Hi, For the kernel 2.4.2 with the patch 2.4.2-ac5 patch, I have been getting continous hard disk trashing and the following errors in the /var/log/messages. I increased the console log level to avoid the messages. Please see below a sample set Mar 5 12:15:59 amitc-linux mount: mount: can't open /etc/mtab for writing: Input/output error Mar 5 12:16:04 amitc-linux kernel: hda: read_intr: status=0x59 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest Error } Mar 5 12:16:04 amitc-linux kernel: hda: read_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=25133118, sector=3670215 Mar 5 12:16:04 amitc-linux kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev 03:06 (hda), sector 3670215 Mar 5 12:16:04 amitc-linux kernel: EXT2-fs error (device ide0(3,6)): ext2_write_inode: unable to read inode block - inode=230017, block=458776 On a restart I have to do a manual fsck, that was some pretty drastic results incl. removing directories from /var, removing /tmp, etc. I went through the archives and tried smartctl. That has not given any problems yet. e2fsprogs is 1.19 The systems is basically unusable right now. Please email me if anyone knows where the problem might be? Thanks and Regards Amit - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/