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I'm using a 16-to-18-years-old laptop, a Clevo Zeus M3CW, on which I recently installed antiX Linux 19.3. The kernel version is 4.9.235 (compiled for 486).

Now, whenever I boot, the kernel complains about I/O errors from device /dev/sr0 - my laptop's built-in CD-ROM. This is what lsblk says about the device:

# lsblk -o +VENDOR,MODEL | head -1 ; lsblk -o +VENDOR,MODEL | grep sr0 NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT VENDOR MODEL sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom TEAC DW-224E-A

The drive is empty - no CD in there.

Later while the system runs, I get innumerable dmesg entries such as the following:

[ 53.250051] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 unaligned transfer [ 53.250056] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 unaligned transfer [ 53.250066] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 unaligned transfer [ 53.250071] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 unaligned transfer [ 53.250076] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 unaligned transfer

and also this:

[ 53.312725] REISERFS warning (device sr0): sh-2006 read_super_block: bread failed (dev sr0, block 16, size 512) [ 53.312746] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 unaligned transfer [ 53.312754] REISERFS warning (device sr0): sh-2006 read_super_block: bread failed (dev sr0, block 128, size 512) [ 53.359602] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 unaligned transfer [ 53.359617] EXT4-fs (sr0): unable to read superblock [ 53.405593] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 unaligned transfer [ 53.405606] EXT4-fs (sr0): unable to read superblock [ 53.464594] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 unaligned transfer [ 53.464608] EXT2-fs (sr0): error: unable to read superblock [ 53.533449] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE [ 53.533461] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 Sense Key : Medium Error [current] [ 53.533478] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 Add. Sense: Unable to recover table-of-contents [ 53.533490] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 [ 53.533516] SQUASHFS error: squashfs_read_data failed to read block 0x0 [ 53.533528] squashfs: SQUASHFS error: unable to read squashfs_super_block

and these:

[ 2852.951421] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE [ 2852.951431] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 Sense Key : Medium Error [current] [ 2852.951444] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 Add. Sense: Unable to recover table-of-contents [ 2852.951453] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 07 ff fc 00 00 02 00 [ 2852.951458] blk_update_request: 1680 callbacks suppressed [ 2852.951462] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sr0, sector 2097136 [ 2852.951509] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 unaligned transfer [ 2852.951514] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sr0, sector 2097136 [ 2852.951521] buffer_io_error: 1670 callbacks suppressed [ 2852.951525] Buffer I/O error on dev sr0, logical block 2097136, async page read [ 2852.951540] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 unaligned transfer [ 2852.951544] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sr0, sector 2097137 [ 2852.951550] Buffer I/O error on dev sr0, logical block 2097137, async page read [ 2852.951563] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] tag#0 unaligned transfer

I should also note that if I insert a CD, it automounts and reads fine.

My questions:

  1. What makes the kernel try to read from /dev/sr0 all the time? Especially on boot, when it's not in /etc/fstab nor mentioned in the grub configuration.
  2. How can I make the kernel give up on this device? From the get-go or after failing a few times?
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  • Saw your posts about that Clevo. You either have a Pentium M 1.6, Pentium M 725, Pentium M 725A, Pentium M 730 or a Pentium M LV 778. The oldest one is from March 12, 2003 while the oldest is from July 2005, which means your Clevo is not a 19-22 years old laptop, but a 18-16 year old's one. And good news, these are all able to run i686 PAE distros, which means you can install a regular Debian on it. The issue with single core CPUs is that putting more than 2GB of RAM is often useless and sometimes the BIOS won't even recognize them. Pentium M are as powerful as Athlon 64 at the same clocks. Commented May 8, 2021 at 17:09
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    @X.LINK: I can't consider Debian until they stop baking in systemd. But you do make me wonder what modifications antiX has for catering to weaker hardware, other than defaulting to IceWM. Commented May 8, 2021 at 17:42
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    FYI, you can install debian without systemd. Just don't install stuff like gnome that requires it - Debian's IceWM package doesn't depend on systemd. In short: apt-get install sysvinit-core or apt-get install openrc after the base system is installed. I still have one sysvinit system on my network (it fails to boot at all with systemd), running sid. I gave up on the others because it was too much effort constantly fighting systemd. Fortunately, Debian's systemd packaging disables most of systemd's Borg-like tendencies. Commented May 9, 2021 at 3:35
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    See also linuxmafia.com/kb/Debian/openrc-conversion.html. Finally, I've found it useful to run apt-mark hold sysv-rc sysvinit-core sysvinit-utils to prevent any upgrades from silently removing sysvinit due to temporary packaging conflicts (sid is volatile). BTW, my non-systemd box is my mythv machine, running xfce, lightdm, and other stuff. Commented May 9, 2021 at 3:35
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    @cas: The dependence on systemd is very deep, like you said, in too much of the distribution. For my desktop machine, I don't want to be stuck to only that. So, Devuan. But for this older, weaker machine - I would consider Debian if I thought antix didn't offer anything beyond defaulting to IceWM. Commented May 9, 2021 at 7:18

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