# Disk might not be spun down properly;update shutdown utility

## gerard27

Hi All,

I am getting this message when I shutdown the computer ever since I

installed a the new 2.6.21-r4 gentoo-sources kernel two days ago.

I googled around and found some info at dev.gentoo.org but what I read there

is way over my head.

I also found some info at libata.org but they talk about remedies for other distro's

which have a completely different /etc.

Can someone tell me in simple words what I should do to "update" the shutdown utility?

Thanks in advance.

Gerard.

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## gerard27

bump

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## gerard27

I am now at a different computer on which I installed 

gentoo-sources-2.6.21-r4.This one doesn't show this behavior

at shutdown.

This one is an AMD athlon-xp on an Asus A7VX mobo.

The box I have at home is Intel core2 duo on an Asusu P5W DH mobo.

Does nobody know anything about this?

Gerard.

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## gerard27

Hi All,

Apparently nobody has experienced the same problem.

Weird.

I reinstated the "old" 2.6.20-r8 kernel and the message disappeared.

One reason I went back to the old kernel was internet.

Several times I had internet just stop working.

First I blamed my provider because I've had a lot of problems with the 

telephone which is voip combined with internet.

Today I found out that it was my box.

This made me go back to the previous kernel since I didn't have the internet

fail in the past.

It's probably to early to tell for sure but I'll come back in a week.

Gerard.

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## eccerr0r

what version of sysvinit do you use?

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## tarpman

2.6.21 wasn't a particularly excellent kernel; the kernel devs themselves acknowledge this.  You're probably better off upgrading to 2.6.22 if you run unstable, or staying on .20 until .22 hits stable if you run stable.

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## sonicbhoc

run unstable sysvinit and if you really feel adventurous run unstable baselayout.

(baselayout2 is the fastest Linux boot I've ever had, not including einit because I still haven't gotten it running >.<)

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## gerard27

Well thanks for all the answers.

I run stable as much as possible.

Sysvinit 2.85-r8 which is stable.

I don't intend to go unstable.

Gerard.

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## gerard27

Continued:

After going back to gentoo-sources-2.6.20-r8 internet ran well for a while.

Then it conked out again.

Searching the forums I found that the sky2 module sometimes gave problems.

I did the following:

I deleted the gentoo-sources-2.6.20-r8 file in /usr/portage/distfiles and emerged

them again.I did make mrproper in /usr/src/linux after saving my .config.

Moved my .config back and recompiled everything after deleting /lib/modules/2.6.20-gentoo-r8.

Internet has since given me no more problems.

But that is not all!!

Today I tried vlc (the videoplayer) and it segfaulted.

I ran it in a "konsole" and it gave me a message about a pointer being wrong.

I re-emerged it and then got a different message before it quit.

In frustration I thought that maybe deleting the tarball in the distfiles dir

before re-emergeing it would do the trick.

And sure enough: it now runs witjout any problem!!!

I am really at a loss as to what is going on in my system.

The box is only 3 months old but could it be flaky hardware?

I am cosidering deleting everything in the distfiles and do 

```

emerge -e world
```

I'd really appreciate any comments.

Gerard.

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## PaulBredbury

For a hardware test, emerge memtest86+ and run it overnight.

For sky2, see ebuild.

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## gerard27

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your advice!

I ran memtest:zero errors.

I installed the sk98lin patch and did what I intended to do

in the first place.

I deleted /usr/portage/distfiles and then emerge -e world.

Seems everything is working ok now but time will tell.

This was the first time I installed an overlay and a kernel patch.

Can't say it was an enjoyable experience since I am what is called

a "hunt-an'-peck" typist.

Gerard.

Edit:The linux-headers that are installed is 2.6.21.

Would this cause problems with 2.6.20-r8?

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## gerard27

Hi all,

I upgraded to 2.6.22-gentoo-r2.

I get the same message again.

Please look at this:

http://linux-ata.org/shutdown.html#4.%20List%20of%20distros%20with%20updated%20shutdown

I am at a loss at what to do.

Gerard.

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## gerard27

Hi everybody,

Edit:

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-570438-highlight-.html

I did a hell of a lot of searching.

I came up with this:

The message is produced by libata.scsi.c in the kernel drivers.

I also found this in /usr/src/linux/Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt

```

What: libata spindown skipping and warning

When: Dec 2008

Why:  Some halt(8) implementations synchronize caches for and spin

      down libata disks because libata didn't use to spin down disk on

      system halt (only synchronized caches).

      Spin down on system halt is now implemented.  sysfs node

      /sys/class/scsi_disk/h:c:i:l/manage_start_stop is present if

      spin down support is available.

      Because issuing spin down command to an already spun down disk

      makes some disks spin up just to spin down again, libata tracks

      device spindown status to skip the extra spindown command and

      warn about it.

      This is to give userspace tools the time to get updated and will

      be removed after userspace is reasonably updated.

Who:  Tejun Heo <htejun@gmail.com>

```

So my questions:

1.Why was there nobody that could tell me this?

2.Am I the only one with this message?

3.What about updating the halt.sh or shutdown.sh programs (or both) in /etc/init.d?

I checked the /sys/class/scsi-disk files and they are OK,so I assume that I can

ignore this message.

Gerard.

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## desultory

Merged the above post.

 *Gerard van Vuuren wrote:*   

> 2.Am I the only one with this message?

 No, but apparently you are the most often referenced.

 *Gerard van Vuuren wrote:*   

> 3.What about updating the halt.sh or shutdown.sh programs (or both) in /etc/init.d?

 You could file a bug or contact the maintainers of the package, sys-apps/sysvinit, to discuss it directly.

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## gerard27

Well I filed a bug (189636) but it is considered a duplicate.

Gerard.

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## desultory

Given the information provided in your bug report, it does appear to be a duplicate as filed.

Given the information you provided in this topic, specifically the versions of the kernel which have presented this behavior, and the comments to the other bug report this appears to either be a regression or a new bug with the same symptoms. I suggest posting a comment, to the report that yours was filed as a duplicate of, which indicates the versions you have encountered this message with, considering that at least one appears to be among the versions which should not present this behavior.

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