So it looks like I will have to use the other computer, and hope that Dell sorts things out quickly. I’m pretty disappointed, as I just purchased the machine (an Inspiron 1505 with Ubuntu) in July, and haven’t really traveled with it much.

[440525.460000] ata2.00: configured for UDMA/33
[440525.460000] ata2: EH complete
[440942.908000] ata2.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x2 frozen
[440942.908000] ata2.00: cmd a0/01:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 0 cdb 0x43 data 12 in
[440942.908000]          res 50/00:01:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 Emask 0x2 (HSM violation)
[440942.908000] ata2: soft resetting port

It required fsck’ing, and that was pretty much all she wrote.

The disk itself, according to smartctl:

Device: ATA      ST980813AS       Version: 3.AD
Serial number:             5NH0301G

It doesn’t support SMART though, so I don’t know if the recent fuss about Ubuntu and Laptop HD’s has anything to do with it. I never ran it much without power in any case, so I doubt it.

It’s especially frustrating, because I was making good progress on the Android port for Hecl, and will in the best of cases have to get a new computer “broken in”, even though I do have good backups.

My fingers are crossed that the money I spent for extra coverage will be worth something and that Dell Austria will be able to resolve the problem in a hurry, without requiring that I send the machine to the US or anything else that takes a lot of time.

Sigh:-(