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I am using Ubuntu 12.04 on my relatively new laptop. Initial few days, everything worked fine, but then suddenly I started getting a strange problem. After every 2-3 days, the file-system was becoming read-only. I was unable to save/download anything in the installation drive and the system hanged if I attempted to do so, after which I needed to force restart.
I had to run fsck in the repair mode to get it fixed (temporarily). There I used to get the following messages:

"Inodes that were part of a corrupted orphan linked list found.
UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY: RUN FSCK MANUALLY.
fsck / [886] terminated with status 4.
Filesystem has errors: /"

Then it stopped here and I had to restart again, after which it asked whether I want to repair or not, then the system ran properly. After a day or 2, again I used to face exactly the same problem.

The problem become more frequent in the last few days, and even after running the fsck and restarting, was not solving the problem. I re-installed the OS a couple of days back, but even after that, the problem exists. Though it is not that frequent now, but still at times, the file-system becomes read-only and the system stops behaving normally, and I have to run fsck in the repair mode, which makes the whole thing normal.

Yes I keep my laptop switched on for long hours and it does get heated up.

Please help.
Thanks,
Anuj

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  • What is your default file-system?!
    – user61928
    Sep 24, 2012 at 8:53

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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It sounds like you may have some file system corruption, possibly caused by a failing hard disk. (Normally this is the only way for the system to spontaneously mark the file system as read-only, to prevent further damage.) Try running:

dmesg | less

And scroll to near the bottom to see if there are errors related to your file system and disk. Look for messages about uncorrectable read or write errors (probably on sda), or file system errors (e.g. messages about ext3 or ext4 errors). then investigate whether the disk itself is failing (in which case you'll need to get a new one), or whether it's just a logical failure (in which case you can probably repair the file system with fsck to fix your problem).

Another issue:

If your filesystem supports journaling try to disable it and see. To disable journaling

sudo /usr/sbin/diskutil disableJournal /path-to-your-disk

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I would suggest you run some tools to check your disc for bad sectors or problems. You can make this by:

  1. Going to your disc manufacturer and see if they have a tool for checking disc problems

  2. Download and use some programs that check disc for problems, like:

Ultimate Boot CD

Hiren Boot CD

Believe it or not, Windows Scandisk is also a good tool.

I would download and burn to a CD, boot that CD, and run HDD tools to check for errors.

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  • Thanks. Yes I checked the harddisk with HDD Regenerator, and found the hard disk is infected with too many bad sectors. HDD Regenerator could repair many of them, but stopped in the middle. Is there any solution other than changing my harddisk?
    – Anuj
    Sep 24, 2012 at 9:15
  • I would say try to run HDD Regenerator (or other) several times, to see if it solves your bad sectors. Also try to zero your harddrive, there's a tool on that CD that does that. If those don't work, buy a new harddisc.
    – LnxSlck
    Sep 24, 2012 at 10:57
  • @Anuj I am also facing exactly same issue as you described in the question, Can you please tell me how did you solved?? I am really worried about it.
    – Rupesh
    Apr 19, 2020 at 18:53
  • @Rupesh Backup as much as you can, but usually those discs are better of replacing by new ones.
    – LnxSlck
    Apr 20, 2020 at 19:10
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    @Rupesh My advice is backup what you can and replace that disc
    – LnxSlck
    Apr 20, 2020 at 19:32

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