometime close to Christmas. I can't imagine how Apple Care is going to handle all the new mac calls plus the Leopard snags. . . I'm sure they are going to sweet out 5.2 soon.

If 10.5.2 doesn't fix it, I'll reformat the HD.

Bizarro

Level 1

8 points

Dec 29, 2007 8:40 PM in response to MacOne

I used to get "ATA Device Recovery Failed" every few days on my PowerMac, both with Tiger and Leopard, and I think it is related to when the system spins the drives down to save power, then fails when trying to spin them up later on.

I've turned off the option in Energy Saver and it hasn't crashed since.

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KP "ATA Device recovery failed"