[short101]

Ive got laptop mode running on my thinkpad, but just recently the hard drive light has started to flicker a lot. I ran rkhunter and it found a couple of hidden files in /dev and /etc. The files were .udev.tdb and .udevdb in /dev and .pwd.lock in /etc. I've googled and the files are normal system files, but was wondering why rkhunter flagged them. I know it comes up with false positives but with this hdd thing I'm a little paranoid. Any way I can find out whats writing to or reading from the hdd.

[lynch]

Open a terminal and run top to see what processes are running.
lynch

[Whiteskin]

Is it actually touching the drive, or is the light just flickering. I have the same problem with mine since I moved to the 2.6.10 kernel, (Or perhaps it was since I moved to ubuntu... anyhow). It doesn't seem to however affect drive spindowns.

[tsunam]

ehh you use ubuntu instead of gentoo now?

[Whiteskin]

Yeah. I got tired of being behind on software all the time because I wasn't willing to give up the laptop for a couple of days.

[short101]

O.k heres the story. Put the laptop-mode script and config files in etc . ( this was a while ago, and at the time it all worked, could even play mp3's and hdd wouldnt spin up for a while, set big read ahead) Pull plug and acpi log says going into laptop mode. Ok look at hdd light still flickering. Compiled the program for checking the spin up and down and it says sleeping and acive when power pulled and plugged back in. So all appears to actually be working, except the flickering light. Ran iostat on all my partitions and surely enough my / partition is getting read and written to (mostly written to) swap isnt being touched, so not a memory issue (512 ram) Have just booted into old kernels -2.6.7, 2.6.8 and 2.6.10 and is doing it in every one. Have turned off klogd sysklogd even turned acpid off and still happens. Thought it might have been something logging (was worried that somehow had been rootkited) Ayway heres my top output

Tasks: 75 total, 1 running, 73 sleeping, 0 stopped, 1 zombie
Cpu(s): 4.0% us, 0.3% sy, 0.0% ni, 95.0% id, 0.0% wa, 0.7% hi, 0.0% si
Mem: 515332k total, 424696k used, 90636k free, 35632k buffers
Swap: 464648k total, 0k used, 464648k free, 237524k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
5872 root RT 0 3764 3748 3140 S 3.3 0.7 16:34.66 slmodemd
4348 root 15 0 75300 28m 3992 S 0.3 5.8 9:14.38 XFree86
4620 glenn 15 0 11068 6096 4572 S 0.3 1.2 0:00.82 artsd
6323 glenn 15 0 29116 16m 13m S 0.3 3.4 0:02.58 kdeinit
1 root 16 0 1500 504 444 S 0.0 0.1 0:01.03 init
2 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.41 ksoftirqd/0
3 root 5 -10 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.04 events/0
4 root 5 -10 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 khelper
16 root 5 -10 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.10 kacpid
114 root 5 -10 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.02 kblockd/0
162 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 pdflush
163 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.04 pdflush
165 root 5 -10 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 aio/0
164 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kswapd0
242 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kseriod
291 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.18 kjournald
395 root 7 -10 1480 360 296 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.02 udevd

debian:/home/glenn# iostat -t 3 hda3 hda6 hda5
Linux 2.6.10 (debian) 02/23/05

Time: 15:39:20
avg-cpu: %user %nice %sys %iowait %idle
15.18 0.01 1.81 0.89 82.11

Device: tps Blk_read/s Blk_wrtn/s Blk_read Blk_wrtn
hda3 5.02 38.04 31.26 467018 383768
hda5 0.37 0.37 0.00 4580 2
hda6 0.00 0.00 0.00 24 0

Time: 15:39:23
avg-cpu: %user %nice %sys %iowait %idle
11.63 0.00 1.33 0.33 86.71

Device: tps Blk_read/s Blk_wrtn/s Blk_read Blk_wrtn
hda3 4.32 0.00 34.55 0 104
hda5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0
hda6 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0

Time: 15:39:26
avg-cpu: %user %nice %sys %iowait %idle
11.63 0.00 1.33 0.00 87.04

Device: tps Blk_read/s Blk_wrtn/s Blk_read Blk_wrtn
hda3 2.99 0.00 23.92 0 72
hda5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0
hda6 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0

Time: 15:39:29
avg-cpu: %user %nice %sys %iowait %idle
15.33 0.00 1.00 0.00 83.67

Device: tps Blk_read/s Blk_wrtn/s Blk_read Blk_wrtn
hda3 0.33 0.00 2.67 0 8
hda5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0
hda6 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0

Time: 15:39:32
avg-cpu: %user %nice %sys %iowait %idle
7.67 0.00 1.33 0.00 91.00

Device: tps Blk_read/s Blk_wrtn/s Blk_read Blk_wrtn
hda3 1.00 0.00 8.00 0 24
hda5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0
hda6 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0

Time: 15:39:35
avg-cpu: %user %nice %sys %iowait %idle
18.73 0.00 1.00 0.00 80.27

Device: tps Blk_read/s Blk_wrtn/s Blk_read Blk_wrtn
hda3 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0
hda5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0
hda6 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0

Time: 15:39:38
avg-cpu: %user %nice %sys %iowait %idle
4.00 0.00 0.67 0.00 95.33

Device: tps Blk_read/s Blk_wrtn/s Blk_read Blk_wrtn
hda3 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0
hda5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0
hda6 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0

Time: 15:39:41
avg-cpu: %user %nice %sys %iowait %idle
20.27 0.00 0.66 0.00 79.07

Device: tps Blk_read/s Blk_wrtn/s Blk_read Blk_wrtn
hda3 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0
hda5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0
hda6 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0

Time: 15:39:44
avg-cpu: %user %nice %sys %iowait %idle
2.68 0.00 1.34 0.00 95.99

Device: tps Blk_read/s Blk_wrtn/s Blk_read Blk_wrtn
hda3 1.00 0.00 8.03 0 24
hda5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0
hda6 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 0

and it keeps going with 24 blocks being written every few secs. Any ideas welcome. Its annoying and worrying at the same time. Needless to say I get crap battery life out of this thing even with my cpu running at about third speed.

Have set the flag on /proc/sys/vm/flush-blocks and am getting some interesting output. Finally starting to get somewhere I think. Basically I dont think laptop-mode is doing anything. Heres a bit of output from dmesg.

sh(5554): dirtied inode 34041 (mtab) on hda3
sh(5554): dirtied inode 470343 (gconv-modules) on hda3
sh(5554): dirtied inode 465796 (ISO8859-1.so) on hda3
sh(5554): dirtied inode 34018 (sysstat) on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15344 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15352 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15360 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15368 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15376 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15384 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15392 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15400 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15408 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15416 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15424 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15432 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15440 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15448 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15456 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15464 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15472 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15480 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15488 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15496 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15504 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15512 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15520 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15528 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15536 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524328 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524352 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524368 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524376 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524424 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524632 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524696 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524744 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524808 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524944 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 3932200 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 3932216 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 3932224 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 3932232 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 3932600 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 3932608 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 3932752 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 7342720 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 7343856 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 7864656 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 10747976 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 13893664 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 13893672 on hda3
top(5059): dirtied inode 666683 (utmp) on hda3
netdaemon(4059): dirtied inode 32831 (interfaces) on hda3
gnome-system-mo(5452): dirtied inode 34041 (mtab) on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15544 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15552 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15560 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15568 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15576 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524392 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524696 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 10747976 on hda3
top(5059): dirtied inode 666683 (utmp) on hda3
gnome-system-mo(5452): dirtied inode 34041 (mtab) on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15584 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15592 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15600 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15608 on hda3
netdaemon(4059): dirtied inode 32831 (interfaces) on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524696 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 10747976 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15616 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15624 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15632 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524392 on hda3
top(5059): dirtied inode 666683 (utmp) on hda3
gnome-system-mo(5452): dirtied inode 34041 (mtab) on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15640 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15648 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15656 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15664 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524696 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 10747976 on hda3
top(5059): dirtied inode 666683 (utmp) on hda3
gnome-system-mo(5452): dirtied inode 34041 (mtab) on hda3
netdaemon(4059): dirtied inode 32831 (interfaces) on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15672 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15680 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15688 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15696 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15704 on hda3
DROPPED IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=203.221.205.18 DST=203.221.121.124 LEN=48 TOS=0x00
PREC=0x00 TTL=120 ID=36372 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=4568 DPT=445 SEQ=2807124720 ACK=0 W
INDOW=8160 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 OPT (0204055001010402)
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524392 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 10747976 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15712 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15720 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15728 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524696 on hda3
top(5059): dirtied inode 666683 (utmp) on hda3
DROPPED IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=203.221.205.18 DST=203.221.121.124 LEN=48 TOS=0x00
PREC=0x00 TTL=120 ID=36520 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=4568 DPT=445 SEQ=2807124720 ACK=0 W
INDOW=8160 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 OPT (0204055001010402)
gnome-system-mo(5452): dirtied inode 34041 (mtab) on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15736 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15744 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15752 on hda3
kjournald(291): WRITE block 15760 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 524696 on hda3
pdflush(162): WRITE block 10747976 on hda3
top(5059): dirtied inode 666683 (utmp) on hda3
netdaemon(4059): dirtied inode 32831 (interfaces) on hda3
gnome-system-mo(5452): dirtied inode 34041 (mtab) on hda3
bash(5555): dirtied inode 861598 (dmesg) on hda3
bash(5555): dirtied inode 246088 (ld-linux.so.2) on hda3
bash(5555): dirtied inode 243901 (ld-2.3.2.so) on hda3
dmesg(5555): dirtied inode 33763 (ld.so.cache) on hda3
dmesg(5555): dirtied inode 245526 (libc.so.6) on hda3
dmesg(5555): dirtied inode 245495 (libc-2.3.2.so) on hda3
debian:~#

So kjournald and pdflush are the culptits from the look of it. I thought battery mode set pdflush or something, anyway, back to look at the script. By the way, when I look at /proc/sys/vm/laptop-mode its set to 0, I cahnged it to 1 myself, but was wondering why the script or something isnt doing it.

[short101]

Bit of an update. Have finally gotten the writing to disk every couple of seconds to stop by adding noatime to my fstab. The light is still flickering though, but the output from iostat shows nothing being written or read. Dunno why it never used to do it before and now why the light still flickers.
Never mind, pretty sure it is spinning down, well as much as I can believe hdparm. Hard drive on this thing is so bl**dy quiet I cant hear it (my Job is making me go deaf though) Still have crap battery life though. Might have to see what its like in windows, cant remember, but was sure it was a fair bit better. So, pretty much solved I suppose.

[Whiteskin]

You don't care about the flicker. You are going to have to trust your ears, and hope that it's spinning down.