<div dir="ltr">I would be suspicious of the external drive box(s) and/or cable(s). If the drive box had a slightly flaky power brick or a slightly flaky data cable or connection or a failing internal board.<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Jul 7, 2013 at 7:39 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:atllinuxenthinfo@techstarship.com" target="_blank">atllinuxenthinfo@techstarship.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Well, I'm now more confused than ever, but I thought I'd pass along what I learned.<br>
<br>
I found some USB loopback adapters from $ 50 - $ 150 but was unable to learn much about their capabilities. I also found a USB protocol analyzer which is beyond my price range at $ 1200.<br>
<br>
I did some rough tests on my laptop by continuously copying a 1 GB file to a memory stick and copying back to the desktop and letting the system rename the file each time. Every time I got another copy of the file on the system, I checked its md5 sum. I tried this in turn on every USB port on the system. All the copies worked OK.<br>
<br>
I loaded spinrite and ran it on the internal hdd. That worked OK.<br>
<br>
I loaded spinrite and ran it on a USB memory stick. I tried this on each USB port. That worked OK.<br>
<br>
I loaded spinrite and tried to run it on the two external backup drives I have, attached to the USB port as before. In one case, the computer hard crashes as before and the screen changes color and goes blank. In another case, the machine locks up.<br>
<br>
I loaded spinrite on another pc and ran it on the two external backup drives and it works great.<br>
<br>
This makes no sense to me. Since spinrite works great on the laptop in question with a memory stick, and based on the other tests, I believe that the pc and its USB controllers and spinrite are working fine. I can only guess that the USB - SATA chips on the external drive enclosures are doing something funky. Spinrite does't have its own USB drivers, at least in this version. It relies on the bios to make the hdd visible and makes standard calls to the drive controller. I think he'll be relying less on the bios in the next version.<br>
<br>
I ran another backup, and this time, I get no errors on it.<br>
<br>
So, it appears my computer is working fine after all. I may have been the victim of an unfortunate coincidence in that I thought I saw errors on the backup and spinrite failed when I tried to run it.<br>
<br>
I still have no idea why I can run spinrite on this computer with a USB memory stick and cannot with an external hard drive.<br>
<br>
However, at least it appears that my pc is functional and ok.<br>
<br>
If anyone has any ideas, I'm still entertaining suggestions. I never did find a good way to test USB ports, but there seemed to be lots of interest in the topic based on my googling.<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br>
Ron<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
"Ron Frazier (ALE)" <<a href="mailto:atllinuxenthinfo@techstarship.com">atllinuxenthinfo@techstarship.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
>Full pass memtest done with no errors. I think I have to look<br>
>elsewhere.<br>
><br>
>Ron<br>
><br>
><br>
>"Ron Frazier (ALE)" <<a href="mailto:atllinuxenthinfo@techstarship.com">atllinuxenthinfo@techstarship.com</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
>>I had already run the mem test from the ms boot loader screen. That<br>
>>passed. I now have memtest86+ v4.00 running. This cd was made back<br>
>in<br>
>>2009, but I don't think a newer one would work much differently. I'll<br>
>>let it cook a while, but I don't think that's the problem.<br>
>><br>
>>Presumably, if the memtest is working, then so is the cpu.<br>
>><br>
>>Sincerely,<br>
>><br>
>>Ron<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>>Jim Kinney <<a href="mailto:jim.kinney@gmail.com">jim.kinney@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>><br>
>>>Run me test on the laptop before anything else.<br>
>>>On Jul 6, 2013 11:00 PM, "Ron Frazier (ALE)" <<br>
>>><a href="mailto:atllinuxenthinfo@techstarship.com">atllinuxenthinfo@techstarship.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>>><br>
>>>> Hi all,<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> Got a bit of a weird request. I did a backup to an external hdd on<br>
>>>my<br>
>>>> laptop connected via usb. Then, afterwards I did a checkdisk on<br>
>the<br>
>>>backup<br>
>>>> disk and found errors. I then tried running a spinrite analysis on<br>
>>>the<br>
>>>> external hdd and the computer crashes hard. I know the spinrite is<br>
>>>good,<br>
>>>> and I even tried two different cd's of that. I put a 2ND external<br>
>>>drive on<br>
>>>> the same machine and ran spinrite and the machine locks up.<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> There's more to the story. I took both external hdd's to my<br>
>desktop<br>
>>>> machine and am able to run spinrite analysis on them without a<br>
>>hitch.<br>
>>> Both<br>
>>>> drives work fine.<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> I think something has happened to the USB controller on my laptop.<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> So, the question is, I need a way to do extensive USB port data<br>
>>>integrity<br>
>>>> testing, first via loopback from port to port on the same machine,<br>
>>>then via<br>
>>>> port to port on two different machines. I also tried switching<br>
>>>cables on<br>
>>>> the hdd that was crashing hard. I also did a short ram test on the<br>
>>>pc.<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> One tends to always assume these things just work. But, in my<br>
>case,<br>
>>>I<br>
>>>> need to thoroughly test these ports so I know if I can trust them.<br>
>>I<br>
>>>> suspect that my backup is flawed at this point and all the USB<br>
>ports<br>
>>>on the<br>
>>>> laptop are not trustworthy.<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> Any help is always appreciated.<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> Sincerely,<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> Ron<br>
>>>><br>
>>>><br>
>>>><br>
>>>> --<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and<br>
>>K-9<br>
>>>Mail.<br>
>>>> Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch<br>
>>screen.<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might<br>
>want<br>
>>>to<br>
>>>> call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate<br>
>>>energy<br>
>>>> mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very<br>
>>>> quickly.)<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> Ron Frazier<br>
>>>> <a href="tel:770-205-9422" value="+17702059422">770-205-9422</a> (O) Leave a message.<br>
>>>> linuxdude AT <a href="http://techstarship.com" target="_blank">techstarship.com</a><br>
>>>> Litecoin: LZzAJu9rZEWzALxDhAHnWLRvybVAVgwTh3<br>
>>>> Bitcoin: 15s3aLVsxm8EuQvT8gUDw3RWqvuY9hPGUU<br>
>>>><br>
>>>><br>
>>>> _______________________________________________<br>
>>>> Ale mailing list<br>
>>>> <a href="mailto:Ale@ale.org">Ale@ale.org</a><br>
>>>> <a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>
>>>> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br>
>>>> <a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br>
>>>><br>
>>><br>
>>><br>
>>>------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
>>><br>
>>>_______________________________________________<br>
>>>Ale mailing list<br>
>>><a href="mailto:Ale@ale.org">Ale@ale.org</a><br>
>>><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>
>>>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br>
>>><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>>--<br>
>><br>
>>Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9<br>
>>Mail.<br>
>>Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch screen.<br>
>><br>
>>(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want<br>
>to<br>
>>call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate<br>
>>energy<br>
>>mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very<br>
>>quickly.)<br>
>><br>
>>Ron Frazier<br>
>><a href="tel:770-205-9422" value="+17702059422">770-205-9422</a> (O) Leave a message.<br>
>>linuxdude AT <a href="http://techstarship.com" target="_blank">techstarship.com</a><br>
>>Litecoin: LZzAJu9rZEWzALxDhAHnWLRvybVAVgwTh3<br>
>>Bitcoin: 15s3aLVsxm8EuQvT8gUDw3RWqvuY9hPGUU<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>>_______________________________________________<br>
>>Ale mailing list<br>
>><a href="mailto:Ale@ale.org">Ale@ale.org</a><br>
>><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>
>>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br>
>><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br>
><br>
><br>
>--<br>
><br>
>Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9<br>
>Mail.<br>
>Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch screen.<br>
><br>
>(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to<br>
>call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate<br>
>energy<br>
>mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very<br>
>quickly.)<br>
><br>
>Ron Frazier<br>
><a href="tel:770-205-9422" value="+17702059422">770-205-9422</a> (O) Leave a message.<br>
>linuxdude AT <a href="http://techstarship.com" target="_blank">techstarship.com</a><br>
>Litecoin: LZzAJu9rZEWzALxDhAHnWLRvybVAVgwTh3<br>
>Bitcoin: 15s3aLVsxm8EuQvT8gUDw3RWqvuY9hPGUU<br>
><br>
><br>
>_______________________________________________<br>
>Ale mailing list<br>
><a href="mailto:Ale@ale.org">Ale@ale.org</a><br>
><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>
>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br>
><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
<br>
Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.<br>
Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch screen.<br>
<br>
(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to<br>
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy<br>
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)<br>
<br>
Ron Frazier<br>
<a href="tel:770-205-9422" value="+17702059422">770-205-9422</a> (O) Leave a message.<br>
linuxdude AT <a href="http://techstarship.com" target="_blank">techstarship.com</a><br>
Litecoin: LZzAJu9rZEWzALxDhAHnWLRvybVAVgwTh3<br>
Bitcoin: 15s3aLVsxm8EuQvT8gUDw3RWqvuY9hPGUU<br>
<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Ale mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Ale@ale.org">Ale@ale.org</a><br>
<a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>
See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br>
<a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>-- <br>James P. Kinney III<br><i><i><i><i><br></i></i></i></i>Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you
gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his
own tail. It won't fatten the dog.<br>
- Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain<br><i><i><i><i><br><a href="http://electjimkinney.org" target="_blank">http://electjimkinney.org</a><br><a href="http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/</a><br>
</i></i></i></i>
</div>