Rick's b.log - entry 2011/02/13

Microsoft and FAT

Here is an even worse tale of woe. Sadly, I was too busy trying not to throw things to take pictures and screenshots.

I was compiling some code using OpenWatcom installed on a USB key 'F:'. I took a break, looked up something on-line. Shut down the compiler, but didn't reboot, hibernate, standby, or anything.
Went back to work on the code and found that Explorer took ages, then crashed.
Twice.
So I rebooted.

But Explorer still took ages. Only this time it didn't crash, it asked me if I wanted to format F: because it was unformatted.
WTF?

I tried chkdsk. This did not get far, as vfat.dll crashed and a little message popped up saying so. Brilliant, the one tool that might be used when there is something wrong with a filesystem is too unstable to cope with things going wrong.

I rebooted to the management console. I couldn't access E: (it was mounted as E: in the console) as there were errors. So I ran chkdsk that told me the device was okay, but to specify -p if I really really wanted to check it.

I did.

Unrecoverable errors were found.
(or a message to that effect)

Wait a second - aren't you the utility that is supposed to fix these sorts of...? No, I must be thinking of something else...

So I put the thing into my OSD. What will happen?

It mounted the drive, and it was able to access it. Slowly. dmesg recorded a lot of stuff like:

  stall on ep = 1 @1264
  ***STALL ep2 ***
  stall on ep = 1 @1264
  ***STALL ep2 ***
  stall on ep = 1 @1264
  ***STALL ep2 ***
  stall on ep = 1 @1264
  ***STALL ep2 ***
  stall on ep = 1 @1264
  ***STALL ep2 ***
  sd 0:0:0:0: SCSI error: return code = 0x8000002
  sda: Current: sense key=0x3
      ASC=0x11 ASCQ=0x0
  Info fld=0x0
  end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 2784
  FAT: FAT read failed (blocknr 2752)

The files all copied, I reformatted the drive (under Windows) and copied them all back. Everything seems to be okay, though just in case I have the files ready to drop onto a DVD-R.

For what it is worth, it is a JetFlash TS4GJFT3 USB Device.

But that said, for Windows to be unable to work out corrective action... for the disc checker to crash when its purpose is to look at and attempt repairs of damaged discs, and for the recovery console version to just shrug... that is bad, all round bad.

There is, I note, an online recovery tool that can mask out bad blocks. I will give this a whirl if the problems continue - though I am not so sure it isn't Windows itself randomly screwing up. Transcend JetFlash recovery

A promotion!

I participate in the Neuros forums for OSD issues. And I am fairly vigilant at reporting spam because, well, less spam is a good thing (which is why I'm less than amused at the amount of junk in some Android apps). Anyway, I got promoted, as this screenshot shows:

Mobile phone camera

Well, it is a good idea, but perhaps one beyond the capabilities of my mathematically-corrupt mind. I would, ideally, like to record video on the helicopter, which would mean a controller and some basic sort of DSP (or a damn-fast processor core), plus loads of dev work to get the encoder running reliably.

Or I can buy something for €30-€40...

Still, that this camera module supports some form of IIC is an interesting prospect for future fiddling.

I feel like Don Quixote

Now, I'm not a big NIMBY. It is over there rather than over here, but...
you know...

I blame XKCD...

Copyright XKCD - Creative Commons Attribution-noncommercial 2.5 licence - https://www.xkcd.com/556/

Now go look at my picture again, and check out the eyes on that thing. They glow red too, like the Ohmu. That's when it is really pissed off.

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Rob, 14th February 2011, 12:39

Ah... Tripods.. The TV series scared the heebiejeebies out of me as a kid. The Caps !! I've lately got hold of the TV series, but still not got around to watching more than a couple of episodes. Maybe I'll go find the books; at least they had the ending.

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