I was doing a mdadm --examine /dev/sda trying to get some data to followup my last posts. I got this in dmesg ata1: command 0x25 timeout, stat 0xd0 host_stat 0x1 ata1: translated op=0x28 cmd=0x25 ATA stat/err 0xd0/00 to SCSI SK/ASC/ASCQ 0xb/47/00 ata1: status=0xd0 { Busy } sd 0:0:0:0: SCSI error: return code = 0x8000002 sda: Current: sense key: Aborted Command Additional sense: Scsi parity error end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 390716735 Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 195358336 ATA: abnormal status 0xD0 on port 0xF0804087 and then this: Assertion failed! qc != NULL,drivers/scsi/libata-core.c,ata_pio_poll,line=2901 <repeated hundreds of times> Assertion failed! qc != NULL,drivers/scsi/libata-core.c,ata_pio_poll,line=2901 Assertion failed! qc != NULL,drivers/scsi/libata-core.c,ata_pio_poll,line=2901 Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000008c printing eip: b02a6292 *pde = 00000000 Oops: 0002 [#1] PREEMPT Modules linked in: nfs nfsd lockd sunrpc af_packet dm_mod ide_disk snd_seq_midi snd_seq_midi_event snd_seq sk98lin snd_via82xx snd_ac97_codec snd_ac97_bus snd_pcm_oss snd_mixer_oss snd_pcm snd_timer snd_page_alloc snd_mpu401_uart snd_rawmidi snd_seq_device snd evdev skge via_agp agpgart crc32 soundcore uhci_hcd ehci_hcd usbcore i2c_viapro i2c_core CPU: 0 EIP: 0060:[<b02a6292>] Tainted: G M VLI EFLAGS: 00010297 (2.6.16libataverbose #6) EIP is at ata_pio_task+0x582/0x800 eax: 0dfbaa1c ebx: 00000004 ecx: b038405c edx: 00000002 esi: 00000002 edi: 00000000 ebp: efb1f280 esp: efcfdef8 ds: 007b es: 007b ss: 0068 Process ata/0 (pid: 730, threadinfo=efcfc000 task=efedf590) Stack: <0>efb1f280 b035bfd3 b035bf6f b033da0d 00000b55 efcfdf68 00000002 b012caff efcfdf34 00000082 00000000 00000000 efb1f830 efb1f82c efcfc000 efb24e20 b012c830 efb1f280 efedf6b8 b0381300 efb24e28 efb24e38 00000286 b02a5d10 Call Trace: [<b012caff>] worker_thread+0x14f/0x160 [<b012c830>] run_workqueue+0x90/0x130 [<b02a5d10>] ata_pio_task+0x0/0x800 [<b012cad0>] worker_thread+0x120/0x160 [<b01186d0>] default_wake_function+0x0/0x20 [<b012ffda>] kthread+0xea/0xf0 [<b012c9b0>] worker_thread+0x0/0x160 [<b012fef0>] kthread+0x0/0xf0 [<b0101005>] kernel_thread_helper+0x5/0x10 Code: 36 b0 89 44 24 04 e8 ae 66 e7 ff 8b 4c 24 20 83 89 8c 00 00 00 04 c7 86 dc 05 00 00 07 00 00 00 8b 95 dc 05 00 00 e9 8f fa ffff <83> 8f 8c 00 00 00 04 ba 03 00 00 00 c7 85 dc 05 00 00 03 00 00 David -- - : send the line "unsubscribe linux-ide" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html